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Muskie Fishing -> Fishing Reports and Destinations -> North Arm of Rainy Lake
 
Message Subject: North Arm of Rainy Lake
Brian Hoffies
Posted 12/15/2020 4:33 PM (#972676)
Subject: North Arm of Rainy Lake





Posts: 1663


I know Muskie is rare and mainly in the Seine Bay area and Redgut area. Just curious about the North Arm. It's such a vast area I would think Muskie would be up there also.

Does anybody have any speculation as to the low density of Muskie in this Lake? Being situated between LOTW and Vermilion you would think the population would be better then what it is. Can anybody help me understand this?
kustomboy
Posted 12/15/2020 9:00 PM (#972686 - in reply to #972676)
Subject: Re: North Arm of Rainy Lake





Posts: 256


Rainy can be a tough nut to crack and the guys that have cracked it seem to keep their mouths shut. There are fish there, but I don't know if it would call it a destination over other lakes that are known to be better.

I've never fished the North Arm but we've had some brutal trips in Redgut mixed with a few good ones. We mainly go to fish pike and consider a muskie a bonus fish.
Ram
Posted 12/15/2020 9:47 PM (#972687 - in reply to #972676)
Subject: RE: North Arm of Rainy Lake




Posts: 55


Location: Zimmerman
If I remember right there is very little spawning area in or close to the north arm, which I think really limits any fishable population.
Brian Hoffies
Posted 12/16/2020 11:27 AM (#972697 - in reply to #972676)
Subject: Re: North Arm of Rainy Lake





Posts: 1663


Thanks, I'm just trying to understand why the lake has such a low population. Geez, it's massive both East to West and North to South. You would think somewhere the environment would match LOTW. Anyway thanks for the insight, if anybody else has a theory let me know.
North of 8
Posted 12/16/2020 11:44 AM (#972698 - in reply to #972697)
Subject: Re: North Arm of Rainy Lake




Brian Hoffies - 12/16/2020 11:27 AM

Thanks, I'm just trying to understand why the lake has such a low population. Geez, it's massive both East to West and North to South. You would think somewhere the environment would match LOTW. Anyway thanks for the insight, if anybody else has a theory let me know.


My sister and her husband lived on Rainy for a couple years and while I fished for walleye there, never got the opportunity to fish for muskie before they moved back to WI. One article I read on fishing Rainy indicated that at one time there was a decent population, but that over fishing brought the numbers down to a point where it did not recover fully. They lived in Ranier and just down the street was a HOF guide ,"Woody", he said there are musky but not high numbers. I wondered if the pike spearing during the winter might take a toll.
Brian Hoffies
Posted 12/16/2020 12:03 PM (#972699 - in reply to #972698)
Subject: Re: North Arm of Rainy Lake





Posts: 1663


Thanks, I know Woody a little bit. I might need to buy him a beer and discuss this.

I don't really know how much they spear Rainy. I know they spear the heck out of Kabetogama and that's why their big Pike population tumbled. Hard to release a speared fish.
North of 8
Posted 12/16/2020 12:17 PM (#972701 - in reply to #972699)
Subject: Re: North Arm of Rainy Lake




Brian Hoffies - 12/16/2020 12:03 PM

Thanks, I know Woody a little bit. I might need to buy him a beer and discuss this.

I don't really know how much they spear Rainy. I know they spear the heck out of Kabetogama and that's why their big Pike population tumbled. Hard to release a speared fish. :-(


A few years ago when they lived there, Woody rented tents on Rainy for spearing, had photos of himself and clients with big pike. I did not talk to him directly, my sister and brother in law took a half day guide trip with him when they moved there. They said it was worth listening to his stories to pay his fee ;>).
Brian Hoffies
Posted 12/16/2020 3:33 PM (#972709 - in reply to #972676)
Subject: Re: North Arm of Rainy Lake





Posts: 1663


Oh, he is one funny guy. Remember his tag line................

"I'll take a stray hook in the ass, but I ain't taken American Express."

During his heyday he took some pretty high powered people fishing up there. I remember seeing the photo's on the wall of the Pub when he owned it. Pretty interesting business name also. "Woody's Fairly Reliable Guide Service." lol
Jacko
Posted 12/18/2020 6:02 PM (#972765 - in reply to #972709)
Subject: Re: North Arm of Rainy Lake




Posts: 72


I have a cabin on the Canadian side of Rainy and spend a lot of time there. I fish all areas of the lake and pike are by far the dominant species. However the ecosystem evolved has made for better conditions for pike to thrive more than muskies including in Redgut and Seine bay. It is a great pike fishery with numbers of fish in the 34-38” range. I would attribute this to spawning habitat and types of forage base. There are muskies likely scattered throughout the entire system but there is a ton of water to cover and almost all of the lake I would argue doesn’t have a targetable population. Even in the areas with targetable populations you can have a trip with very experienced Muskie fisherman for 7 days, 12hrs a day and catch amazing numbers of large pike and maybe 1 Muskie which will indicate how the species hierarchy is structured. There are examples where pike and Muskies co-exist with producing large fish of both, but typically one species will be the dominant one. If you look at many areas of LOTW, Muskie are obviously the dominant species. Rainy is a amazing fishery overall but there are much better fisheries in my opinion to plan targeting Muskie. I sure there are a couple super tankers somewhere out there though.
. Just my notes from spending a lot of time there compared my experiences on other Muskie fisheries in Ontario, WI, and MN.
Eagleweagle
Posted 1/3/2021 10:09 AM (#973117 - in reply to #972676)
Subject: RE: North Arm of Rainy Lake




Posts: 44


Glad to see I'm not the only one asking this. Been wondering this for years
leech lake strain
Posted 3/2/2021 10:47 AM (#976302 - in reply to #972676)
Subject: Re: North Arm of Rainy Lake




Posts: 535


One of my customers has a cabin there. I believe its on the Canadian side. He catches a few each yr there. He does fish for them a little but i dont think much time goes into them, he is mostly walleye fishing and i think most of the muskies are accidental catches. I believe his biggest there is a 47" so far that was on purpose.
Brian Hoffies
Posted 3/3/2021 8:48 AM (#976338 - in reply to #972676)
Subject: Re: North Arm of Rainy Lake





Posts: 1663


I was talking to a guy yesterday who has a cabin on the Canadian side and has guided for 30 years on Rainy. He also couldn't really explain things but did confirm Redgut was the place to go for Muskie. It's not so much that i'm interested in fishing for them just more baffled as to why they aren't system wide. I'll keep asking questions maybe someday i'll get a answer that makes sense to me. lol
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