Rainy Lake fishing: Northern Pike, Walleye, Largemouth Bass
Target species: Northern Pike, Walleye, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Black Crappie, Burbot, Lake Whitefish
Boat: 4 ramps and launches on file for this water.
Start here: Launch at Rainy Lake, Frank Bohman Memorial Public Water Access Site, 2 lanes.
The lake
Rainy Lake covers 45,770 acres in Minnesota, across 2 counties: St. Louis and Koochiching. It is a lake: the deepest figure on record is 151 feet (46 m), as published by Webster, K.E., McCullough, I.M., Soranno, P.A. LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0, EDI, doi:10.6073/pasta/64ddc4d04661d9aef4bd702dc5d8984f (CC BY 4.0); Cheruvelil et al. LAGOS-US LOCUS v1.0 (EDI), a figure without a map of the bottom. Our records hold 14 species for this water.
7 target fish, led by Northern Pike
- Northern Pike — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
- Walleye — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
- Largemouth Bass — Feeding water: 65–85°F.
- Smallmouth Bass — Feeding water: 60–75°F.
- Black Crappie — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
- Burbot — Feeding water: 40–50°F.
- Lake Whitefish — Feeding water: 40–55°F.
Also recorded here: Longnose Sucker, Sauger, Black Bullhead, White Sucker, Rock Bass, Yellow Perch, Pumpkinseed.
Depth and bottom
Deepest figure on record: 151 ft (46 m), as published by Webster, K.E., McCullough, I.M., Soranno, P.A. LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0, EDI, doi:10.6073/pasta/64ddc4d04661d9aef4bd702dc5d8984f (CC BY 4.0); Cheruvelil et al. LAGOS-US LOCUS v1.0 (EDI). We hold no survey map of this bottom, so we show no depth bands. We hold 190 depth contour lines for this water.
4 ramps and launches on this water
On this water we hold 4 trailer ramps.
- Rainy Lake, Frank Bohman Memorial Public Water Access Site — 2 lanes, restrooms. DNR Division of Parks and Trails.
- Rainy Lake, Tilson Public Water Access Site — 2 lanes, restrooms. DNR Division of Parks and Trails.
- Rainy Lake, Black Bay Narrows Rainy Lake Visitor Center Public Water Access Site — 1 lane, restrooms. National Park Service.
- Rainy Lake, Dove Island Public Water Access Site — 1 lane, restrooms. DNR Division of Parks and Trails.
Fee and opening hours are blank for all 4 places in this list: a blank means we hold no such field, not that it is free or always open, and this list may not be complete.
Water and conditions
Water clarity runs 6.9–8.9 feet on our readings, averaging 7.8 feet, from 94 readings. Our water temperature readings average 71°F; they do not cover the whole year, so this is not a yearly average. These readings span 2016–2025.
What is hard here
Wind is the limit, not the fish: 45,770 acres of open water build a short steep chop, and there is no shelter in the middle.
Where this data comes from
- Minnesota DNR — Minnesota DNR: depth contours: class A, a survey of the bottom.
- Webster, K.E., McCullough, I.M., Soranno, P.A. LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0, EDI, doi:10.6073/pasta/64ddc4d04661d9aef4bd702dc5d8984f (CC BY 4.0); Cheruvelil et al. LAGOS-US LOCUS v1.0 (EDI) — LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0: Lake depth for 17,675 lakes in the conterminous U.S.: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.
