Originally posted by: WalleyeWayne on 5/10/2007 4:48:00 AM

May 4, 2007
We departed Thunder Bay around 3:00p.m. to head up to our camp on Rainy Lake, Ontario. On the trip was my good fishing buddy Walleye Warrier, Da Young Bushwackers (my son Brett, Allan & a newbie to fishing with us, Nathan). Of course our dog Heidi was along for the trip. We were to hook up with my brother-in-law and nephew Friday night up at the cabin. On this trip we were targeting lake trout on the Manitou Lake, crappies on Rainy Lake or Big Sawbill Lake and northens/perch on Rainy Lake. For the lakers we planned to troll with spinner rigs and cutbait – for the crappies we would use 1/16 oz. jigs & tubes – for northerns and perch we would use jigs & minnows. We got to the cabin around 6:00p.m., unloaded and Da Young Bushwackers went down to fish off our dock because we didn’t unload the boats. It didn’t take long before the boys starting hooking…but it was walleye’s they were hooking instead of northerns or perch. We didn’t expect walleye’s because the ice only went out two days before we got there, but lo and behold they were hitting…and hitting big time. Any and all walleye’s hooked off the dock were immediately photo’d, measured, a couple were weighed and then “nursed” before releasing back.
Here's a sampling of the 'eyes they hooked the first night....

Da Young Bushwackers (a.k.a. Allan, Brett & Nathan)


Nathan with a 30"+ walleye that weighed 9lbs. 7oz.


A walleye weighing in at 4lbs. 14oz.


Allan with a nice 22" 'eye


Allan with another 19" 'eye 15 minutes later


Brett & Nathan "teaming" up



May 5, 2007
Up at 5:30a.m. for breakfast and then down the highway to pick up my nephew on the way to the Manitou Lake. The Manitou was about 1-1/2 hr. drive from our camp – half highway and half bush road. When we got to the Manitou, there were no less than 30 trucks on the launch. We ended up having to park almost ¼ mile back up the road from the launch. It was raining off and on and the wind was howling around 40 kph. We dropped Da Young Bushwackers on an island and went out trolling for lakers. I hooked about a 3lber in less than 5 minutes….but that would be it for the rest of the morning.
We were chased off the lake because of high swells so we went to the island for shore lunch.

WalleyeWayne cooking shore lunch


After shore lunch we went back out and was only able to hook 1 more, a nice one around 5 lbs. Again, the weather chased us off. The swells and wind were too much for the trolling motor to move the boat so we packed it up and went home. We BBQ’d the trout with some steak that night back at the cabin. Da Young Bushwackers went dock fishing again and continued to hook walleye’s in mammoth proportions (in total they hooked over 8 walleye that measured 25” or longer, with the biggest measuring close to 30” and weighing 9lbs. 7oz.). Our campfire that night was limited due to high winds.
Here is a sample of some of the 'eyes they hooked and released the 2nd night...

Allan with a 26" 'eye


Brett with the perfect pan-size 'eye


Brett with a "hammer handle"


Brett and Allan "teaming up" on a 26" 'eye


Nathan's 16" 'eye


Brett's 26" 'eye


May 6, 2007
Up at 7:00a.m. to go crappie fishing because it was too rough and windy to go out trouting. We got on Big Sawbill Lake, which was only about a 45 minute drive from our cabin, around 10:00a.m. It was a derby this time with Da Young Bushwackers in my boat up against me & Walleye Warrier in his. It took us about an hour to find the school of crappie. Once we were sure we were on them, we called in Da Young Bushwackers (from the other end of the lake) so they could join in the fun. The best tube color was glow white, of which Warrier was using and we all switched to. We hooked around 60 or 70 crappies, taking home 47 to slab. We found active crappies suspended around 15’ deep in 30’ of water. We’ve never fished crappie this early in the year so it took us a while to determine where the active ones were. The lake was extremely rough again with howling winds. We all got sunburned and wind burned, but it was worth it. Me & Walleye Warrier won the derby hands down…but dem Young Wackers wouldn’t admit defeat graciously – they moaned & grumbled on the drive home. We packed it in around 3:00p.m. and headed back to the cabin to do some heavy slabbing. Thank goodness for electric fillet knives.

Cooler full of 47 crappies


Walleye Warrier with a sampling of the ones we kept - these two were 13"


The "slabbing table"...I slabbed with my electric knife and Warrier skinned & caged


Crappies in Crisco later that night


After dinner Da Young Bushwackers fished off the dock and hammered the walleyes again, with some northerns and perch mixed in. As for “Bloopers”, Brett ended up going for an unexpected swim when he jumped from the paddle boat, not quite making the dock. The ice had just gone out so you can imagine how cold the lake was. Small campfire because of wind and intermintent rain. Aslo because me & Warrier were tired from doing all the work. Da Young Bushwackers did some night fishing off the dock and got some good pics of some quality fish.

Brett with yet another 24" 'eye


Nathan with a 27" 'eye


Yet another nice 'eye minutes later....


Nathan and Allan nightime fishing


Brett and Nathan (it was so late Brett was already in his pajama's <!--graemlin::D-->)


Landing 'em at night and getting a good pic is tricky....


May 7, 2007
Up at 7:00a.m. to eat breakfast, pack up and head back to Thunder Bay on the 3-1/2 drive home. It was a good trip, despite not hooking many lakers. In all we hooked 6 lakers (but only netted 2), hooked about 70 crappie (slabbed 47) hooked probably about 30 walleye with 8 measuring over 25”, hooked too many northerns (they become a nuisance after a time if they aren’t real big) – all released, hooked many smaller perch too small to keep and a few bass, one of which was the size of a hubcap (no scale or measurement taken). Thanks to Walleye Warrier for finally making it up to our cabin and I hope you enjoyed reading my report and looking at the pics.

WalleyeWayne
May 9/07