Excellent Minnesota Walleye Fishery!

Rainy Lake has an excellent reputation in the Minnesota walleye fishing world. Mid-May through June you can find the walleye in shallower areas, near the weed beds and rocky shorelines, where they are foraging for the bait fish. That’s also where the smallmouth bass are likely to be and aggressive northern pike will be near the weedy edges of the shallower bays. All in all, there’s a good chance to encounter a school of crappie too. You could fill up with four species on Rainy Lake and are welcome to try. The Minnesota Walleye opener May 13, 2017 make it all legal.

Voyageurs National Park and the United State Coast Guard Lamplighters have completed buoy placement within the Park Boundaries. Voyageurs National Park encourages boaters to use caution due to low water levels. Hazards that are not typically visible or marked may be exposed.

Meanwhile, Voyageurs has announced their summer hours and the start of the interpretive programs and boat tours. Through May 27th, the Rainy Lake Visitor Center will be open Wednesday-Sunday from 10:00 am to 4:30 PM. On Sunday, May 28, 2017 it will be open daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Boat tours and Ranger-led interpretive programs will begin on May 25th.

People are getting out on the hiking trails and finding songbirds, small mammals and other active wildlife easier to spot as the leaves are just starting to come in. In a week or two, the forest will be a dense green.

Our area ATV trails are also getting some use, the trails were open to travel on April 1, 2017 but don’t usually start seeing heavier traffic until the trails have had a chance to dry in the lower spots. Koochiching, St. Louis and Itasca County are all very ATV friendly. In our tri-county region there are thousands of miles of legal, safe, marked trails to ride.

We are ready to answer any questions you might have, contact information is listed at the bottom of the web pages on this site. If you’d like to get a regular update on our area recreation and events, subscribe to the e-newsletter, that option is also at the footer of this page.

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