The smallmouth bass fishing is excellent on Rainy Lake. It is one of Minnesota’s best smallmouth bass fishing lakes and the fishing is even better on the Canadian side of the lake.
Rainy Lake in the Spring
| Month | Avg. Air Temps °F Highs | Avg. Air Temps °F Lows |
| March | 34° | 15° |
| April | 50° | 29° |
| May | 66° | 42° |
Rainy Lake is an awesome spring smallmouth bass fishing destination. Anglers start doing very well here towards the end of May with lots of smallmouth bass moving into the bays to get ready to spawn. During pre-spawn, you can find good numbers of big smallmouth bass around rocky points and shorelines that lead into these bays. Once the spawn is in full swing, you’re going to find the better bite taking place in many of the bays throughout the lake.
Rainy Lake in the Summer
| Month | Avg. Air Temps °F Highs | Avg. Air Temps °F Lows |
| June | 73° | 52° |
| July | 78° | 57° |
| August | 75° | 54° |
Once summer rolls around, you can still find plenty of smallmouth bass along the shorelines. However, the better bite is usually going to come offshore on the main lake structure. With a good map and electronics, you can find many of these spots that will hold schools of quality smallmouth bass throughout the summer.
Rainy Lake in the Fall
| Month | Avg. Air Temps °F Highs | Avg. Air Temps °F Lows |
| September | 64° | 45° |
| October | 51° | 35° |
| November | 32° | 20° |
In the fall, you can find smallmouth bass shallow and deep as they transition from their deep water hangouts into the shallows again as they follow baitfish. However, you are not going to find smallmouth bass in the shallows in the numbers that you will find them during the spring. Rainy Lake has tons of northern pike, so many smallmouth bass will school up and stay out in deeper water. Many anglers report good success by fishing 15 to 30 ft of water throughout the fall, but don’t rule out some of those rocky points and rocky shorelines with wind blowing into them. Schools of smallmouth bass are following the food, so if the bait moves shallower, the bass will follow to grab a meal before heading back out into deeper water to rest.
More Fishing Tips
Big Bass on Rainy Lake
Rainy Lake is one of the better drive to lakes in Canada if you are looking to catch big smallmouth bass. Whether you are in Minnesota or Canada, big bass can be found on both sides, but the fishing is usually better in Canada. Smallmouth bass in the 4 to 5 pound range are definitely possible if you put in the time and it isn’t unheard of to see reports of anglers catching bass over 6 pounds.
Fish the Bays
The spring and early summer bite along the shorelines in the bays can provide some spectacular smallmouth bass fishing. Anglers that know what they’re doing can catch good numbers of smallmouth bass with 30 to 50 bass days being fairly common during the peak bite in the spring. It’s all timing though. If you get here too early or too late, you may have to find the bass in deeper water. Time it right and you’ll have some awesome shallow water fishing opportunities.
Fish the Current
The spillways, creek and waterfalls that flow into Rainy Lake will usually be good spots to fish for smallmouth bass. The spring and fall are better times to fish these area, but don’t rule them out in the summer. If you hit it right, you may catch a mess of bass from a very small section of water.
Fish the Islands
There are so many islands and most of them will hold some smallmouth bass. From summer through fall, the islands can be a great pattern for fishing on Rainy Lake. Find the ones with some rock and a nice drop-off and you will catch some fish.
Fish the Points
At times, the points can be very good. On Rainy Lake, the smallmouth tend to relate to the offshore structure more than the points and that probably has something to do with all the northern pike in this lake. You can definitely fish the points and catch some smallmouth bass. Some points will be very good and on some you are going to strike out. Hit enough of them and you will find the more productive points.
Fish Reefs
The reefs are awesome from summer through fall. This lake has a lot of them, so plan on covering some water if you want to fish the reefs. You may have to fish several of them to find fish also, but when you find a big school of smallmouth bass, you will understand why some people come back here every year to experience this fishery in the fall.
Fish the Rocks
This lake is loaded with tons of rocks. You won’t have a hard time finding rocks to fish. The challenge will be for you to eliminate the unproductive water and find the better areas to fish. It’s not super easy to do because everything looks so good here. However, most of the spots will hold at least some fish, so even if you can’t find the spots that produce 50 fish days, you should be able to pluck a couple fish from most of the good rocky areas.
Fish the Weeds
The weeds will not be the best pattern here most of the time, however, there are plenty of smallmouth bass that will be found in the areas that have some rock and some weeds in the area. Don’t rule out the weeds on this lake even though the better bite will usually be on the rocks.
Fish the Wind Blown Structure
Smallmouth bass will roam the offshore structures for most of the year here. With so many pike cruising the shallows on Rainy Lake, you will usually have to go much deeper to consistently catch smallmouth bass here. In the summer and fall, you will usually do much better fishing the windy sides of islands, points and reefs offshore.
