Voyager's National Park

[Greg P.]

If you are headed up to Voyager’s National Park, Rainy, Kabetogama, Namakan, and other lakes in the park. Be sure to check with the park service for rules regarding transporting fish. These lakes are considered experimental waters, and restrictions apply.

You may clean and eat fish while you are camping, or staying at a resort, but you must leave the fish whole for transportation out of the park. I am not sure exactly what lakes this rule applies towards, but I know it is enforced at the Ash River visitor center, which has access to the entire park.

I was up there this weekend and saw several very nice bags of fish confiscated as boats were docking to leave the park. These fish were filleted with the required square inch of scales, and easily countable. They were confiscated because they must be left whole until you exit the park.

I recall one ranger saying this was a new rule. I did not see any signs indicating this new rule. I imagine it is listed somewhere in the rules.

So please be warned to check the rules regarding transporting fish, and of course, observe the slot limits.

Greg P.

[Xplorer]

I will strongly echo Greg's advice. I was also on Namakan/Kab this past weekend and did see a group of 4 loading up next to us get their fish confiscated and at least two of them got tickets. The DNR was at the landing checking most everyone when we came out on monday afternoon. Even asked to look thru my cooler. I believe the regs also apply to SandPoint and Crane lakes as well.
Also a word of caution about rocks. Saw one unlucky person being towed back on Sunday without a lower unit. Some of the rocks are marked but many are not, use caution if you are unfamiliar with these lakes.
Greg, how did you do on Rainy?? I never did get over there. Had very good mixed bag action all weekend on Kab and Namakan. Released many eye's over the 17" slot in Kab, smaller fish were in shallow bay areas on Namakan. Also caught/released bass up to 17 1/2", and two huge northerns in Namakan. I caught a 39" fish jigging for eye's, and my wife caught a 37" that nearly pulled the rod from her arms (we were trolling shad raps along steep rock dropoffs along shorelines) and then almost broke her rod, it was bent half-way under the boat on one of its initial runs. She had a blast, didn't want to lose her "lucky plug"! Hope the pictures turn out!! Hope your weekend was as enjoyable. Chris E. A/K/A Xplorer

[Xplorer]

I will strongly echo Greg's advice. I was also on Namakan/Kab this past weekend and did see a group of 4 loading up next to us get their fish confiscated and at least two of them got tickets. The DNR was at the landing checking most everyone when we came out on monday afternoon. Even asked to look thru my cooler. I believe the regs also apply to SandPoint and Crane lakes as well.
Also a word of caution about rocks. Saw one unlucky person being towed back on Sunday without a lower unit. Some of the rocks are marked but many are not, use caution if you are unfamiliar with these lakes.
Greg, how did you do on Rainy?? I never did get over there. Had very good mixed bag action all weekend on Kab and Namakan. Released many eye's over the 17" slot in Kab, smaller fish were in shallow bay areas on Namakan. Also caught/released bass up to 17 1/2", and two huge northerns in Namakan. I caught a 39" fish jigging for eye's, and my wife caught a 37" that nearly pulled the rod from her arms (we were trolling shad raps along steep rock dropoffs along shorelines) and then almost broke her rod, it was bent half-way under the boat on one of its initial runs. She had a blast, didn't want to lose her "lucky plug"! Hope the pictures turn out!! Hope your weekend was as enjoyable. Chris E. A/K/A Xplorer

[Greg P.]

Xplorer,
We caught fish, but not that many. We caught a couple of slot limit fish, and a bunch of smaller walleyes. Started out fishing the reefs, with little luck, then moved to shoreline points and did a little better. Caught all our fish on minnows, nothing on leeches. Best bet was a plain hook with a slip bobber. Caught some jigging also.

Lots of boat traffic in the river channel, so I stayed away from that. Too many boats cruising by at half throttle making huge wakes. I don’t know why they don’t get up on plane, or troll by. Either is better than plowing by at full wake 20 ft from other boats. I heard that Hale Bay on the Canadian side was full of walleyes. We did not have Canadian licenses, so we did not try it.

It seemed that the walleyes had not moved out onto the reefs yet. Water temp was still quite low, low 50’s, and the majority of the fish were still on shoreline structures. They tend to be a little more spread out before moving onto the reefs, and catching them is a little more work.

One interesting incident, one boat cruised by us at half plane making a huge wake while we were anchored near an island in the middle of the lake (Boob’s Island). There was plenty of room on either side of us. They cruised around at full wake within 30 feet of our boat, graphing the reef we were fishing. To make matters worse, they had heavy metal music blasting loud enough for us to name the song they were playing until they were out of sight. I cannot believe anyone can be so rude, there were 4 people on the boat, if I was on that boat I would have not allowed it. I enjoy a little music while fishing once in a while, but never loud enough to disturb any other boats.

Had a great time, and the weather was pretty darn nice.

Glad to hear you guys caught some nice fish. Sounds like you did much better than us.

I hope to get back up there soon, maybe the 17th or 24th of June. Camping on Rainy. Let me know if you can make it.

Later,
Greg P.

[Xplorer]

Greg,
The weather WAS great. You are right about the folks at full wake. We were fishing along the shoreline area of wolf island on Kab and had several boats do the same thing. I will not be able to get back to Voyaguers until the middle of July. Don't feel too bad for me tho, I'm going to Alaska for two weeks the end of June and need to finish up some "projects" before then. I've already got my halibut charter booked and will be doing some salmon fishing. Will have to ply my wares on the St Louis river/Lake Superior till I get back.
I usually fish the canadian side of rainy in July, Swell and Redgut bays, and have had excellent luck. I have a friend from I'falls whose family has an island cabin over there I can stay at. If you ever are going to that area let me know and I can point you to some good spots to hit.
Most of our nice eye's came from on Kab in 12-14' along the east side of wolf island. Hit a small area that they were stacked in. every time i went thru with lindy rig/leech I'd get a hookup. All in the same size range, 17-20.5"! Good luck up there in a few weeks, I'd would think they should be thick on the reefs by then! Xplorer