Updated July 29, 2025

• Sorry, but I am not accepting any additional reservations for 2025.  Thanks for checking and reading about Rainbow Bay Resort.
• Fishing for bass and panfish on Benoit has been solid during July.
  
  
  
  
   
• Jackie's niece and nephew visited for several days.  They caught some nice bluegills at the deep weed-line on Benoit Lake.  Good Job Layla and Jack!

  
   

• The G. Family had fun over the 4th of July!
  
  
   
• We watched the fireworks display in the town of Shell Lake.  It was a pleasant evening.
  
  
   
• The bass fishing in Benoit and area lakes was very good in June.  Cousin Jack and I had fun catching a bunch one day at a nearby lake.  (June 2025)
  
   
• Bryan and I shared some laughs and good fishing at nearby lakes during late-May, 2025.
  
   
• Les with some nice crappies from Benoit Lake, May 2025.
  
   
• I installed a new sign that my neighbors, Bill and Joyce, gave me.  Thank you Bill and Joyce!
  
   
• Bob and Sue W caught some good crappies in our bay during May, 2025.
  
   
• There was a good panfish bite on Benoit Lake during early-March, 2025.
  
  
   
• There is solid ice on the lakes I've visited.  People are driving trucks and ATVs on many lakes. We had a couple of mornings of -30 F (without accounting for wind chill)! The photo below is from the thermometer on the deck at my house on the morning of January 20, 2025.  (Jan 20, 2025)
  
   
• I've had some good fishing at a nearby lake with friends. (Feb 6, 2025)
  
  
  
   
• We've had a few cold snaps and people are ice fishing on some of the lakes.  I had some good panfish action on one nearby lake. (Dec 23, 2024)
  
   
• Fishing was good on Benoit and other area lakes during July through September.  Soft plastic baits near deep weed edges were productive for bass (Dec 23, 2024).
  
  
   
• I observed NO zebra mussels on a sampling device that I had suspended under a dock during the summer of 2024.  Thank you to all who are careful to clean their boats before launching them into Benoit Lake. (Dec 23, 2024)
• Zebra mussels were discovered in Big McKenzie Lake in October, 2016 and then in Middle McKenzie in 2017.  Both of these lakes are only a few miles from Benoit Lake but are not directly connected to Benoit Lake.  Zebra mussels are an invasive species that can harm lake ecosystems.  We are concerned that these invaders are so close to our lake.  We encourage all boaters and anglers to be cautious when trailering boats between waters.  These boaters should always completely drain live wells, bait buckets, and lower units when departing a lake to help prevent the spread of zebra mussels and other aquatic invasive species.  It is typically impossible to rid a lake of an invasive species once it becomes established.  The DNR will continue to monitor Big McKenzie and Middle McKenzie lakes for zebra mussels in 2018.
  I have hung a sampling device from our main dock in the summers of 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.  The device is a series of flat plates layered horizontally.  Larval zebra mussels are free floating and will attach to a hard surface.  When I pull the dock ashore in fall, I inspect the device for evidence of zebra mussels.  I'm told that they would feel gritty on the undersurface of the plates.  Fortunately, I've observed no evidence of zebra mussels in Benoit Lake so far.
  If you take your boat to other lakes, especially Middle McKenzie and Big McKenzie, please be especially careful before launching your boat into Benoit Lake.  Thank you in advance for being extra careful!
• State law prohibits smoking in motel and tourism rooms statewide.  The law went into effect on July 5, 2010.  Smoking is still permitted outside.  We ask that our guests please respect this new law and also properly dispose of their butts.
  
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