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What's the word?


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It's gotta be starting soon. I've been up on several MEA weekends in the past and done reasonable well.

Is anything going yet? What are the river conditions like? I'm wondering if it's going to get started kinda late this fall. It seems like everything has been a couple weeks, to a month behind this year.

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haven't you heard? I thought everyone heard.....the bird's the word!! (sorry, just a little family guy humor :))

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I think if you wait 2 weeks you will have missed the boat...Shiners were running pretty hard thurs night.

If you knew where to go you did pretty well. If you followed the herd you did OK.

People kept saying It's only going to get better, that may be so.

My boats out of the water I'm done.

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Ill be staying at the Royal Dutchman Oct 25,26,27 and maybe 28th. It should be good. I hear lots of 17-19" fish are in already.

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I think if you wait 2 weeks you will have missed the boat...Shiners were running pretty hard thurs night.

If you knew where to go you did pretty well. If you followed the herd you did OK.

People kept saying It's only going to get better, that may be so.

My boats out of the water I'm done.

I'm not too worried. Been going up for about 15 years in a row now and have always done well. Besides, if the shiners quit running, that means the one I put in front of their nose will be a welcome sight. grin

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Just got back yesterday. Caught lots of fish in the river from the airport and up. Fished mostly 16-18 ft and gold was the hot color for us. 3/8 oz jig with a red eye was the money lure. 3 boats and 14 guys we ate fish and took home limits for everyone. Released 28.5, 23 1/4, 23 and 22 inchers.

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pullin - Sounds good. Was that "up" towards Wheelers point or east?

Thanks,

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Sounds like the games back on!

How did the rains affect the water up there.

We got 3-4 inches here in TRF, and our river is up and muddy.

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As of yesterday I heard the levels were good and water wasnt murky. The rains can stop any time though.

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haven't you heard? I thought everyone heard.....the bird's the word!! (sorry, just a little family guy humor :))

LOL, that episode was freakin' hilarious!!!

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Pullin, heading up Thursday after work. How far up river from the airport did you venture? How is the water level overall?

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Great day last Wednesday on the lower river, no bugguns but lot's of 17-19's. Heard of folks spanking them Sunday between rains too?? Way to nasty for me to wanna go out over the weekend!! Heading out this evening and probably again tomorrow. Will fish the pond iffin the waters too yucked up maybe??

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We stayed at Bayview Lodge and went towards Baudette about 3 miles when we hit the river. One day we actually fished in front of the airport landing which is not public by the way and caught nice fish as well. It din't seem to matter where we were the fish were moving thru and you just had to sort out the small ones. They bite picked up for us on Saturday each time it stopped raining. Water clarity was good and water levels as well. 3/8 oz jigs were used by most of the guys some went to 1/2 but they were not needed.

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Thanks Pullin! Am gettin' excited to say the least.....

Funny, been doing this 15 years now and still get excited like it's the first time I've been there.......

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In two weeks you'd have missed the boat? Hmmmm... I dont thinks so. The fish just dont' vanish, they come back out the river too. an first safe ice on the rainy can be the best of all, ice fishing the rainy as they come back out, Oh boy, big ol' chartruse rattle spoon tip with a minner an bink, thar she blows!!

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Ya Im betting fishing in the river will go good through mid Nov as usual.

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Yo Ed, Iffin you are out by Wheelers access get them at Log Cabin Bait, iffin you're going thru Baudette get them at Howards Conoco station.

You got that right Steve, fish will go nutz till ice up and then they'll still be snappin under the ice!!

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Did the heavy rains Sat-Sun make the river murky? I figured it would a little bit. It was raining pretty hard when I left for home.

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just got back today. fished mon-wed. tough bite they had 3plus inches of rain sunday night. river got real muddy and was moving pretty good. best luck was out on the lake. fish were being caught on river but looking around at all the boats it look like a tough bite. should turn back on once the water settles back down

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From what I heard today the river did get murky and the guys had to fish outside pine.

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Ya. That's why I asked about the water clarity a few days ago. I kinda figured that rain would muck things up for a while. cry

It's not all bad though. That warm water influx, and fast current tend to drive more shiners up river as it washes out. More walleyes follow. An added bonus is how this flushes out leaves and debris from the bottom. Much cleaner, and easier dragging big crankbaits in mid-November as long as we don't get more heavy rains!

I can't wait for Deer Hunting season. There'll be about 10 boats on the river from Birchdale to the lake, and the big girls will be snappin' everywhere!!! laugh

Boar, when do you plan to head up? We should join forces and see what we can find. I'd be interested in giving that first ice bite a swing.

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Fished Friday and Saturday. I was at Morris gap,4 mile bay,and a little in the river. The water temp was around 50 degrees.

Our best luck was on the lake we did catch over the 2 days arond 100 fish but many,many were small. We were able to take our limits with some bonus saugers.We released 3 fish over 20 inches but nothing really huge. We did catch 3 sturgon one over 60 lbs which was a ball. I will be up again in 2 weeks remember we had a tough spring up here in the north so we figure it's about two weeks behind. Good luck

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No run to the Rainy at all? Bummer! I'll probably drag you up there kicking and screaming yet.

How did the water look this weekend? Was it still pretty murky, lots of debris, high, moving too fast?

Anyone find decent numbers of fish in the river? How was boat traffic?

I wonder if it's not going to be a month behind - just like spring? Might be a dynamite first ice bite out of Morris Point. smile

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Sam.. Water still a tad murky for my liking, not as bad as Tuesday for sure! Current not to severe and debris not bad, levels just fine. 2 groups I spoke with did'nt do much on the river over the weekend, coupla fish here and there. Did the lake again, good fishing though Saturday mass quantities of small saugers had moved in and were hard to keep off the hook! Crowds?... Well the terrorists were out on force thru the week and over the weekend! MEA week and weekend is the busiest of the entire fall season. Running the 8-9 miles from Wabanica downriver and out to the lake Saturday morning we probably saw 200+ boats.. YIKES!! I did not see a bent rod or a net flying the whole way either! It was kinda breezy Saturday making it kinda feel chilly and a bit bumpy on the pond so perhaps thats why so many in the river? Temp on the pond was 49 midday Saturday, last Tuesday we had 47. Cooler nites this week will drop water temps and the fish should soon be going hard and heavy. Tourist count should drop off major now too making the fishing/catching better. Might just have to fish some river spots hard this week as it should happen bigtime any day now.

fiskyknut

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How big of jigs are guys using so far? I remember using upwards of 1 ouncers last year...

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From the days report around the Royal Dutchman the water is cleaning up in the river and the levels are back down a bit again. Some of the 15-18" fish and a few bigger ones tossed in.

Another report I got had guys getting into some nice fish by Clementson today. Jig size was 3/8 to 1/2. Unless we get a ton of rain I dont think the big 1oz mammas will have to be used this year. Best colors were orange/chart and Glow white. Last year was terrible with fast high water and debry. It hasnt been that bad from what I have heard. Lets hope it keeps clearing up like it is and the weather stays stable.

Cant wait we are heading out early sat and will be at the Dutchman Sat/Sun/Mon.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
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    • LakeofthewoodsMN
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