Rainy River Fishing Report

[Tony S]

Anybody fishing on the river???  It's time for some reports!

[Tony S]

OK fished at Birchdale Saturday and it was horrible. Very few anglers and fewer fish.  Fished from Clementson to Pinewood Sunday and did much better.   Green jig and rainbow minnow.  Caught most of the nice fish deep, like 20 feet or so.  Wind made it tough to control boat.  Anchoring was definitely working better than drifting or going upstream from what I saw.  I think the lake-run fish are just getting up that far now.  Should be good with the continued warm weather in the forecast.  Going back for sure but not to Birchdale.

[Tony S]

OK my weekend #2 report.  Fished out of Vidas Saturday for 6 hours and Sunday for 3 hours.  Parking lot was full when I got there Saturday but far fewer rigs there on Sunday.  It was so bad that I pulled the plug at noon on Sunday and went home early despite the beautiful weather.  Just a few fish and most of them small.  There are not many fish around up that way; if you're going up soon fish closer to the lake or the lake itself if you can.  Some people were scratching out limits but not everyone.  If you were up there and did well you were in the minority.

[Jarrid Houston]

Was up this last weekend and drowned minnows.  Water temps were pretty cold.  I even believe that it was about 7 degrees overnight that Friday.  Saturday sun was warm and welcomed but it could still be brisk.  The current was ripping and the occasional ice float was present.  Water was also very dirty and not good for visibility.  As far as our success on our first trip up....It was a bust..  3 guys and only one caught a fish.  Oh well!  Timing is bad and my gut feeling says it wont be any better this coming weekend.  But.......... 

[BigPikeGuy]

I fished the river with 3 of my buddies for 4 hours on Friday and 7 hours on Saturday and we ended up catching 10 sturgeon.  One was a 66" x 30" whopper!!!  The others were 57", 54", 53", 49", 45",42", and the other 3 were in the mid 30s.  Night crawler big macs on 5/0 circle hooks with 24" leaders and 3 ounce weights did the work. 

It was cold and we like to party to we didn't fish really early in the morning or for long hours.

[556LaGue]

Was a rough weekend on the river! Weather wasn't the greatest and the fish didn't snap like we had hoped. We managed a nice 27" eye and a 43" sturgeon with a good number of fish under 19". Wasn't bad but could've been better. That's fishing! We heard good reports from others out of birchdale area landings. Good numbers of eyes and sturgeon. 1 oz jig and paddle tail plastics tipped w a minnow seemed to work for us. I've heard the weather has been better and the bite picked up since last weekend! I'll be back next year....

Edited April 13, 2016 by 556LaGue

[556LaGue]

The other boat that was with us is still up there  nailing em! Nice double boys!!

[nlayne882]

Had an awesome time this weekend minus the rainy weather. Water temp was steady around 42 Friday through Monday. Fished around the resorts by four mile, up by baudette, and vidas landing. Biggest was 60" between two boats, going back up next weekend looking to hit closer to 70"! 

[Mark Gangl]

Bay or up river producing better?

[nlayne882]

Caught more fish up river but they were very spread out and we had to keep moving until we found a hole that produced fish then sit on it for awhile then pick up and move again. The fish are definitely active you just have to hop around a bit. Didn't settle for a nice hole with only one or two fish within an hour  

Edited April 19, 2016 by nlayne882

[ducksnbucks]

Fished last Thursday night through Saturday night. Numbers were a bit on the slow side, managed 13 fish. Size was pretty good though with 2 small fish <40", one 42", 7 between 53-58", one 61", one 65", and one 67". Bite was extremely light and most were caught while holding the rods. Nobody seemed to be killing them, just one here and then one there scattered throughout the crowds. Water temps was 45.5 degrees. Good luck if you are going!