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Water temp.......


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Everyone the key to catching fish is for the fish to actually be there to catch....These fish are just now starting to stage up in the "gap" area of LOTW....They still have to travel about 25 miles to get to frontier. These fish will begin to move when the water temp tells them to move. These fish will show up in waves of fish, I am talking about schools of 100+ fish at a time moving up the river in these waves to make way to the Little/Big Fork rivers to spawn....These fish need to spawn at a certain temp.....Its not 33 degrees that makes these fish spawn....Its closer to 43 degrees or so....So we still have 10 degrees for ideal walleye spawning temp. So in the mean time these fish are NOT in the river, no reason for them to go. They have all the food they want to eat in the lake, when that lake water starts to warm these fish will make the journey, sometimes the entire thing in a day. Albeit a long run but when they meet your bait near Frontier they will be hungry or looking for a snack to replenish there strength for the rest of the journey and the exhaution of the spawn itself....These fish will show up its just a matter of when....First things first we need the water to warm up so the walleyes sense the urgency to move towards spawning grounds...These are not resident river fish...This spring migration is about 5% of LOTW walleye population that runs the Rainy river to spawn....Imagine all the other little feeder creeks in LOTW that the same exact thing happens.....The bite is SLOW right now in Red Wing due to the exact same thing....WATER TEMP....

It will happen, thanks to all that have posted about river conditions, it helps and its hard to sit here knowing the potential that Rainy River has but just like fishing you need to have patience for everything to come together......IT will....Good luck to everyone this spring....be safe and most importantly BE SMART!!!!

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Seems that a lot of people had read this post with NO replies????? What are your thoughts? Anyone else know why the fish are not biting?

Its not due to high current or debris.....

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A little from column A, a little from column B and a little from column C. All we can do is guess. I can't read a fish's mind. I think what he said sounds logical.

All I can say for sure is that I didn't catch any in 2 days. I believe the fish weren't there yet...

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There are two other threads where most folks are discussing the same things...current fishing reports, current river conditons, lots of speculation about this and that, why the fish aren't biting, what peoples future plans are, and basically just blowing off some pent up energy. I think most are participating there.

I guess I'm with you for the most part, but water temperature is just one variable (albeit an important one for sure). Like I said in another post, 40+ degrees is great, but we have nailed them year after year before it ever got that high. I've done plenty well when it was 36-38 degrees and the river was not melted near as far as it is now.

I heard a report that it was 34.5 today. Revised forecast for Friday, Saturday and Sunday is 40 degrees with some sun. Hopefully we will get in the upper thirties for water temp then, and things will finally start to happen. I guess I'm gonna find out for myself and head up Thursday night.

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I think walleyes29, and T.A. are both right. The fish wont move until the temperature tells them to. But they START spawning when the water reaches 40, and that means they will enter the river shortly before that. I was there last weekend and had no luck with the water at 33, so I hit Rainy Lake with the tip ups and fun any way. As soon as temps clear 35 it will be like fire up there. Good luck all.

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A little chemistry lesson...

Water is most dense at 39F. Therefore the deepest area of a frozen lake will always be 39F. If these fish are coming from 39F in LOTW, they will definetely react to 33-34 degree water from the river. Not to mention high current. The river fish will always be there and be able to be caught, but the lake fish, when they are there, will feed like crazy.

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I have been running the rainy since 1995, and seen all kinds of crazy thing happen on and in the river. I believe we are a bit early this year with water temps and river thaw. We have pushed boats over ice and done ok early, and seen the fish turn on and come back a week later and could not buy a bite. Who is to say that maybe, just maybe, some of the other spawning grounds aren't getting more fish traffic for some unknown reason? personally, I am hoping for the river to clear by easter weekend, and fish the mystical rainy until the season closes.

that is the only time frame that works for me this year. If that does not happen, maybe some time in the black hills chasing gobblers.Whatever happens, enjoy the spring. It is good to see so much interest pertaining to the river and the fishing. Take care all. Mallard1

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I've been fishing Rainy River for 8 yrs Spring and Fall. Good sucess in the spring has always been water temp for me. I don't even put the boat in the water till it reaches 36-37 deg where I'm fishing. This year it looks as if the current, not warm water temps have opened up the river so far this year(almost to Clementson now). I may go this weekend but looking at the river conditions now I will go the 9th thru the 14th and hope the water warms up to get these walleyes running! That's surface temp during the day by the way...

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Water temp relayed from a guest was 34.5.

Locators, like auto sensors are not precision instruments for temperature and could vary significantly. Better used as a relative reading in what yours says today and tomorrow but as a ball park number, higher than what we have seen.

Best visual for the day was clarity! Vastly improved for the last 3 days.

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Hopefully with the sunny skies in the forecast the water temp will gradually increase...I am thinking about heading up friday night packing for a week and a half....Guess the only way to find out if the fish are biting is to fish yourself...good luck to everyone

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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. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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