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Possession limit is based on the water you are fishing on. He must of still had the cleaned walleye in his possession from the day before. Technically if you have your possession limit cleaned and stored or in the live-well you are done fishing until you eat some. If you catch your limit that day and eat them you are still done for the day. Make sure everybody in your party has the same story or it could be a very expensive shore lunch. cry

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Run off is still going fairly slow, most of the snow is already gone. We had less snow here than they had south of here. Run off is more a trickle than a rumble.

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Just had some fishermen check in and said the couny cleared frontier landing a few min. ago. River is open to Clemenson.

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Dutchmantoo,

To give us an idea of river flow and what to pack the most of, what weight jig is being used now?

Also, so I have it right, both birchdale and Frontier are open for big boats without having to drop over shore ice?

Thanks,

ccarlson

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Yes, both Birchdale and Frontier are go to go for big boats, no ice on the ramps. As of today 3/8 oz. jig is working fine, may want to bring some heavier in case the flow picks up a little. Water clarity is still holding good.

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When the forks bust loose, typically how long does the water stay muddy? Once it clears does the fishing pick up? Has there ever been a year where there was no dirty water?

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I just got back from a day trip, The ice is cleared at both Frontier and Birchdale, had to wait at BD for cty to finish and then saw them a while later at Frontier. We caught 17 fish today all males 17"-23" Missed at least that many fish! (Rusty) No bigger fish, We caught most of them in two short stretches and moved on to try to find more/bigger fish. Didnt happen so we went back and caught more. Should not have left fish to find fish. 1/4 oz Northland Thumper jig with a slurpies grub and fathead was the ticket today. They really wanted it dragging down stream about the same pace as current 1.0 to 1.2 MPH GPS speed.

Not much for current and water was fairly clear no grass or debris (other than a few ice bergs)

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When the forks bust loose, the water is typically dirty for at least a couple of weeks. I have been doing this for over ten years now, and I have never seen a season when the water remained clean (and fishable) the entire season. Rather, two weeks or less is usually what you get. My advice would be don't wait too long. The next 7 to 10 days should be the ticket. And once it gets dirty, don't expect it to clear up before the walleye season closes. If you're after sturgeon, you should be able to get back up once it clears.

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Hey Tim,

Have to believe we will run into each other over the next few days (not literally I hope). Are you still in the green Ranger? I'm still in the blue & White Smoker.

My memory is sometimes distorted with time but we recall a full season in '03 & again in '07 or '08. Could be wrong.

Did see her clear up for the last day of the season after getting ugly for a week. Was too late to let anyone know so M & I were the only boat on the river. Just hammered pigs in total solitude. Tough job but somebody's got to do it!

Fore cast looks good for continued good fishing (with no guarantees). The snow is virtually gone here, although I haven't been east or south, so can't see that run-off can be a real big problem without some significant rain.

Temps will start back down after a couple more days and actually firm things up at night so feels pretty good fo now. Can't believe we are looking at the potential for a month of river fishing! Can't believe we won't lose it at some point also.

Heard an unconfirmed huge number of fish caught by a party yesterday. Won't feed the nay-sayers by putting in the number but hope to generate our own confirmed number today!

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Yep Doug you are right, I was fishing the last weekend in '08 and the river was clean and producing.

I hope everything holds out til easter weekend because thats the earliest I can fish this year. grin I guess time will tell.

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I should rephrase. We were fishing the end of the season in 08, but I don't remember the river opening until very late March or early April. I guess my point was that the season USUALLY is only two weeks long or so because of mud and debris. I hate to see guys wait too long and then have a bummer trip. I had stuff scheduled for the weekend of the 27th, but decided to move things up.

Oh boy do I ever hope you are right and we have three or four weeks of great fishing this year! Twould be great for everybody. My philosophy is, best to get up there and get it done right away. Then maybe if it stays good, I can go back up for another trip.

Yep Doug, I'm still in the green Ranger. If you see me, stop by and say "hi". I'll keep my eye open for you. Will try to give you a "bonafide" report sometime this week. Would like to see you get full up and stay that way!

Good luck fishing guys...

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I definitely appreciate you guys keeping us posted. If I read a couple of good reports I may be able to talk my dad into going up there for a day/weekend trip, just make sure you post some pictures for me to show him, he's one of those guys that won't believe it until he sees it, and after last year's disappointing day (around 15 small eyes, 1 sturgeon hookup/got off, 1 ticket for expired tabs) he said he won't go back unless they're jumping in the boat

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Tim & Dutch, I have also been going up for over ten years. I watch hydrographs and every other available bit of information. Every year I think I become closer to figuring things out...and then something changes. There's just so many variables (fall river levels, winter flow, ice thickness, snowmelt rate...you name it). I would have to agree that on a typical season once the Forks break it is pretty well a done deal. However, this year I'm thinking things might be different. From what I'm hearing the flow seems to be normal as of right now, and I understand most of the melting and runoff has occurred. The Forks look like they went up about 3-4 ft. the last couple of days. Typically, this is when they break loose because the ice essentially becomes a floating mass as the water rises and the combination of the increased flow causes the river to break. It looks like the levels have stabilized and if it doesn't break before they come back down then the ice will just slowly melt day by day with warmer temps. Of course a big rain event or snowmelt from a spring storm would change everything. If we weren't to get either of those, I think we would see an entire season here. Of course, I pushed my trip back from this weekend to try and wait for more big fish to enter the river based on my theory...watch it bite me in the butt!! Can't thank you guys enough for all of your helpful posts. Can't imagine trying to plan thi strip 20-years ago. Draw straws I guess!

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Trouble posting. Keep it short.

Clarity returning. Some pigs reported with 30 1/4 tops.

Will post more soon

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Thanks for all your hard work Rick and gang, to get us back up!

Thanks Tim A for checking in, hope clarity at Birchdale improves daily, which cool down should do.

Best group on Wed had 8 over 24" with 29 1/2" big. On Thurs. had 28 & 30 1/4. Four of 6 guys had lifetime best eyes. Not bad. Twister tail & minnow.

No great numbers yet. Fish are schooled in certain areas, if you find fish, stay with them.

Will report more later.

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Hi guys, Hows everything looking after the weekend? Did the clairty improve and temps come up?

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From Pinewood down to Baudette we had 2 units reading between 35 & 36 F on Sunday. Not sure where you were to see chalky Jonny cause we actually thought clarity was improving. Maybe wishful thinking!

Fishing was fantastic on Sunday with 1 of the prettiest days I've had on the river for a while. I wish catching was a bit better though with fish coming from only a couple of spots.

Seemed to us that level had dropped & flow was a bit slower also.

We will be at the NW SportShow in the Minneapolis all next week so stop by the Hidden Island booth and we'll all wish we were on the Rainy together!

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Fishing was dead yesterday. Launch at Vidas headed to Birchdale and worked our way back. 2 guys in a boat never caught a fish. Tried for Sturgeon no luck there either. I could see my jig about 6-12 inches down. Stopped and talked to many boat and only heard of one fish caught. Must have been better closer to the lake. Better luck next time.

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I just got back from a 3 day trip and it was tough. We caught 10 fish a day with 3 lines in the boat for 8-9 hours of fishing. Big fish was 27" with no sturgon being hooked (we don't fish for them). We launched from Birchdale everyday. There is no one there. If you want to camp at Birchdale it is wide open. We had 6"-8" clarity the whole time. I talked to the CO yesturday and our report was the best he had heard or seen. All that being said we had a blast and it was nice having the river to ourselves.

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Fishing was fantastic on Sunday Dutchman???? What kind of numbers and where were you at?

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Dutchman,

How was fishing/Catching today. We are heading up to see you on Friday. What size jig have you been using?

thanks for the help.

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