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Spring Bite on the Rainy


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There is no imaginary "line" on the Rainy River as far a travel goes. It is a navigable waterway. Unless you set foot on Canadian soil, dock your boat on their side of the river or tie your craft to a Canadian vessel you are free to be wherever you want on the river without an I-68 or a canpass. You are still subject to Ontario game laws on their side of the river but they do not have the authority to chase you onto our half of the river if you decide to move your boat over a few inches towards the south. A lot of people spreading paranoia and misinformation here so relax on the river next month and feel free to drive your boats wherever you want to on the river. If you have a couple of fish in your livewell and no Ontario fishing license don't beach your boat on the canadian shoreline and take a nap and you'll be just fine.

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Guess I have been told wrong info by many up in that area. Thats what I have been told more than once. Not what the guy that got fined told me at all.

Guess it is worth a phone call to the Ontario office. Need to get some info from the horses mouth.

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Call a port of entry near the Rainy River and ask to speak to an officer familiar with this specific inland waterway. I'm not advocating that anyone should fish illegally in Canadian waters but their jurisdiction does end in Canada and does not include the United States. Border Patrol cannot legally enter Mexico to pursue a suspect since it violates Mexican sovereignty and international law so the same would apply to Ontario game wardens.

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Call a port of entry near the Rainy River and ask to speak to an officer familiar with this specific inland waterway. I'm not advocating that anyone should fish illegally in Canadian waters but their jurisdiction does end in Canada and does not include the United States. Border Patrol cannot legally enter Mexico to pursue a suspect since it violates Mexican sovereignty and international law so the same would apply to Ontario game wardens.

Same thing I explained above and I tested it. Never again though.

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After talking with the US Customs and Border Patrol and the Ontario CBP here is what I wwas told.

US Custom and Border Patrol agent told me I should not cross the line to simply navigate from point a to point b without the proper paperwork ie-Canpass or Rabc.

Ontario I asked the same question and thier agent said I could cross the imaginary line as long as I did not touch the Ontario shoreline and beach the boat. He also said, no alochol can be in the boat and NO minnows.

So, as always, when I am up fishing, I will be staying on the US side as I always have minnows in the boat like more than likely all fisherman.

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There is no imaginary "line" on the Rainy River as far a travel goes. It is a navigable waterway. Unless you set foot on Canadian soil, dock your boat on their side of the river or tie your craft to a Canadian vessel you are free to be wherever you want on the river without an I-68 or a canpass. You are still subject to Ontario game laws on their side of the river but they do not have the authority to chase you onto our half of the river if you decide to move your boat over a few inches towards the south. A lot of people spreading paranoia and misinformation here so relax on the river next month and feel free to drive your boats wherever you want to on the river. If you have a couple of fish in your livewell and no Ontario fishing license don't beach your boat on the canadian shoreline and take a nap and you'll be just fine.

As long as you do not have any minnows or booze in your boat. If you do, then you cannot cross the line. I think most all fisherman have minnows in the boat for jigging the springtime walleye bite.

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I cant wait to get on that open river... been way too long for me.. If anyone is going soon and has room or wants company let me know..

As for the invisible line issue, I have always had an issue with it.. I can see no fishing or docking but navigating is ok.. beer or bait in the boat.. If you don't stop they should not bother you. But if they do, as long as you stop on the US side they can not deal with you... My .02 cents worth, if they want to enforce an invisible line they better mark it.. That's just real live in my book..

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For those of you who are not currently aware...

We are now experiencing yet another winter storm. This one is slated to drop over 6+ inches of snow in the Warroad/Baudette area, and will be accompanied by 25-40 mph winds.

Our coming week's forecast calls for temperatures to remain below freezing until at least next Saturday, and the weatherman out of Grand Forks, ND, stated he did not anticipate ANY significant melting of snow until at least the end of March.

It may be a pretty small window this year, but at least we'll be ice-fishing for a while yet! smile

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
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    • 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
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