2016 Rainy River Conditions (Ice Out)

[Mikeyb_official]

I went out near manitou from shore today and caught a 21 inch walleye and a eelpout. Went out on monday near the rapids didnt even get a bite. In birchdale some guy said he caught 14 walleyes including a 30 incher. Dont take my spot at manitou tho 

[ducksnbucks]

We fished from Sunday about 10am through Tuesday about 10am, wetting a line for a total of 24 hours during that time. Water temps fell about 2 degrees during that time frame and the weather was nasty cold, except for Monday morning and evening which were still cold but at least not windy.

In that 24 hours we only boated 6 sturgies. 30, 33, 40, 52, 53, 54" fish. Bites were very light and even when holding the rod/line the bites were barely detectable. I think the cold from shut them down as we saw very few fish caught while we were there.

Parking at Wheeler's Point wasn't an issue, landing was about 75% full each day. Heading back up on the 21st, hope it warms up by then! Good luck if your heading up.

 

[rschmidty]

DnB, it's good to hear a report for sturgeon. We are heading up on the 13th. That's not terrible for 24 hours in tough conditions. Good luck the next time around.

[ducksnbucks]

Your are right, we thought the same thing that after only seeing about 8 other sturgeon caught that we didn't do that terrible given the conditions. It just felt terribly slow after catching 38 fish last year in 18 hours of fishing.

I would definitely recommend holding the rod and/or line if you can as 4 of our fish came on rods that were being held, the other two just barely hit it hard enough to detect the tip bounce on the rod.

Good Luck!

[LucasLongCaster]

Fished out of birchdale today got 26" walleye and a 40" sturgeon and a couple keeper eyes...battled the wind and cold see how tomorrow goes by the mouth 

[Crappie.Com]

Gophers... I created a new account to save you from going out of the mouth unless your targeting sturgeon.  2 days 16hrs there 4 walleyes 1 saugeye small. Best of luck on whatever you choose.

[Shane shadrap]

This past weekend was slow on the rainy.  Gophers 4L and I started at birch dale and the current was very strong, still lots of debris collecting on the lines.  Gopher had 3 walleye and one nice 35 to 40 in sturgeon up there while I got skunked.  Saterday was bad also. No eyes as the wind and current was terrible. We were at the mouth of the river by sportsmans.  Decided to target sturgeon and went on the main lake by pine island gap and got one 51 incher.  Most all reports were slow.  Water temp still below 40. 

This past weekend was slow on the rainy.  Gophers 4L and I started at birch dale and the current was very strong, still lots of debris collecting on the lines.  Gopher had 3 walleye and one nice 35 to 40 in sturgeon up there while I got skunked.  Saterday was bad also. No eyes as the wind and current was terrible. We were at the mouth of the river by sportsmans.  Decided to target sturgeon and went on the main lake by pine island gap and got one 51 incher.  Most all reports were slow.  Water temp still below 40. 

[fishing_frenzy]

We fished Birchdale for 7 days, April 1st through April 9th and had amazing fishing.  We caught 225 walleye in the 7 days we fished.  More than half of the fish caught were over 20" and there were a some nice fish over 27" as well.  It started slow the first day with 10 eyes, but it picked up nicely as the days passed.  The attached 30" Walleye and 65" Sturgeon were the biggest fish caught over our time there.  The water temps did cause for less fish caught, but we threw everything at them and did well.  Pitching jigs with paddle tails and crank baits worked best for us.  

 

I have seen a lot of reports for others not doing so well and that may be related to all of the boats that were anchored in one spot just waiting for the fish to swim by and bite.  

[Wally Lindner]

                 Fished Frontier the 12th through the 14th.  Water temps started at 35 and ended at 40, current was very strong.  Best depth for the two of us was 14 to 16 FOW and water with clarity at 18-24 inches. First day we jigged, casted, trolled jigs, and trolled cranks it was a bust with only 6 fish, but one 26.5 incher. Second day trolled cranks all day at 1 mph and caught 70 with 28 fish over 25 inches.  One 30 incher weighing only 9# 2oz and a 28.5 weighing an impressive 9# 14oz. Final Day trolling cranks all day except for one hour casting.  Caught 60 with two 28s big and 21 over 24 inches. The most common size fish caught in three days were the 26 inchers, the Rainy is doing WELL.  In three days we caught 5 fish on jigs and 131 on cranks.  Our best spring trip ever and we never caught a pike and only landed 12 sauger.

[White-tips]

I sure wish we would have had more time to spend at the Rainy this year, but it wasn't in the cards. We'll be back next year in full force.