Rainy River Fishing Report

[Wally Lindner]

Three of us fished monday and tuesday. Put in at Frontier one day and Vidas the next. Caught 74 total with a 31 incher weighing 10 1/2 pounds, wich was obviously the biggest of the trip. We also caught a 29.5,27.75, 27, 27, and fifteen more over the 24 inch mark. Water temp 44 degrees clarity 18" monday and 10" tuesday. Trolled cranks both days. Stayed at Ballards had a great trip. Very few boats on the River. Gap will be open by the weekend.

[Hookmaster]

Tell us a little more on your trolling tactics. Over structure? depth? type of lures? speed? Thanks. I plan on trolling some this year when I come up and any info you can provide will help.

[JackofAllTrades]

Fished river sunday and monday out of frontier. sunday morning we had to push off of about 15' of shelf ice, but when we loaded the boat that night it was all pretty much gone. sunday we caught around 60-70 eyes between 3 guys in a full day of fishing with only 2 biggerish fish at 26". also had a handful of sturgeon which we broke off (we do that on purpose). we were only able to fish a couple miles downstream of frontier until we hit the ice flow.

monday, caught around 70-80 eyes with 4-28"s. it was real slow all morning but in the afternoon we found a pod of fish on a mid river hump and the catchin got good. again, had a handful of sturgeon as well. we were able to fish about 4-5 miles downstream of frontier (that's as far as we wanted to go at the time). we never did see the ice flow, but when we talked with the DNR on our way out of frontier, he said it was open all the way to crawfords, with a little bit of shelf ice.

typical baits were working- jigs with rainbows, no specific color. sunday afternoon it seemed no matter what you put on you would catch something. any plastic, any jig.

we were suppose to be in sioux narrows catching lake trout but decided not to risk it- i think we still had a successful trip, non the less.

Here are the pics from drewbop's trip. these are a few that i had. Will try to get more up soon.

[TMF89]

Guys, do you think the rain this weekend will affect fishing? Will there be enough to cloud up the river?

[goose89]

Guys, do you think the rain this weekend will affect fishing? Will there be enough to cloud up the river?

If you can go, go. Best way to learn how conditions affect results is to go out and experience them, esp if you're young and able. Noone knows what the water / forks / fish / wind / rain / ect / ect is gonna do for sure and how it's gonna affect fishing? btw, Did you get your oil and lower unit oil changed and figure out what the weird smell was??

[Wally Lindner]

Report as of this morning: river bite over due to water clarity, bite is good out on the gap.

[deerNneer]

Thanks Wally. Kind of a bummer as I get my stuff ready to head there this weekend. Any guess as to how long the river bite will be slow? Also, are people still doing alright catching strugeon?

[evinrude19]

i was also planning on coming up for friday and saturday. is it even worth it anymore? or can you still catch fish?

[Mike Stark]

you can still catch fish just not as many.

[goosemafia]

is the river open all the way to the lake yet? if so how much of the lake is open?

[Walleye Wegs]

Brother fished today boated 15 fish with 2 25"ers. Average size was about 17", water clarity was good about 20" he said.

ww

[fishnut2]

Fished from 4-7 pm today with pretty good success. 2 guys. 5 slots from 22-27 inches. Brought home 4 walleyes from 14-17 inches. Missed lots, no stingers. Caught 2 sturgeon as well, one went 38 one was 51. 51 was tagged. Water clarity was 2 feet. Earlier report to stay home due to poor clarity and bad fishing was incorrect near Baudette. Lots of fish to be caught.

[TMF89]

Well we're coming up this weekend, so would you recommend fishing from the accesses near Baudette?

[evinrude19]

i was also coming up tommorow. i was planning on fishing Vidas landing, should i try closer to Baudette?

[BigTen]

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[Wally Lindner]

Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to predicting when the river will clear up. It might be tomorrow? I do know this, 4 mile bay is hot!

[lakesbison]

4 mile bay & sportsmens, thats the ticket!

lots of fish being caught now.

[TMF89]

Is there any structure in the bay? I've never fished it before but from what I know it's pretty flat? Are you guys basically just drifting wherever or is there some sort of pattern to it? lol

[Mike Stark]

Wigwam posted some pics on their FB page of the Wheelers Point access parking lot. It was packed to the max. Trucks parked all the way down to Log Cabin Bait. Try to get to the landing early to beat the rush.

[Tim_Anderson]

Just a heads up from a reliable source (I did not experience this first hand)... word is that the stretch from Baudette to I-Falls (and likely further east and west) got a bunch of rain in the past 24 hours - rain that the rest of the state didn't get. What I hear is anywhere from 7/8 up to an inch or more. Many of us have experienced what that will do to the river between sunset and sunrise. I'm not saying it's going to be a mud and debris bath. I'm just saying to cover your bases as best as you can. Sometimes you gotta go when you can go, and it's a risk. Me - I'm gonna wait and see...so bring on the reports...please...

Can anybody up there confirm? If not, some of my cronies are up there fishing this weekend, and I can report river conditions whenever I hear from them.

[brmuskie]

I wasn't fishing today but was up as far north as Waskish and can verify that it rained, sprinkled, and misted all day up that way today. I talked to one guy who measured over an inch of rain just north of Red Lake in the past 24 hours. The good news is that the groundwater was really low going into last fall so not sure how much of that will run off directly into the rivers since there doesn't seem to be any frost in the ground anymore. Usually this time of year the rain runs off like it's on concrete because of the frost adn it has nowhere else to go - this year seems to be different.

[DTro]

Yikes...

I think I counted 4 boats all day today on Pool 2.

[brakedancer]

FYI there are plenty of walleyes to be caught between baudette and the gap..you don't have to fight the crowds up by the lake and the quality of fish might be better..I was there wed and thurs..caught many walleyes between 26" and 29"

Just have to explore a little

also Mr Walleye siteing..he could have starred in grumpy old men

[uffdapete]

Good observations brmuskie. And in answer to an earlier post just because the tribs let loose doesn't automatically mean it's over. There are different factors from year to year. This year we didn't have much snow to begin with and the frost is out so most if not all of the runoff went into the ground which was dry from lack of moisture since July. The Rat Root river is already at a low summer level and while I haven't seen the Bigfork and Littlefork in the last week I would guess they aren't that high either.

We did get 1.27" of rain in the last 36 hrs and most of that seemed to soak in too. Normally with that much rain there'd be water standing in the ditch along our street for a few days and there's barely anything there this morning. So all you have to worry about is the crowds!

[lakesbison]

We sittin in front of adrians, ITS A ZOO at least 200 boats. Walleyes left and right. Trailers about a mile down road from access to bait shop.

[Mike Stark]

We sittin in front of adrians, ITS A ZOO at least 200 boats. Walleyes left and right. Trailers about a mile down road from access to bait shop.

Thanks for the update. What is the water clarity like? Thanks.

[lakesbison]

Clarity about average , not bad. Just landed a 27" & guy next to us had 2 the same.

Its not fast and furious, but.consistent. Wind came up and about 200+ more boats came in off 4 mile.bay, you can literally walk boat to boat out here.

[brakedancer]

can just make out the white prop in the water..18" maybe..its good

[Mike Stark]

Thanks.

[Ballyhoo]

Heard good reports from right around Baudette, both sides. Up river and by the airport. Less traffic than out by the bay. Lots and lots of boats out there.