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Rainy River Fishing Report


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A great big thanks for the great report Ivy!! You guys worked hard and it payed off!! Good job!! Hopefully I can make it up next w/end. 8 years in a row and only 1 that was a flop. Pretty hard not to go but money is tighter too this year so.....

Thanks again!!

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Hey Ivy (Roger)

Thanks for the care package! Must have missed you by minutes. Maybe next year, eh?

Reports are improved today! Ones and twos turned into teens and twentys today with some mid 20" fish reported. Had my best personal day so far with a nice fat 27" that Carl netted just as the stinger straightened out.

Temp didn't top out quite where it was yesterday (35.5) but had about 2 feet of vis compared to 18" yesterday so maybe that is the difference. Bite does seem to be really spotty with a few guys finding a nice hot spot.

Still talking to folks that aren't catching at all but see boats moving way too fast for good bait presentation. Sow & steady seems to be woking best. My $.02.

Hope we see this kind of improvement each day!

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Hurried up to Rainy last night to fish with a couple of my friends that caught em pretty good yesterday. We went out today and it was a totally different story. Caught 5 waldos and 1 sturgeon for 3 of us in 6 hours of fishing. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some better results.

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Well against my better judgment, I was somehow convinced by my buddy to come up early this morning rather than waiting until later in the week when the warm weather rolls in. In short, I should have trusted my instincts and stayed home. There are SOME fish being caught, but it appears that very little has changed from this past week in terms of the walleye bite. We popped a couple, and even managed a very healthy looking 23"...but that's it. Every group we talked to had very similar stories; 4 to 6 fish for the entire day with some guys in the boat not catching a thing. On a positive note though, we did witness several sturgeon caught today. I even managed to hook up with a dinosaur briefly before it bent my hook and swam off.

The forecast for the next few days calls for a whole lot of wind and very little sun. If we do manage make it out tomorrow, I'll post a report.

Ramps:

All systems go for big boats at Vidas, Frontier, and Birchdale

River:

Temp - 34 deg on our transducer

Clarity - up to 2 feet

Current - moderate to strong

Good luck to all those up here hoping for it to turn on!

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After trying many of our usual spots, we finally found some walleyes. We didn't start getting them until the sun came out. Not sure if it was the sun or the spot we were in. We got 15, two 25" and one awesome 28" and the rest 22" and under. Saw a few boats getting some when we started to get them. Didn't see any big picture fish caught except sturgeon. Back up Wednesday to try again. Can't wait! Sounds like the next few days will be tough weather. Good luck to those up there.

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Had a group come in last night that reported getting six fish in a half hour right at dark all between 22" and 25 1/2". Two boats, five guys also brought in 10 eaters. Another group reported two 29s yesterday. Others didn't do as well but everyone got some fish. Doug is going out today so look for his post later.

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Making the rounds last night it seemed like the ones who caught Fri., caught Sat. and those that didn't Friday, didn't Sat.

Some caught until the sun came out and as posted above, some caught when it came out.

One group got into some big girls right before dark.

Forecast has some wind for today & Mon., then near perfect through the 14th.

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fished thurs afternoon to sat evenin. Only five on thurs, biggest was a 25". fri ended up findin a little honey hole and made a late run, ended up with 15 and 1 sturegon. Then sat hit the same spot caught 3 our first pass biggest bein a 25 1/4" and then made two more passes with no fish (think the sun might have hurt us a bit). Searched all the way up to the baudette bridge pickin up a couple more slot fish and 1 more sturegon. Went back to our spot at sunset and anchored. Picked up a 27 a 25 1/2 and a few more we had to throw back. Want to thank the fine gentlemen at the dutchman once again for an amazing job making us feel at home!!!!! Good luck to those makin the trip this year!!!!

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Had our best day so far. Full sun all day added a degree to river temp even though air temp hardly got above freezing. Wind was gusty and brutal but fish were actually "whacking" the bait for the first time. Tips were freezing as was line on the spool but enough fish action to keep warm.

Fished 10:30 -2PM with 2 buddies with 15 - 20 fish, threw them out and picked up Carl till 7ish for another 15 - 20 fish. Nothing huge. Biggest 23, 4 or 5 20's 19, 18, beautiful 18" sauger and on down.

Fish were hitting hard but would sometimes hit once and be gone. We probably missed half our bites and I caught 90% on the stinger. Nice to have agressive fish!

Heard lots of 1 & 2 fish reports but saw a lot of boats moving much faster than us. We were resisting the current and letting our lines go behind the boat, very slowly drifting down stream.

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We fished for sturgeon friday and saturday morning and did fairly well. We landed 18 and lost 3. Biggest was 56" with 3 others over 50". Didn't see much for walleyes get caught but the water temp seemed to go up a bit with the sunshine. Good Luck.

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Have been at it for 3 days now. We have been pretty happy with our results considering the conditions.

We had two boats. Our other boat spent the vast majority of their time chasing sturgies, and did very well. They caught right in the neighborhood of 50 sturgeon, and had some really nice fish. I think their biggest fish (several) were around 60" and lots of 50's.

We have been chasing walleyes more than sturgies in my boat, but have been doing some of both. The eyes have been pretty challenging. We caught 23 on Friday, 27 on Saturday, and 25 today. Today, we had a good walleye bite, but spent the vast majority of our time fishing sturgeon. Based on the rate we were catching the eyes tonight, I'm thinking we would have had a really good day (maybe 75) if we had stayed at it all day.

But we had an amazing sturgeon day. We caught a dozen, but most all really big. Our biggest was 61 inches with a 28 inch girth. Next was a 65" with a 25 inch girth. 7 more in the fifties, two in the forties, and one in the thirties.

It was very windy and cold today, but at least the sun was out for a change.

Clarity depends on where you are, but mostly 18" or more. Clearer as you go east. Current is still fast, and really seemed to kick up a notch yesterday. I wondered if they opened up some gates up at I-Falls?

We are having no problem feeling bottom with 1/4 or even less while drifting, but that has not been very productive. Pitching unfortunately hasn't been working very well either. Getting a few vertical. But mostly our walleye bite has been trolling upstream really slow with 3/8 or 1/2 depending on the spot. Jig and minnow has been the best. Finally got a few on plastics today though. Current breaks and hovering just off bottom has been crucial for us.

Hardly anyone using Birchdale. Frontier hasn't been that busy either. I haven't been as far west as Vidas, but I heard the most boats were down there, and that landing was the busiest. Of course, everyone cleared out today.

Water temp remains pretty cold. I'm not trusting my unit as they seem to vary by a few degrees with everyone you talk to. I still have not heard of anyone over 35 point something.

Sounds like we have some sun and slightly warmer weather coming for the long term. Tributaries seem to be holding steady. Based on the long range forecast, we just might make the season before they break loose. Lets hope.

Can't remember if I said so, but our largest walleye is 26". We have many more in the 23-25 inch class. I feel we would be doing better with both numbers and size if we were committing all day every day to walleyes, but alas, the sturgies are too alluring.

Heading back out to the park now. Will continue fishing here until the season closes as long as the river cooperates. Got a blank day here and there if anyone wants a trip short notice. If so, call and leave a message. I am coming in to town most nights to check messages and communicate.

Wish I had the time and wherewithall to post some of our pictures cuz we've got some great ones, but I will do it when I get home.

That should about do it. Time to get some sleep!

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Sounds like Friday was aweful good for you wally-wise Tim.

Everyone cleared out today huh?

Think Spring!... Oh we are!

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On Saturday when we caught fish, we also were back trolling into the current, casting our line down current and then keeping the boat speed between 0 (no movement) and .5 mph(the current movement not trolling up stream) which allowed us to cover some ground. We were using plastics and caught all of our fish including 2 25" and 1 28" with this method. We use this method most of the time since I believe it looks more natural to the fish, as your bait looks like it is also swimming up stream with the current. It also presents the lure in the strike zone longer as the fish are swimming upstream. Just our method.

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But we had an amazing sturgeon day. We caught a dozen, but most all really big. Our biggest was 61 inches with a 28 inch girth. Next was a 65" with a 25 inch girth. 7 more in the fifties, two in the forties, and one in the thirties.

THATS the kind of report I was looking for. Very, very nice!! Only 10 days to wait...

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Originally Posted By: Tim_Anderson
But we had an amazing sturgeon day. We caught a dozen, but most all really big. Our biggest was 61 inches with a 28 inch girth. Next was a 65" with a 25 inch girth. 7 more in the fifties, two in the forties, and one in the thirties.

THATS the kind of report I was looking for. Very, very nice!! Only 10 days to wait...

OMG. How and I going to sleep between now and then. Thanks Tim.

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We ended up just going up on Saturday, the fella I was going with backout out at 1 o'clock when we were supposed to leave at 4:30, so I ended up talking my dad into going on Saturday. Half way up he realized he didn't renew the tabs on his boat, said screw it he'll take the ticked. We ended up getting busted, but the CO was as nice as could be.

Only ended up fishing from 9:30-5ish. We didn't do too bad seeing it was both our first time river fishing, but we didn't light 'em up. We ended up with 17 eyes, all under 21", and 2 sturgies, 48" and 42". It did seem that just as many sturgeon were caught on Saturday. It seemed like every time we looked around there was a couple of rods doubled over. Biggest we heard of was 58 1/2", but we did see one guy catch one on eye gear at 52", and saw another guy fighting one for at least an hour, we ended up leaving before he got it in the boat. We caught almost all our fish in one spot, about 2-3 miles toward the lake from Frontier, right on a big bend in the river as close to the Canadian side as we dared to venture, in line with a house on the Canadian side that had a flag pole in the lawn. We did talk to several people that were targeting sturgeon and most boats had anywhere from 5-20 fish in the boat.

BTW, sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to ya Tim, I was hoping to shoot the bull a little bit but it looked like the COs were busy talking to ya. Glad to hear you're getting something!

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Tim I plan to come up wed night and fish the rest of the weekend. What to the campgrounds look like? are they full? The west side of Birchdale was mostly wet and under water and the east side was full of snow when I was up two weeks ago. Can you give me an idea on what it is like now, will I find room with the pick-up camper? Thanks in advance for any info..

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Pat, You should be fine either way (birch or frontier) if you are coming up on Wed. It's very quiet up here right now. Accesses are really slow, and so are the campgrounds. They plowed parts of frontier, otherwise a bit sloppy but do-able. I can't say for Birch as I haven't been there, but I assume it's about the same.

Fishahaulik, yeah, sorry I didn't get to talk to you. Wardens were checking us out pretty thoroughly.

Report for today was just a little better again. Again, sunny all day, but really windy. We fished the first half day for sturgies. Caught 15. Biggest was 61 x 26. Fished eyes the afternoon. Caught 37. Biggest was 25. No real hogs, but we had a hard time catching eaters. Vast majority of them were 19-24.

Boat control and lure presentation was a challenge today because of the wind and cold, but again, a notch better. Warmer temps coming and I am excited. Just gotta figure out what to do with my face. It is FRIED!

See you on the river!

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Tim, thanks for the update I will pull into Frontier late Wed. night. White Truck with a gray Skeeter wx1880 if you see me around come on over and say Hi. Pat

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First timer on Rainy River coming up tonight. Anyone share the best landing to go out of and to fish by? How deep for eyes and best rig and depth for sturgeon?

Thanks in advance!

Godd fishing

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losthikingguide,

You barely beat me to the same questions. I am also heading up tonight with two buddies for the first trip to the Rainy for all of us. One additional question I had was what should we watch out for as far as hitting rocks with the lower unit?? Are there a lot of really shallow stretches of the Rainy and are they marked??

Thanks to all that have posted info!! It has surely helped us newbies out!!

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losthikingguide and Tullibee, I would recommend you invest a half and hour or so into reading what has already been posted so far this year. If you read through the Rainy River threads you will see where others have posted the same question and recieved many responses that I would agree are helpful to any newbies on the river.

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Tullibee and lost guide

As for landings, if you are new to the river i would say to go with Frontier. If you do a google search you can see a map of all the landings from Baudette to Ifalls. We are heading up Wednesday and usally have a couple bots and we each pick a different landing and keep in touch on how we are doing. We typically verticle jig for the eyes and try to go as slow as possible, careful to stay on the US side of the river, get Canadian and ....well just be careful. As for sturgeon, big hook, big sinker big gob of nightcrawlers and let her lay. We never fish for them but catch plenty jigging for the eyes. As for your lower unit and shallow spots, you should be fine, keep the boat speed down down, keep an eye out for ice chucks and debris though. Good Luck

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I am jealous. When does the walleye season close on the border water? I have a week open April 20, is it still open?

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Just currious what kind of water temp does anyone have after the mon,tues sunshine and warmer temps. be up there in the morning

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Well we have'nt seen much for warmer temps up here! Don't think my thermometers have pushed past 40 in a week.

Temp on the river this morning a hair over 33, Temp about an hour ago about 34 and a half.

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My bow unit (deeper) showed 35.5 and my transom unit showed 36.2

Best report so far from a trusted, long time guest who had 70 fish for 2 guys. As with most good fishermen, he was not ashamed to say he got lucky and fell into a very small spot that held fish, and worked it all day. His tip; big jig, big plastic, big rainbow, vertical jig.

They topped out with a 29.5 & a 29.9. Most folks would claim 2 30's but not this guy. That's why I trust his count.

Carl & I didn't fare so well with maybe 10 in a short afternoon (one of us really struggled). Had 1 spot that transitioned from sand to rock that was good for 3 hits on each of 3 passes. If we had stayed with it we could have racked up some numbers but greener pastures you know. Spent a lot of time working places that have produced well before but did not hold fish yesterday.

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