Rainy River Fishing Report

[JacobG]

No, im really not complaining. For the group we boated 3 fish at 62" so wasn't bad for big fish but the bites were very few and far between. Only had one flurry of fish Friday evening where we boated 4 in an hour.

The wife with a nice 40 pounder

[JacobG]

62" Richards personal best

[TyGuy02]

Had zero wait for birchdale today in or out at 7:15 am and when we left around 4. Must've missed the rush of boats since I had to park halfway to town. Slow fishing to say the least. Saw more sturgeon caught then walleyes. To say the current is slow is an understatement, 0.2 mph drift in most spots, and the light breeze was from the west so it almost felt like we were drifting upriver at times. Most of the boats that we saw seemed to congregate around the frontier access which seemed like a much busier access today at least. 2 wide at birchdale, only looked like one at frontier though when we went by there. only caught one 36" sturgeon for two guys, and that seemed to be the trend today for the most part! Be careful when getting in or out of the boat near shore, almost took a swim getting out of the boat onto the shore-ice!

[MAdDuckiceroads]

Fished sat from 5am to 6pm. Boated only 7 eyes all day. Had a few short bites and a couple break the line. Caught our fish in prob a two hour period from noon to two. Watched a few boats fishing the Canadian side doing rather good all day even boating a few picture worthy fish. Like others said almost zero current. No females at all on the rocky flats. Water temp 37°. Not to mention first time I was able to build a snow man in our boat after the snow storm in the morning.

[jaxdog]

what landings are open on the canadian side?

[wetaline1]

...Canadians don't fish...

[MAdDuckiceroads]

All the landings west of frontier had ice still but there was boats pushing over it

[meathunter]

Ok guys here is what i know... jonny p has a new boat and you won't know its him...only recognized him from his lindy coat...he even switched coats from sun to mon... jon thelen was fishing around me yesterday trying to get some filming done...water temp 38 not biting on plastic...big rainbows and 1/4 oz jigs casted and hopped down current was the only way i caught big fish and numbers...tied my personal best 31" and 2 29" yest...now the bad news... ran all over for 3 days and only caught fish in a area the size of my lot...not the usual bite... the current picked up yesterday for sure which should help...slept in all three days and only fished 10 to 6...no wait except the usual hr to load...for all the guys that stayed home because of the water temp/waiting in line must be city boys...all in all a great trip funny how the slightest weather change will change the bite seen it multiple times and you really see it fishing in one spot. Oh ya and spot lock on my new I pilot is the deal especially in a tight area cant wait to fish the tight weedlines in the Litchfield area with it. Not great but i will take it probably 20 fish over 24" in 3 days and went through almost 2 quarts rainbows. Seen lots of boats comeing and going sometimes when you do things different stay away from a crowd it pays off. The normal spots where loaded with boats and not alot of nets...Now my fix is complete till big stone opens...AMEN

[WalleyeGod]

Appreciate the report MH. Gonna scratch the itch in a couple days.

Thinking about the Ipilot myself. Sounds like I need to get one.

Good luck on Big Stone later.

WG

[Dock Boy]

Fished yesterday. 2 guys in the boat. We put in at Birchdale no wait and not many boats maybe 10 or so others. Fished from Birchdale to a couple miles past the Church. Fishing sucked. We caught 6 snake northern s and one Sauger and yes it was a sauger. We saw one other boat catch a fish. No nets in the water. Fished many spots and depths. Tried long lining, casting out past boat, vertical, different colors and bait along with plastics. Report from the others at the launch were more of the same slow. Saw boats in front of Frontier at 1pm getting off the water. Not sure how accurate the reports are at area resorts with 70 fish days when we saw one other fish caught other than the snakes and sauger we caught. Good luck if heading up. Water temp was 37 to cold in my opinion for a good run. Good luck

[Random guy]

Ok guys here is what i know... jonny p has a new boat and you won't know its him...only recognized him from his lindy coat...he even switched coats from sun to mon...

Tuesday I even switched coats and boats. I wore my sunglasses and a neck gator pulled up, in the VS (very sparkly) boat. I was a freshwater ninja!

[Random guy]

And the fishing is decent, not great and not horrible. The thing to remember is the water is very clear by LOW standards, the water is also low and slow; big fish do not become big fish by hanging around scary situations or close to boats eating strange things. The funny thing about a river is it is always changing and one simple weather change can make it an entirely different beast over a lunch break. Meathunter dialed in by trying different things in different conditions even if it was against the norm, and he caught a bunch of big fish. I watch him pinwheeling big walleye after big walleye.

Think ultra shallow clear lake, find some peaceful little spot and attack from a distance, good things will happen.

[Dock Boy]

Hey Jonny P, You must have fished in a ranger yesterday with a blacked out motor and yellow 250 sticker on the back. If so you guys pulled out right before us at Birchdale. We were in the white truck and the only Triumph boat on the water.

[Random guy]

Nope that was the "other guys".I was in the complete opposite yesterday, basically the Dennis Rodman of boats, why do you think I wore a facemask all day.

[meathunter]

that other dude with the blacked out motor was jon thelen lol i asked him if he was waiting for some sponsors!

[BigTen]

I have a quick question for some of you guys who fish jigs regularly. I personally don't fish jigs hardly at all other than on Rainy each year. Do you find that it makes much difference whether you tie directly to the jighead, as opposed to using a swivel snap for quick swap outs?

I have always just used a swivel snap and seemed to have plenty good luck, I'm just wondering if others think it makes a difference. I guess I should state that I'm only talking about use in the stained Rainy water.

Thanks,

BT

[Random guy]

that other dude with the blacked out motor was jon thelen lol i asked him if he was waiting for some sponsors!

Ya, Thelen's boat looks pretty naked right now. They took the old wrap off the boat and most of the motor last week. Of course the new stuff has not showed up yet, they will have it looking pretty cool once the goodies show up.

[Random guy]

Big Ten, I use jigs tied directly to the line and often times I add in a chunk of Silver Thread Fluorocarbon. Snaps and swivels take away from the natural live bait presentations jigs deliver. I fish a lot of stained water, realizing through the years we take for granted just how well the fish can see in their environment, even those stained muddy waters.

[BigTen]

right on...thanks.

[walleye977]

Quick report. The current is still slow really slow. The water lever is still way down. The clarity is 3.5 to 4 feet it is really clear. We caught over 40 fish yesterday. best odds for us was pitching the bait out away from the boat way out 30 ft away and reeling it slow. Plastic out did meat. We fished the middle of the river say 11 to 13 feet. Dragging meat under the boat did work but not as good. Green was the color of choice heard pink was the day before who knows. We ended up with lots of eater fish and 7 slot fish biggest being a fat 27.5. Others couldn't buy a bite.

[crdsrob]

walleye977/jonny p, are you pitching jigs and letting them bounce off the bottom as you reel them in or are you working some sort of 3-way rig? We've always jigged directly below the boat when fishing the river in the spring. This will be something new. I appreciate the advice.

[walleye977]

walleye977/jonny p, are you pitching jigs and letting them bounce off the bottom as you reel them in or are you working some sort of 3-way rig? We've always jigged directly below the boat when fishing the river in the spring. This will be something new. I appreciate the advice.

For me we kept the boat pointed in to the current and and pitched jigs out away from the boat little up river like 45degrees and reeled slow kinda letting it bounce off bottom but letting the current slowly take it down I was using 3/8 jig probly get away lighter. once back to the boat let it sit and pop it a few times. Slow was key, once we got the rhythm down it was killer. Afternoon bite was best into the evening morning was bad. Also when the sun was out was best. Hope that helps. We were drifting in 12 feet and where throwing off both sides of the boat.. throwing up or down river didn't work. Just across river north to south. ok Im giving out to much here good luck.

[crdsrob]

Thanks walleye, I appreciate it. It's great to have another technique in the arsenal.

[Outdoor Authority]

Wednesday was a great day for us we managed to catch 50 eyes. With 22 of them over 24". The big fish of the day were 2-28" and a nice 30". Most of the fish were in 14-15 feet of water and caught matching the current going down stream. The best color was green with a silver spinner and an orange jig with an orange spinner. We did use just jigs but the spinners caught more aggressive biting fish. We went out of frontier to the west near the log cabins near an 18ft hole. Some time was spent up river farther Monday and Tuesday but the best fishing we found was there and by the two white deer stands.

[rosspj59]

Good to see those whistler jigs actually work, those are some nice fish. We had a guy at Everts telling us last week he caught some big eyes using them while nobody else was hooking anything.

[Fish Head]

We fished Tuesday and Wednesday. We were one of the first 10 boats off the Vidas ramp. Tuesday was a little slow, but Wednesday was very good for both numbers and size. Green was a good color this year. Gold worked well too, but they might have been biting on anything pretty.

I was surprised how many guys I spoke to at the hotel, gas station, and restaurant that said fishing was extremely slow. We were vertically jigging on a slow drift from 17-20 fow.

[fishnut2]

Fished Wednesday east of Vidas from 530 pm to around 800 pm. Put 10 in the boat with two slots going 27 and 29. Kept 4 eaters. Missed a few as well. Tried chartreuse/ orange 1 fish. Gold, no fish . Bubblegum seven fish. Slow drift was the key. 17-20 feet of water. Bad weather coming in Sunday. Last day. Is most likely tomorrow.

[Matt Breuer]

Headed up to the Rainy with a couple of guests on Friday morning. With fresh snow and cold temps, the roads were brutal, however, that equated to short landing lines when we arrived at Vidas. 15 minutes and we were in...

Started toward the Rapid River and missed 2 fish off the get-go, and then spent 30 mins. trying to buy a bite. Notta. Spent the next hour hitting past producers with zero to show for it, and finally hit a community hole and started to pick up a fish here and there, with Kurt losing a giant halfway up. I knew we were in the right area when that fish came unbuckled, and we spent the next 4 hours anchored over that small patch of water... 3/8 and 1/2 ounce Lindy Jigs with chartreuse Watsit or Yum plastics, tipped with a fathead sometimes, other times not. We put about 20 fish in the boat, with a monster 30.5" being the big for for day 1. Also had some 26-28" mixed in. Got a great meal at Sportsman's and had some good laughs with other anglers, and called it a night.

Each angler had a trophy, so I wanted to move over to sturgeon, but they wanted some more walleye action on day 2. After a great breakfast at Sportsman's we headed farther up river and launched at Frontier. 1 hour and 40 minutes in line, and a 1.7 mile walk later, we were fishing. The first 30 casts were solid, either missing or netting a fish on nearly every one. Wind was down, snow had quit, and we were pitching 1/4 to 3/8 oz. Lindy Jigs with Yum white plastics, again with a fathead. 40-45 fish on day 2, including several over 26", with a 31.25" being the biggest. We also landed a nice 44" sturgeon.

Lots of anglers poking around and moving, watched a few catch fish, a lot did not. Didn't see a single sturgeon aside from the one we caught, which was rare.

Can't wait to head back up this coming weekend to strictly chase dinosaurs!

[jwilli7122]

fished vidas thurs/fri/sat, did pretty good by our standards, got a couple limits and around 10 fish between 24 and 28.5 with a bonus sturgeon and a couple of sturgeon break offs.

we had some adventure, though.

-While in line to pull out on Thursday a couple guys pulling a big huge decaled up black Team Crestliner boat with a pickup that had some sort of window cleaning company writing on it ran into us trailer to trailer, broke our left fender off and just kept driving. nothing critical was damaged, but I'd say it was about $75 worth of minor damage if that guy happens to be on this board. PM me for my address and you can send me a check.

-we ice fished 4 mile bay Friday morning, walked out about 1.5 miles from River Bend (where we were staying). Ice was 30+ inches and mostly solid, and trucks were driving by us on Adrian's road. so I figured I'd walk back empty handed, get the vehicle and come out on that road to get my buddy and all the gear. well the snow was blowing pretty good and the visibility was bad. i took the wrong ice road, broke through a crusty layer on top with all 4 wheels, and got stuck bad in water on top of ice. the guys from River Bend came and pulled me out. Really nice guys. Wouldn't take any money. when i insisted, they told me to spend it at the bar. this is the 2nd spring i've stayed at River Bend, and it's tough to beat. Cabins are clean and have everything we need or want for $32.50 per guy per night. really nice fish cleaning house. fun bar. can dock your boat (when the river is open to that point, anyway), and the people are great. I highly recommend it.

-the worst was we almost sunk the truck in the River on Friday night. access was extremely icy after dark. driver got out of truck, put it in park and put the e-brake on, winched up the boat, and the truck started slipping. i was 99% sure it was going in. driver sprinted back to the cab and stomped the brake just in the nick of time. back wheels were in the water and inches from the point of no return. if you know how steep that access is and how quickly it drops off under water, you know how bad that would be. i'm guessing truck would have literally sunk, and pulled the boat under with it. thanks to the guy with the black chevy who towed us out and the other guys who helped out with tow ropes and shovels and the like.

[jwilli7122]

well, the guy who hit our trailer just called my buddy who owns the damaged trailer and made it right - so thanks for that! (I think he got phone # from a witness at the access who took ours down) turns out the damage was taken care of with 95 cents worth of screws so no big deal, but thanks for calling.