2017 Rainy River Conditions

[Royal_Dutchman]

February 23rd, 2017:
   I went and checked the river just before 9:00 am this morning.  The river is open just east of Birchdale with only a narrow spot open.  East of Franz Jevne (about 2 miles east of Birchdale) the River is almost completely open with some shore ice.  The temperature was 19 degrees and it looks like we are suppose to stay below freezing until Sunday with a high of 32 degrees and then it will get cold again.  It is hard to say how the river will open this year with cold weather coming again but here is what it looked like this morning.  Depending on the weather we may not go and check the river again until Monday sometime.

 

Where you can see pavement is the Birchdale Landing and the other access is at Franz Jevne:

 

[maxpower117]

What, no boats across yet???

[ANYFISH2]

Holy hanna, it will probably be real early rhis year.

[Royal_Dutchman]

February 27th, 2017:
  We just got back from checking the river about 4:30pm and the temperature was around 28 degrees.  They are calling for some colder temps at night for the next few nights and we noticed with this change of weather it has caused the open water at Birchdale to freeze back up.  I could not see much open water when looking east at the Birchdale Landing.  When we went to Franz Jevne the water seemed to be moving pretty fast and it was still open there.

 

The photos where you can't see water is Birchdale Landing showing it froze back up and the ones with water are from Franz Jevne

[RoyalDutchman]

March 2nd, 2017:
   This morning I saw someone that posted a picture of -10 degrees near Baudette.  Tonight is suppose to get to -11 degrees and then start warming up again.  Looks like it is going to be a gorgeous weekend with temps in the in the 40s for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  Grant asked a student to take some pictures at Birchdale today on their way home and send them to us as we are not able to get there today also.  We will hopefully check the river tomorrow afternoon or Saturday for sure.  These pictures are from Birchdale Landing.

[ANYFISH2]

Thank you again, for keeping us southerners updated!

 

You are extremely appreciated.

[Royal_Dutchman]

You are welcome.

 

March 6th, 2017:
With the warm temperatures the last few days we were hoping that Birchdale would be open to all boats. Unfortunately Birchdale Landing is not open as of this afternoon. Possibly in a few days but it is hard to tell with the cold weather that is suppose to be coming. We try and check the landing again at the end of the week.

Here is a picture that Grant took at Birchdale Landing when he checked the river today

 

[LucasLongCaster]

I Look forward to this post every spring!

[BDR]

Thank you Dutchman!

[LucasLongCaster]

Did the river Freeze back up solid over the weekend?

[Mikeyb_official]

once ice gets out you guys gotta try the manitou rapids if you haven't before biggest sturgeon we caught there was 70 in biggest walleye 33 i think. 2nd weekend or week of April  is usually when i do the best just my two cents so happy this page was created thank you

[ANYFISH2]

Welcome th FM,  mikeyb!

 

Do you do well there even in dirty water?

 

We have carried down there a few years, with limited success.  Always caught some, but not great numbers.

[BartmanMN]

Ha, I think Mikey maybe pullin' your leg.  No one from up North would share their info like that....... or would they? hmm

[Tony S]

There's some good fishing up there but it can be tough to get upriver from the ramp at Franz Jevne.  Lots of rocks and stuff to hit if you don't know the water.  even when the water is at normal to high levels.  Very few folks fish up there, usually just some locals and band members from the first nation.  You need a Canadian license to fish the best water up there.  A number of years ago that big tournament in the fall on LOW was won by a team that ran all the way up there from the lake to fish.  I used to live very close by Manitou and Indus. 

[LucasLongCaster]

Heading up to the river on April 7th weekend, hoping for some good weather. Any update on the river conditions this week?

[Mikeyb_official]

anyfish2 dirty water right after big fork and little fork get out is usually the only time we dont do well except maybe the dog days of summer when theres only dinky sauger about. and tony S yes it can be dangerous with the rocks ive banged up a couple of propellers trying to get to percys but there is some nice little holes down that way inbetween franz jevne and manitou

[Royal_Dutchman]

March 16th, 2017:
    We finally had a chance to check the river again between being so busy, the cold weather, and we both caught a bad cold.  The river is not opening up quite as fast as we hoped it would.  It actually looks worse than the last time we checked.  It was just above 40 degrees here today and hopefully we will get some warmer weather that will help the river open up faster. 

 

All these pictures are from the Birchdale Landing showing that the ice is blocking everything up

[skibass]

I was planning on coming up to fish this Wednesday and Thursday (March 22-23). Those pics are making that look like a long shot. Is there any chance that it will open up by then or do I need to postpone for another week or two?

[SPUD BAR]

wait at least a week.

[Uncle Rico]

one thing to keep in mind is that all that ice from Birchdale east should be rather thin and should disappear quickly if we ever get any melting days.  Good lord its been weeks since open water was at Birchdale already.

[Tony S]

Wow looks like they pushed a lot of snow down toward the ramp over the course of the winter.  Looks like you could still ice fish there.   This warm front is late getting here its 30 and snowing where I'm at.  Next weekend?  I dunno I'd wait til later if you could. 

[Uncle Rico]

The channel at birchdale opened up late this afternoon.  I think it was on LOTW tourism's Facebook page.  

[Royal_Dutchman]

March 18th, 2017:
   Grant and I went and checked the river today about 3:30pm and the temperature was right around 30 degrees.  Grant was surprised how much it opened up since Thursday when he went and checked it.  It is now open 4.6 miles west of Birchdale Landing before it is locked up again and then to the west of that spot there are some open holes also.  We are thinking that tomorrow it could make it all the way to Frontier by the end of the day with the forecast being 52 degrees for a high.  We did see some boats out fishing today and there is some shore ice that boats have to push over with about a 2 foot drop from the top of ice to the water.

[ANYFISH2]

Oh boy!!!  IT'S TIME!!

 

Thanks again Royal Dutchman.

[Royal_Dutchman]

March 19th, 2017:
  Grant and I went and checked the river just before 4:00pm and the temperature was about 52 degrees.  It has been windy most of the day which helped get the ice moving also.  We figured it would be to Frontier today and when we checked we found out that it is open about 3 miles west of Frontier Landing.  Birchdale Landing looks the same still with the shore ice there but there were a few vehicles at both landings that had pushed off the ice.  We talked to one group that was just heading out to meet up with some of their friends and they had said they were having good luck.

[Big A]

Have the "forks" let go yet? I know things turn to chocolate milk for awhile when they do... Got burned on that last year big time.

[Royal_Dutchman]

March 20th, 2017:
   Grant talked to his cousin who knows the guy that works for the county and said they opened up Birchdale Landing this morning.  We did see a picture that Lake of the Woods Tourism posted on Facebook showing the landing was open for all boats.  Grant's cousin also this guy said the plan is to hopefully get Frontier Landing open for all boats tomorrow.  We had some projects that we had to get done around here before a busy weekend so we were not able to get to Birchdale today.  We are hoping to go tomorrow afternoon and will have pictures to share of Frontier and Birchdale Landings along with where the river is open to.
 

I am not sure about the forks as we do not travel that far very often.  Hopefully there is someone on here that drives by them to let us know.  In the past we have had a person send us pictures when they did break open. 

[IceHawk]

Thanks for the reports Dutchmen really appreciate the updates! Looking forward to my trip up there  in a couple weeks always fun CPR some of those sumo eyes.

[Tony S]

The more ramps open the better to spread people out.  No offense, but the hundreds of boats that converge is my least favorite part of the whole thing.  I'm as friendly as anyone but don't really like the crowds.  And yes I know I'm part of the problem.  My best piece of advice for anyone that goes is be flexible once you are up there.  Don't hesitate to travel.  If you're camped at Birchdale and it's slow go downriver.  It doesn't pay to wait for the fish to come to you if you only have a few days to fish up there.   You'll know if they're not there after a day or so.  If the river gets really muddy go downstream and try 4 mile bay.  Too muddy for Walleye?  Bring some sturgeon gear.  Be safe, courteous and jovial. 

[RoyalDutchman]

March 21st, 2017: 
   Grant and I were able to go check the river around 4:30pm and found that there is open water 1.8 miles West of Vidas Landing.  We are thinking by tomorrow evening we should have open water in front of our house (4.3 miles away from our house).  The county did not open up Frontier today so hopefully tomorrow or Thursday they will be able to get in there and open it up.  We did hear that Kuttes Landing by Pelland Junction is also open for bigger boats and of course Birchdale Landing is open for all boats.