2017 Rainy River Conditions

[northernfishin]

For those fishing river. Be mindful of Canadian boarder and laws. Many boats are getting busted for being on the wrong side without proper paper work and liscense. The boarder IS NOT the middle of the river. You are not allowed to fish both sides of river without a rbac and i68 form with Canadian fishing liscenses. It can be over 1000$ fine and possible confiscation of gear if busted. Mnro, dnr and customs are patrolling river. Be mindful of this. Just because a group of boats are on the north shore doesn't mean you can fish there. They most likely have paper work you don't have. Also, if you fish Canadian side with live bait in boat get ready to get slammed too. Just a heads up as I know they're out there this last weekend through week. 

[Mnboater]

Not having much luck near ice in low. River is slow too. Still stained bad. Early am was better. Sturgeon okay in gap

[Mnboater]

[Mikeyb_official]

Caught about 20 fish off shore today my uncle caught a 29 in walleye and a couple small sturgeons try an get right in current right off shore

[Tony S]

Was at Birchdale Friday night thru today early afternoon.  There was slightly less than 1' of visibility today, about the same as yesterday.  Still quite a bit of leaves, grass and crap fouling on the line.  Water level is falling steadily.  Water temp was 38-39.5 F.  Still quite a bit of current.  Was using a 3/4 oz.  Walleye were not interested in aggressive jigging of any sort.  There are quite a few sturgeon around that area.  Lots of sturgeon hookups fishing for walleye.  Fishing was a little slow by comparison to other years but not too bad.  Except for the minor cold front the last days of the season are shaping up nicely.  I would not hesitate to go up there again if I could.  As soon as it clears up a bit more it should be really good.   

[Fish Tales]

Tony that is exactly what I am doing, going to fishing Thursday and Friday .  I was up there b4 the river went bad. We did really well. Did you slip drift or anchor. Were the males milting or females dropping eggs.

[SPUD BAR]

Heading up there tonight. Fishing Tuesday thru Friday. Thinkin its gonna get good. HAS TO!!  Lol

[LucasLongCaster]

Up there this weekend. Friday was slow, dirty water, caught not many eyes at all but big sturgeon. Sat and Sunday caught a lot of eyes in the river, cleaner water moved in and we caught a lot of numbers .  Average keepers were 18 inchers..biggest 3 @ 26 inches in the group..

[LucasLongCaster]

I have fished the river in spring and fall but never from june - Sept. How is the fishing on the river in the summer? I always head out on the lake.

[SPUD BAR]

Lucas, headed up tonight, mind giving up a clue to where on the river you were fishing?

[Tony S]

SPUD BAR,

The water is still pretty cold (39 F).  All the fish were tight (not spewing forth any sex products).  The drifters were not catching fish this past weekend.  Moving way too fast even slip drifting with the trolling motor.  The only way to get a bite was to anchor up and fish dead slow.  I literally put the rod down and just watch the tip for bites when it's like that.  They were picking it up off the bottom.  As the water clears up and warms up a few degrees I would fish more aggressively.  A chartreuse Whistler can be deadly when the fish are active.  That's my tip of the week. 

 

Lucas Longcaster,

Fishing the river in summer for Walleye can be work.  It's not the easy spring or fall fishing the Rainy is known for.  Early June could still be pretty good.  I used to confine my Walleye effort to dawn and dusk during the summer and spent most time fishing for smallies, which is excellent in the summer and to a lesser extent sturgeon.  I used to have the river to myself between Birchdale and Manitou in the summer.  Not saying a guy couldn't figure out a good Walleye pattern in the summer on the river, just sayin' it was more work than I wanted to put into it.  Dawn and dusk you could count on catching a few walleye/sauger, which is alright.  I can only remember 1 year that a bunch of fish were in the river up around Birchdale by late Aug./early Sept (2004). 

[SPUD BAR]

Thanks Tony, appreciate the tip. 

[LucasLongCaster]

Spud bar we got on them right out front of Wabanica Lutheran church caught fish in 13-17 feet anchored jigging, wont take you long to find out where the fish are we were the first 2 boats there in the morning and by mid afternoon there were probably 20 boats lined up. If you find boats lined up chances are someone has been catching fish.

[djensen140]

Lots of big females today pitching white plastics to rocky shorelines. Super slow was key last 2 days, not as much today. This one went 30.5"@ 11.5lbs

Edited April 11, 2017 by djensen140

[Tony S]

Fish Tales send me a PM if you are going up river by Frontier or Birchdale..

[northernfishin]

23 hours ago, LucasLongCaster said:

I have fished the river in spring and fall but never from june - Sept. How is the fishing on the river in the summer? I always head out on the lake.

Depends who you ask. June to July I'm out there often and fish for bass/northern and walleye as evening approaches. It's a fantastic fishery year round. Just have to fish deep holes in summer or swift current. Some of my biggest smallies come from the river.  

[SHUT THE LAKE DOWN]

I am driving up tomorrow night to fish the last day.  Any suggestions on what landing to launch on or what part of the river is best to fish or is it good all along it?  Thanks for any suggestions.

[northernfishin]

Birchdale landings are reporting well. There has been lots of reports of limits of eaters and slot fish being caught. Water clarity is improving everyday. Sturgeon and eyes are abundant. Beautiful weather should make for an excellent weekend. Rainbow chubs for live bait. Gold jigs. Orange and yellow jigs. Plastics in white or darker colors like blue or brown mix have been well. 

[joeranger618t]

Got off the couch last Friday and fished the last day with my Son.  Caught 35fish. quite a few over the 20" range. Several nice fish. Heard many reports of 100fish days. Fished for sturgeon on Saturday and all we could catch was Walleyes on our Sturgy rigs. Which was fine!  Thanks to all of you who posted true and honest reports this year. I really felt my best information came from Steve's Lucky bait and Log Cabin bait.  Those two guys are straight shooters good or bad(or negative like some folks say). Thank you to them guys especially! Buy your Bait from them folks!!!

 

[Hines R]

Nice to hear the reports from everyone and conditions! Planning on taking off a good part of that last week of fishing next year that it's open in April with a buddy. Every year is different but seems the key is to be up in that last week.

 

Debating on giving the Sturgeon fishing a try in the next month.

 

Ryan

[side_laker]

Heading up tomorrow looking for recommendations on which landing go go out of. I hear all the resorts are booked by the lake so thinking it might be a lot of boats down by the lake.