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Rainy River Running Low


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I was up in early August and it seemed normal for summer.  I went again this past weekend and it is very low at the Pelland ramp now.  I'm guessing it is down a couple feet.  There is a large boulder completely out of the water to the east about 100 yds. The ramp is nearly all the way out of the water.  This pic is looking west downriver towards the Littlefork.  The island is now a long peninsula at the confluence of the Littlefork and the Rainy.

Littlefork

 

This is looking down the ramp.

IMG_4197.thumb.JPG.eb5eaf73eb2885267a1739f1f8518efb.JPG

Beavers cut a big aspen down.  I caught a few small eyes and sauger, a couple of sturgeon and a bunch of suckers. I just used caution and travelled in 5-7 ft of water most of the way down to the Littelfork.

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It has been very dry across the northern tier of the state.  It will take a lot of rain to bring the water levels up and that is not typical for this time of the year.  

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  • 1 month later...

Does anyone know if the water has come up at all with the month of rain we've had? Would it be possible to get a 20 foot boat on a roller trailer in at pelland? 

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Just got back from fishing up there....plenty of water. It's actually high right now. Check USGS online for current water levels.

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How is fishing up there? I have heard that water is really red with all the rain  and they opened up some dam at international falls. Heading up there next Wednesday. I fish frontier and vidas. 

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I also heard the water is really dirty. Seems like usually the closer to the falls the cleaner it is. 

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If you find the fish they'll bite. Took us a half day to get on them, but once we figured it out it was fast and furious. Water is swift, so we fished a few small seams/eddies and worked tight to a steep shoreline break in 9ft-14ft. Most fish were 18-20" but did manage to find a few in the mid 20's. The water was tinted but pretty settled besides a few leaves swirling around. Water levels keep dropping which is good. Looks like rain/snow in the forecast again, so conditions could change.

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I will be heading to the river on friday! Can't wait! Were you using jig/shiner? I almost exclusively troll cranks in the river this time of year. I will post a report when I have something to post!

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I am heading up tomorrow. I will post how we do. We just anchor and Jig usually. We fish frontier or vidas. Hopefully the bigger ones are making there way in there. 

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We jigged frozen shiners... live ones were hard to come by since the run slowed down. Once we ran out of shiners we used fatheads...both worked for us. Good luck!

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Over 100 fish yesterday between 3 guys. biggest was 22.5. Only had frozen shiners. Got our limit by 1230 pm.  Today was slower... Biggest was 25. Fished out of vidas landing both days. Good quantity of keeper's. Big ones weren't as good. 

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Got back last night. Fished out of Birchdale Friday afternoon and Saturday with my dad. 70 on Friday and 73 Saturday. Trolling stick baits 90-100 feet back. Color didn't matter as long as it was clown! Largest fish was 29 inches with lots of 22-24 inch fish. Had a bald eagle take three dives at a fat 20 inch fish as it was being reeled in! Great couple of days at a great place!

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What's the strategy for trolling cranks on the river? Always wanted to try it. Do you troll up or down stream...what speed? Do you troll slower going up because of the current? I typically prefer jig and minnow if the bites hot, but wouldn't mind pulling a rap to cover more water if its slow. Just don't know the technique.

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Always troll into the current or at an angle into the current. I usually run around 2.1 to 2.3 mph but this past weekend was faster at 2.4 to 2.8. I like to look for eddy places or slack water areas around islands or big rocks and troll through these forms of structure.When the crank approaches the current edge of the eddy get ready! Water temp above 45 I use shad baits, below 45 I switch to minnow profile and begin to upsize. Not very many people do this up there but it is very productive and fun. We tend to catch larger fish trolling than we do jigging.

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Thanks for the info! I'll have to try that sometime. It's always fun to change it up and try something new. How deep are you generally pulling? I'm sure it varies, but curious if you are generally deeper or more on the break, etc.

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  • Up on Rainy I don't worry much about breaks and structure as far as depth is concerned. I am more interested in alterations in the current. Rocks and islands create eddy situations that hold the baitfish and that attracts the game fish. The typical depth at Birchdale is 8-13 feet. I use the Precision Trolling dive charts to determine amount of line to let out and what baits will achieve the needed depth. You can go out and grab a bait, throw it out and go or you can spend a little time and actually know you are putting your bait in the part of the water column to maximize your chance of getting bit. I love this stuff and could just keep typing but you would probably have your eyes glaze over in no time!
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