Spring Rainy River Do's and Don'ts

[Jitterbug]

Last spring was my first trip to the Rainy River heres some tips I discovered. These tips apply to accesses with shore ice.

DON'T show up with a large boat unless you know the access is open and ice free.

DON'T dink around at the access. Have all of your gear in the boat and ready to lauch.

DON'T back your trailer down to far into the river. If your trailer tires slip of the edge of the shore ice your screwed.

DO put all of your gear into your boat before you lauch.

DO raise your motor up as far as possiable.

DO plan on pushing your boat off your trailer since floating the boat off will not be an option.

DO plan on winching the entire boat back onto the trailer. We discovered that if you pull the entire boat up onto the ice then connect the strap, winch it tight, lift up the back end to level it off you save a lot of time and backache. This worked alot better then backing the trailer to the edge of the water and trying to winch it onto the trailer.

DO respect others and help out others with their boats. Someone always has trouble, just the way it goes.

DO marvel and admire the golden Walleyes.
DO have fun and charise the time with friends.
DO enjoy a frosty cold beer AFTER the fishing.

Just a thought
JBug

[Beckman]

That's a good list, but be prepared to face the facts that there will always be some people who will struggle landing their boats. Also there will always be those that will be inconsiderate of others. It's just something you have to deal with when it comes to the Rainy in the spring. You can't let anything that happens on the water or at the landing upset you otherwise it will be impossible to have a good time out there.

[Xplorer]

This year you may be able to add:
Do bring your auger, portable, & jigpoles

You gotta be patient on the river in spring, its most folks first time out with the boat after a long winter. I dont care what anyone says, it just feels good to finally be in a boat no matter how bad the weather. Thats why i troll thru the skim ice on superior in april too
Xplorer

[Beckman]

Good point Xplorer, at this rate there ain't nobody landing a boat there this spring, so this could all be a moot point-at least for this year. One thing you can always say about the Rainy River in the spring is that it is fun to watch. Just enjoy it and don't get into any fist fights at the access.

[Dr. Bob]

All good points guys - I agree 100%.

I would just like to add that they widened the roads to the accesses at Vidas and Birchdale last fall so that should help with the crowding - if we get to go.

I personally plan to get there a little late - around 9:30 am or so and not get too excited about any thing. As far as I am concerned there is plenty of time to fish in a day. Just relax and enjoy being there.

I sure hope she opens

[Walleye Wegs]

I agree with you all. Lets just pray for some warm weather and if it does come go out and catch some pigs.
Wegs

[redhooks]

I second that!!

[Sandee]

Jitterbug - NICE information, exactly what we have been "preaching" quite some time.

I know there is alot of concern on the subject of "if" there will be a spring season this year on the Rainy. I looked at the records of the Opening Dates of open water at the International Bridge in Baudette that has been recorded back to 1934. The very latest it has opened in Baudette is April 20 back 1950. The International Bridge is about 28 miles WEST of Birchdale, meaning open river from Birchdale all the way to Baudette by the 20th. To put it in prospective, compare the opening dates at Birchdale to the opening at Baudette:

Year 1st Open at Birchdale Baudette
1996 April 9th April 15th
1997 March 27th April 4th
1998 Feb 29th* Feb 29th*
1999 March 16th March 30th
2000 March 3rd March 11

*Feb was earliest on record, although river refroze for 10 days mid-March and reopened March 25th.

So it looks to be anywhere from 6 days to 14 days for the river to open from Birchdale the 28 miles to Baudette.

Always on the optomistic side we are looking forward to a season on the river, albeit a short one.

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[IceHawk]

Just thought I would fill you in on something I witnessed one spring. It was a few years back at vidas access, we were coming in on Saturday evening to load our rigs, when to our surprise nobody was loading their boats. Found out real quick why, there was a full size pickup that slid off the ice and right into the water. What a site this was, all you could see were the taillights sticking out. By talking to to others at the landing we found out he started sliding, he then paniked and jumped leaving his new ford and trailer goin for a dunk in the river. A tow truck hooked up to him and pulled it out. What a sight, needles to say it was almost 10 p.m before we got our rigs on the trailers.

[Dr. Bob]

Wow -

I bet that guy is still crying over that one.

[Xplorer]

I have no doubt that there will be folks who fish open water on the Rainy this year no matter how cold it stays. Unfortunatly, i cannot do the "over shore-ice" thing with my boat, so me thinks i may be out of luck without mother mature doing a real 180 (-15 for duluth sunday morning)
I hope for all our sakes that she opens up and gives us a chance to fish, i cpr'd my first big sturgeon last year (50"+) and it was on a 5' ultralight (was retying my regular rod and just threw a line down in the meantime as the eyes were hitting ), what a battle. Took about 20 minutes to get her to boatside and just about broke the rod. Lucky for me i had fireline on, no way i could have got her in on mono.
Xplorer

[redhooks]

There is always something to see at the rainey river landing circus-Last year the river froze up over night and Calvin Nelson dragged a boat out and kicked open 2 holes and began fishing-it was on the ice after all. Prayin' to the fishgods to melt the river otherwise I'm gonna need a few dupont spinners
redhooks

[Guest]

heres a tip from my sightings last year dont wait to see if your motor starts till you get there. i bet it makes a guy real sick to see me with a 12' and a 51/2 horse cruisin past their $15,000 boat cause it wont start save yourself the humiliation.

[Guest]

I was there the day the guy dropped his truck in the river - what a sight. His emergency brake went out, and down his truck went. They had to fish it out with an ancor that eventually caught the boat trailer. I heard it was his girlfriends truck, and he wasn't looking forward to the call that had to be made.

Will see ya all there the last weekend of the season, as it looks as that will be the time to fish.

[Guest]

It has always been my opinion that, all things considered, the landings run smoothly and the river crowds work out O.K. Yes, you see some things. I think that because most Rainy Anglers are hardcore (crazy?), all goes pretty well. Contrast that with opening day on Mille Lacs. Half the guys are driving to the landing from the dealer to try launching for the first time. Trouble!!
Good luck to all this spring. Think Warm!!

[White-tips]

There's still way too many guys with boats that are not practical for use on the Rainy at that time of year. And the best practice for guys to get into is to get everything ready, in and on your boat, at the bait store or in Baudette, not at the landing while in line.

[Guest]

One additional recommendation I would make for anyone wanting to fish the Rainy in the early spring is to bring along a sandbag. Two years ago my buddy and I waited patiently for about an hour and a half while the first four or five boats were launched. Because of the severe cold, every time a boat was launched they dripped water all over the ramp until the ramp was one big sheet of ice. The DNR employee at Pelan was a complete goofball and didn't know how to handle the situation and it became evident that none of us was going to get on the water anytime soon without a small miracle. We knew it was going to be a serious problem when the guy immediately before us who had a Dodge V-12 ended up driving over the rocks on the edge of the ramp to get his trailer out. I was lucky enough to have a bucket and a shovel in my truck and within 5 minutes we scattered sand all over that ramp. Within minutes we were back on a schedule of a boat each two to three minutes, rather than the fiasco for the fist four to five boats. Bring a big bag of sand - it may save you many hours of frustration.

Mags

[WB make the CUT]

Another Thought...
Dont be afraid to help your fellow angler...
Come on warm weather.........

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WB

[Smeds]

I'm bumping this one to the top of page ... great topic for some of the boys with monster boats to read! One last reminder: if there's shore-ice @ Birchdale (like last year), there will always be a bunch of boats pushed up against the ice waiting for their turn. Last year I watched more than one boat come roaring up to the pack, then shut it down at the last second. All of those boats that were "shored-up" (and some real nice glass ones as well) banged the ice for 2 minutes while the wakes went through the crowd. Slow down around the launches! One of these years someone is gonna get seriously hurt!
Smeds

[Sandee]

The ramp at Birchdale is free of ice, other than what is at the bottom. Here is a picture of the ramp taken 3-23-03.

Hope this helps.

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[Guest]

I was up there last year with a bigger (Crestliner Superhawk) over shore ice, didn't have a problem. Made me nervous as hell backing my jeep down over the ice, though. Once a "system" got established as far as how far people would back down, etc, there was no time difference between the loading unloading big boats and small boats. All in all, the big boats would even go faster, because they were generally roller trailers with decent winches.

I think I vaguely recall going round and round with White-tips last year here on the board jsut prior to going up there over the big-boat/small boat thing. It was quite a spirited debate, but the end result is that it just didn't matter. A big boat might be more likey so smack a rock or scrape a sandbar, but otherwise don't be scared to do it.

I'll also echo the angler who said "help your fellow angler" Especially at the boat ramp. I mean a guy can sit around pissing and moaning about how long it takes some guy to load and unload his boat by himself, or he can lend a hand. That's what stood out to me last year. There was 8-10 people loading and unloading every boat, and that went miles toward speeding things up. So don't be the angry guy who bitches about slow loaders/unloaders, lend a hand.

[Sandee]

I applaude all the comments! Help each other, be prepared to launch when it's your turn, etc. And we always like to thank Cal Nelson for all the hard work he does at Birchdale ramp!!

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[Scoot]

Sandee,

I'm a little baffled by the picture of the landing at Birchdale. Maybe my memory serves me incorrectly, but in about 22 years of coming up there for the spring season, I don't ever recall the shore ice going first, then the ice out a ways going next. Every year it seems like we fight shore ice for a while, then finally it goes out and we use the ramp freely. Did someone wise person sneak a little salt down there early? Why is it different than I remember?
Also, does Frontier look the same?
Scoot

[This message has been edited by Scoot (edited 03-27-2003).]

[Sandee]

The river level was very low when it froze and we never received any extra water to increase the level, so the ice on the ramp in pretty much non-existent. Prior years the water was high when it froze, then when Kenora opens their dams it takes the level down and the ice on shore and the ramps remain.

Just one good reason to have a low river level when it first gets cold.

Hope this helps!!

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[BDR]

Scoot I believe that in that picture although it looks like open water it is standing water sitting on top of ice. Even at that, the ramp is way better than I have seen in a while.

[Sandee]

Yes, that is run-off at the bottom of the ramp, not open water. OOPS - I reported that on our web site, forgot to type it in here.

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