2015 River Conditions on the Rainy River

March 9th, 2015:
We went and checked the river conditions today. We had a customer let us know that the river was open 2.5 miles west of the Little Fork River on his drive home last night. This was the best picture of the end of open water we could get because of the trees in the way. It is one mile east of the Big Fork River which makes it 26.9 miles east of Birchdale (Nelson Landing).

Picture was taken at 2:21 pm and the temperature according to the car was 46 degrees. Last year we started checking the river March 16, 2014 so we are 7 days earlier this year and almost in the same spot as last year (difference is about 3 miles further east this year than last year). It might be a few days til we check the river again as it is 100 miles round trip but we will make sure to have a report by Thursday evening.

Well, this just made my day! Just don’t tell the boss!lol

Thanks you. Such a bright cheery picture. Hope to see more.

Thanks for the update. Gotta love spring

We have a friend that travels from International Falls to Baudette and then back to International Falls a couple times a week. He said that he figures it opened up about a mile and half compared to yesterday when he saw us yesterday taking pictures. Just a reminder the plan is to go Thursday so hoping it opens up quite a bit with the warm weather we had today and the next few days. Stay tuned…

The river is opening up fast ,the forecast looks really good ,get your boats ready boys , it won’t be long now!

I just checked and the river is open at least 5 miles west of Loman.The river is low at 5.70 feet going over the Manitou Rapids .The fields are mostly melted off between Ifalls and Lomen.The Landings are not open yet.

March 12th, 2015:
I went and checked the river and found open water around 12:50pm. It is now 17.5 miles east of Birchdale Landing. It was 51 degrees and the sun is finally shinning. I stopped at a nice couple’s house and they were kind enough to let me take pictures of the River. They have a beautiful view there. Since Monday when we check the river it has opened up 9.4 miles total. There are a lot o f brown/yellowish spots on the ice also between Frontier all the way to the open water. There is a 40% chance of rain tomorrow morning otherwise it looks like a gorgeous weekend and hopefully it will be open in no time.

March 11th, 2015:
We did not check the River today but International Falls Covention and Visitors Bureau posted this and they said I could use it, “Koochiching County has cleared the Kuttes Landing access. This provides access to open water on Rainy River ten miles west of International Falls at Pelland Junction. Border Waters regulations allow for walleye fishing until April 14, 2015. This is a great opportunity for open water fishing, especially given the mild temperatures in the immediate forecast.”

Picture showing the end of the open water at 17.5 miles east of Birchdale landing

Picture taken by International Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau of the Kutte’s Landing

Could someone “in the know” post mileage between these landings/towns:
Loman to Indus
Indus to Manitou Rapids
Manitou Rapids to Birchdale
Birchdale to Frontier
Frontier to Clementson

Thanks!

THis should give you all the info you need @mnwalleyehunter

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zriHlHwdlJ7o.kZEtRC3AX7dU&ie=UTF&msa=0

March 13th, 2015:
We were unable to go check the river today because we were working on the dock. It stayed in the high 30s today, we had some misting going on this afternoon, and it has been cloudy all day. One of our friend’s that was heading that way for work said it was just over 13 miles east of Birchdale. We will be going to check tomorrow mid day so be sure to watch for our report.

March 14th, 2015:
Last night our temperature reading was around 25 degrees and by early morning it was back in the low 30s. It has been sunny all day so far with the temperature around 46 degrees when we went to check the river at 1:20pm. This picture was about the only good one we could get as there are a bunch of trees in the way. So it was taken just a little bit to the east of the where it ended. The river is now 9.9 miles east of Birchdale Landing, 7.8 miles east of Franz Jevne and 34.4 miles from our place. Tomorrow they are talking a high of 59 degrees with it being cloudy early and partial sunshine expected later in the day.

Here is the picture of the open water from today just a little bit east of where it ended:

March 15th, 2015:
The temperature was 63 degrees at 3:43 pm when we went to check the river. We stopped at Manitou Rapids and it had open water and it was going to the west as far as we could see. We did find a spot on the road where we could still see open water and stopped to take a picture. It is now 8.3 miles from Birchdale Landing and 6.2 miles from Franz Jevne. It is suppose to be around 37 degrees for a low tonight and stay in the mid 30s and low 40s all week. There is a chance of snow tomorrow morning.

Here is 8.3 miles east of Birchdale Landing:

I talked to a couple of guys that just came off the river at the Pelland access.They said that they caught 15 walleyes with a 24 incher being the biggest.The bite was not fast and furious but pretty steady according to them.The bait that seemed to work the best was a pink jig tipped with a shiner.
There were 12 rigs parked at the landing.The river is a little low but they said there was no problem
BB2

March 16th, 2015:
We went and checked the river about 1:00 pm today the temperature was 35 degrees so a lot cooler than yesterday but the sun is finally shinning as it was cloudy this morning. The wind is NNW at 15 to 25 mph today with the high getting 40 degrees and the low for tonight is 23 degrees. We saw open water 5.1 miles east of Birchdale (could see open water going to the west of the picture also) and in the picture it was hard to tell but we could see ice floating in the water on the Canadian side. We also went to 6.1 miles to see if we could see more open water which we did. So the river is now around 5 miles east of Birchdale.

1st picture is 5.1 miles from Birchdale and the 2nd on is 6.1 miles east of Birchdale and the 3rd is of Franz Jevne

March 17th, 2015:
Grant went and checked the river earlier this afternoon while I was at my part time job. The high for today is around 40 degrees and the low being around 22 degrees. I was amazed when I left for work that my windshield was frosted over and that the river still opened up as much as it did. You can now see open water from the Birchdale Landing Grant is thinking it was less than a mile. Franz Jevne is open with about 40 yards of shore ice.

1st picture is straight out at Franz Jevne, 2nd picture is looking to the east at birchdale

March 18th, 2015:
Grant went and checked the river about 1:30pm today and sadly it did not get in front of the Birchdale Landing. It is still less than a mile from the landing and he said it moved a little bit closer but got wider. It is about 36 degrees at this time with the high reaching 46 degrees and a low of 28 tonight. Hoping tomorrow we will see open water in front of the Birchdale Landing. Boats are pushing off at Franz Jevne today.

1st picture is looking east at Birchdale Landing….2nd picture is of a boat getting ready to push off at Franz Jevne.

Thanks for the updates. That picture of the boat looks nice.

Your welcome for all the updates

March 19th, 2015:
We woke up to it snowing this morning and the river in front of our house was completely white again. It quit shortly before we went and checked the river at 12:45 pm and there was some open water in front of the Birchdale Landing. You could also see open water on the Canadian side straight out from the Birchdale Landing. It was about 37 degrees and the high is suppose to get 49 degrees with a low of 29 degrees tonight. There were 4 boat trailers at Franz Jevne when we stopped to check there. It looks like there is less shore ice here than there was yesterday.
We talked to one group last night that was fishing up by Pelland for the day and they caught 27 walleyes and the biggest being 24 inches. They also caught some sturgeon with one being 73 inches hoping they send a picture to share with everyone! Hoping the fishing is good!

The picture is straight out in front of the Birchdale Landing:

Whoa baby. 73″!!

I’ll be up the 17th.

March 20th, 2015:
We headed east and got to Birchdale around 12:45pm this afternoon the temperature was 31 degrees. There were about 5 boat trailers that had pushed off from there and there was about three at Franz Jevne. There is open water about 2.5 miles west of the Birchdale Landing but we are thinking that it might be froze up still in between as we didn’t see any boats in this part of the open water. The high for today is suppose to be 32 degrees with a low of 9 degrees tonight.
We talked to one of the groups that is staying with us this morning and they said fishing was slow for them yesterday. Doesn’t sound like any big fish were caught. When we were at Birchdale checking the river conditions a group was just pulling their boat out of the water and said they caught their 2 walleye each but no big ones either. It is cooler on the river today as the temperature was only 31 degrees when we were there but with the wind felt a lot colder.

1st picture is looking east at Birchdale Landing, 2nd picture is looking to the straight at Birchdale Landing, 3rd picture is looking west at Birchdale Landing, 4th picture is showing open water 2.5 miles west of Birchdale, and the 5th picture is showing there is still shore ice at Franz Jevne

March 21st, 2015:
Grant went and checked the river about 12:30pm and found open water 2.7 miles west of Birchdale. The temperature at the time was in high teens with the high for the day reaching 29 degrees and the low of 12 degrees for tonight. There is still shore ice at Birchdale Landing so boats are still pushing off and hopefully on Monday morning the county will be out there to clear it out. There was less shore ice today at Birchdale Landing.

Picture with the boat is at the Birchdale Landing and the other picture is 2.7 miles west of Birchdale at the wayside rest stop.

March 22nd, 2015:
We went and checked the river and found open water 4.6 miles west of the Birchdale Landing around 2:00pm. The temperature was 32 degrees and the high for today is suppose to be 35 degrees and the low around 23 degrees tonight. Tomorrow is suppose to be a high of 41 degrees and looks like it is going to be cloudy. There is still some shore ice at the Birchdale Landing and hoping the county is out there tomorrow to break it lose. Also Franz Jevne still has some shore ice.
Our group of 5 did good again yesterday with the biggest being 23 inches. They were going to go out for a few hours this morning before heading back home. Hope to have some more fishing reports soon!

The picture of the ramp is Birchdale Landing and the picture with the boat is 4.6 miles west of Birchdale

March 23rd, 2015:
I got word about 10:00 am that the Birchdale Landing is open to all boats. I got there about 11:00am to get pictures and check to see how close the river is to Frontier Landing. The Landing in Birchdale is open to all boats both ramps are open. Just to give you an idea we are about 17 days ahead of last year (April 8th, 2014 is when Birchdale was open for all boats). It was 34 degrees and cloudy when I was there and the high is suppose to be 41 degrees and cloudy today and a low of 30 degrees tonight. Tomorrow looks to be a gorgeous day as the high is suppose to reach 48 degrees and be mostly cloudy but chance of sun. I did go and check Franz Jevne and there is still shore ice there and looks the same as yesterday.
The river is open 1.8 miles east of Frontier Landing or 6.2 miles west of Birchdale there is some ice build up in between the spots of open water from about 5.5 miles west of Birchdale to the 6.2 miles west of Birchdale.

For open water to get to Frontier it needs to open up 1.8 miles, to get to Vidas it needs to open up 11.8 miles, and to get to us it needs to open up 18.3 miles.

Picture is showing the ramps open at Birchdale Landing and the other is showing some open water 2.5 miles east of Frontier before the ice build up and then there is open water again after that making it 1.8 miles east of Frontier

March 24th, 2015:
I went and checked Frontier Landing about 1:15 pm and there is open water in front of the landing with quite a bit shore ice yet. The river is open just over a mile west of the Frontier Landing. There looks to be some ice build up to the east of the landing as that is the last place I saw any boats. The temperature was 38 degrees and on the way home the sun was coming out a little bit. The high is suppose to get to 46 degrees and a low of 33 degrees tonight. Tomorrow they are calling for a high of 36 degrees with an 80% chance of rain and snow in the morning then changing to snow in the afternoon. I guess winter just doesn’t want to leave yet! Let’s hope this weather misses us and that the fishing is better today!

Picture with the ramp is Frontier looking straight, the picture with boats is looking east at Frontier, and the other picture is looking to the west at Frontier and it is hard to tell in the picture but there is open water there.

March 25th, 2015:
Grant went and checked the river about 4:30pm to see if he could find where the open water ended. He figures it is somewhere between 2 miles and under 3.6 miles west of Frontier. He went to a house and that was 3.6 miles west of Frontier and it was still frozen. There are 10 miles between Frontier and Vidas landing. There is also less shore ice at Frontier today and boats are pushing off. Grant did run up to Franz Jevne to see if there was still shore ice and there is and he said there is about a 2 foot drop off from the end of the ice to the water level. Last night it started raining a little after 10pm and when we got up at 7am it was snowing. It snowed most of the day and then the wind picked up after noon today. The high was about 30 degrees with a low of 17 degrees tonight. Tomorrow’s high is 26 degrees with some clouds in the morning and then mainly sunny in the afternoon!

Picture of Frontier Landing and the one with the boat is just to the west of Frontier Landing

Once again great report RD I would like to add the water temps were 33.2 degrees and the depth at the Manatou Rapids is 3.5 feet.
BB2

Thank you so much hopefully the water starts to warm up

March 26th, 2015:
This morning was a little cold with some snow flurries but cleared off to sunny skies for most of the day with the high reaching close to 26 degrees at our house. The low for tonight is 10 degrees so could make for a cold morning tomorrow. The high for tomorrow is 35 degrees with sun and some clouds. Grant found open water 4.3 miles west of Frontier around 4:00pm where the white church is on the Canadian side but couldn’t find the end of it. He also checked at Vidas Landing and didn’t see any water there yet. Frontier landing was opened up today for all boats by the County, we would like to thank them for their hard work and getting these landings open for everyone!

Pictures are of the Frontier Landing being open to all boats, the white church on the Canadian side has open water which is about 4.3 miles west of Frontier, and the deer Grant saw when checking the river today.

March 27th, 2015:
This morning started out feeling cold but it did warm up to 33 degrees today making it feel a little bit better. The low for tonight is 18 degrees and tomorrow’s high is 46 degrees and partly cloudy. Grant did find open water 3.3 miles east of Vidas Landing and is guessing it is open 2-3 miles east of Vidas Landing. Hopefully tomorrow there will be some open water in front of Vidas! Grant talked to some people that said fishing was a little bit slow today but they were still catching fish. Most of the fish are mainly males and it should just keep getting better as the warm temperature warms up. A group that I talked to last night went out just after noon and were back here just after 6pm and caught 20 fish with the biggest walleye being 24 inches.

Picture is just west of Frontier Landing

March 28th, 2015:
Grant’s dad went and checked the river earlier this afternoon and said that some boats had pushed off at Vidas Landing and there was an ice jam just to the east of Vidas Landing and he could see quite a few boats. It was wide open to the west of Vidas Landing and hopefully by the end of this coming week we will see open water in front of our place. Today the high was 44 degrees and very windy there is a 80% chance of rain later tonight with the low being 36 degrees.