2017 Rainy River Conditions

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:

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

Looks like the water is rising too. When the time comes I bet it’ll go really fast.

What’s the last day of the spring season this year?

Joe wrote:

What’s the last day of the spring season this year?

Every year it’s April 14th, regardless of the day of the week.

It’s a Friday this year.

April 14th is the last day to fish for walleye until it opens again in May.

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.

Thanks again for the updates. Those photos confirm the satellite photo form today. It appears to be open right down to birchdale. A short stretch of 40’s is all it’ll take to go beyond. A stretch of 50’s with sun should take it a long way.

Might be a few weeks away but it sure looks like it’ll be a nice long spring season.

thanks for updates guys, keep them coming

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 of Birchdale Landing when he checked the river today

how many miles is it from birchdale down to border view on the river?

grizzly wrote:

how many miles is it from birchdale down to border view on the river?

It’s about 39 miles give or take a mile or two.

Any updates on landings?

https://www.facebook.com/RippingLipwithJasonGrollFishing/

Thanks Arcticm1000! Looks like no accesses fully cleared, but the river at Pelland is mostly open. Manitou and Franz Jevne still locked up. For anyone wondering what is what, here is the landings Map for reference. C’mon sunshine and warm weather!

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?msa=0&ie=UTF&mid=1QMWR63AOxEvXkUQxJHhPudijhsY&ll=48.606128109656275%2C-94.00743499999998&z=10

Here is the best map of boat launches I have found.

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.

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.

Thank you for posting! Won’t be long now!!!

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.

what boat ramp is better east of Baudette when the river opens up? do they put any docks out to get in the boats or what works the best? never been up this early for the ice out, have allways put in down by wheelers point any info would be a big help

March 20th, 2017:
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.

For the ramp, most people tend to put in at the one they are going to be fishing by. Timber Mill Park (City park in Baudette) is very steep but I think the others to the east of us are pretty good. I am not sure if they put docks out or not this early for boats. We typically stop checking the landings once they are open for all boats. Sorry I do not know the answer for sure. Hopefully someone else will be able to answer it better than me.

how long are u thinking it will be before its open down to wheelers point if the weather holds

The only dock I know of is at timber mill. Birchdale fills up quickly and frontier plan on a couple hours to get in or out. Plan on wait either way this time of year.

Wheelers point??depends a lot on weather

The landings do have docks, but they don’t get put in right away so if you’re going to go up for the spring run, I wouldn’t expect to have a dock at anything but maybe Timbermill and Wheeler’s Pt.

Based on the recent FB postings, I would suggest leaving work and going right NOW!

Good idea.

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. 

If the weather stays nice it could be open to Wheelers access before we know it. I would say within the next week it should be open there.

anyone do anything besides just drain the livewells so they don’t freeze over night up there when its that cold or is that good enough? coming up next week or week after and just asking so don’t break something.thanks

I put table salt on bunks (glass boat) and bringing some hot water in a water bottle can help thaw anything that may have froze over night. Boat tie downs,water hose on outboard,shift and throttle cables and drain plug opening on hull are all things I have had freeze where having some hot water on hand at landing has saved the day. A pop bottle with a small hole in cap makes a good squirt gun. Can usually pick up hot water at gas station from coffee machines. Good luck! I can’t wait to get up there. Thanks royal dutchman for the river reports.