Rainy River

Mods can move this if they want. I just wanted to get as many opinions as possible.

Our group has a trip planned for the 26th-30th. The resort we are staying at has told us to bring our ice gear as the river won’t be open when we first get there, but they are thinking towards the end of our time it will be. Right now we are debating on eating the deposit and pushing the trip back a bit. No offense to the ice anglers, but I don’t care how good the ice fishing is, I am not driving 8 hours and spending over $200/night to ice fish.

What are your guys’ thoughts? We need some honest input. I take what the resort says with a grain of salt as they want our money. I am thinking we should push the trip back and hope the river opens up more.

Nobody knows for sure what the weather will be. The ice can go out very quick with the right conditions. Go with your gut on this one.

Sounds to me like the resort is being pretty straight forward with you. If they really wanted just your money they would say they are pretty sure the river will be open. That is if you are staying on the river and not the lake. I would agree that most likely the river won’t be open in a week, not to be able to launch at an access without going over shore ice below the rapids.

The resort won’t let you keep your deposit if you move the trip back a couple weeks? You’d think they would understand that not everybody ice fishes and this non-typical winter has messed up some plans. I mean, you’d think they would want to keep a customer and let you move it back a bit so they would get your full payment vs just a deposit and losing a customer for good. I’d bring up that point if it was me…

If they move their date, then the resort might miss money by having a vacancy for the time they filled.

So they say they ice might be out by the end of the trip? You must be talking June 26-30th.

The resort is already booked for the following couple of weeks. We would have to stay elsewhere if we pushed it back, so the resort would have a vacancy our week, and I think they would have a hard time filling it. I would like to think the resort is being straightforward, but I don’t like investing time and money on a maybe.

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If they move their date, then the resort might miss money by having a vacancy for the time they filled.

So they say they ice might be out by the end of the trip? You must be talking June 26-30th.

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Right, but not get a $100 deposit to for sure book and keep a customer happy at $600 a day? No brainer… spend the $100 and show the customer a grand time to try and make money year after year. urine them off and you’ll lose them and their friends forever. If its a full blown cancellation then yeah, lose the deposit. If it was my operation I’d offer a re-book for 1.5 deposit. So if they cancel I still make half of what I would have made off this deposit. But if the customer asked, I would drop it back down to the regular deposit.

If the river is frozen longer than typical then they should try and accommodate their guests by offering to move the dates, not saying “bring ice gear or lose your deposit”.. Just my opinion of course.

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The resort is already booked for the following couple of weeks. We would have to stay elsewhere if we pushed it back, so the resort would have a vacancy our week, and I think they would have a hard time filling it. I would like to think the resort is being straightforward, but I don’t like investing time and money on a maybe.

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In that case then yes, they should take your deposit. Unfortunately that is the way I would go. No sense in paying $200/day to watch the ice melt for a few days. Go somewhere else in a few weeks and catch some hawgs.

I would say it depends on the size boat you’re bringing up there. If you’re planning on sliding over shore ice to get it in, then you MIGHT be fine. They aren’t expecting to break freezing until next Saturday, and the last report had open water 19+ miles east of Birchdale. If you need an open ramp for a larger boat, I don’t see it happening.

Currently, I believe the river is approximately 1 week behind last years opening, which could put Birchdale opening at around April 8th if the weather stays consistent.

Check here for up to date river conditions http://clementsonresort.com/

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If they move their date, then the resort might miss money by having a vacancy for the time they filled.

So they say they ice might be out by the end of the trip? You must be talking June 26-30th.

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Right, but not get a $100 deposit to for sure book and keep a customer happy at $600 a day? No brainer… spend the $100 and show the customer a grand time to try and make money year after year. urine them off and you’ll lose them and their friends forever. If its a full blown cancellation then yeah, lose the deposit. If it was my operation I’d offer a re-book for 1.5 deposit. So if they cancel I still make half of what I would have made off this deposit. But if the customer asked, I would drop it back down to the regular deposit.

If the river is frozen longer than typical then they should try and accommodate their guests by offering to move the dates, not saying “bring ice gear or lose your deposit”.. Just my opinion of course.

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Where’s the Tylenol…

Been doing this run for 15 years. Never book a room in advance; go when it opens and look for a place to crash. Would you rather have a room and no open water or water= fish, and a bit of a drive for lodging. just my 2 cents

The appeal of the resort was being able to dock our boat and not have to fight the crowds to launch. Well worth the added $$ in my opinion, but I have never made this trip before.

We might end up bringing a smaller boat and launching over the ice. I am not sure what we will do. I am not very optimistic that the ice will move 19+ miles in temps below freezing.

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Mods can move this if they want. I just wanted to get as many opinions as possible.

Our group has a trip planned for the 26th-30th. The resort we are staying at has told us to bring our ice gear as the river won’t be open when we first get there, but they are thinking towards the end of our time it will be. Right now we are debating on eating the deposit and pushing the trip back a bit. No offense to the ice anglers, but I don’t care how good the ice fishing is, I am not driving 8 hours and spending over $200/night to ice fish.

What are your guys’ thoughts? We need some honest input. I take what the resort says with a grain of salt as they want our money. I am thinking we should push the trip back and hope the river opens up more.

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Open water is still 20 miles east of Birchdale, which makes it 35 miles east of Vidas yet. With below zero temps forecasted for the next 4 nights & daytime highs hovering in the 30’s & low 40’s, it’s unrealistic to think we will have open water for the prespawn season. I too, had trips planned for the prespawn, one starting on the 30th of March & one on the 7th of April. Two years in a row?? How bad is that? I feel as crappy as the rest of you guys, but reality is reality! You know the old saying, “Wish in one hand, and…..” I’m just sayin’!!!

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Been doing this run for 15 years. Never book a room in advance; go when it opens and look for a place to crash. Would you rather have a room and no open water or water= fish, and a bit of a drive for lodging. just my 2 cents

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I’ll call your two cents and and raise you four cents. This has been my strategy. The one and only time I booked a stay sonewhere, I has to fish Pelland landing with the other morons.

It is a tough bite to call that is for sure. I usually have the boat ready the first half of April and wait and see.

If it was me, I would eat the deposit and head out to Chamberlain, SD. I had reservations up at Rainy the next two weeks. I’m not confident it will open up in time for the last weekend of the season. Back up plans.

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If it was me, I would eat the deposit and head out to Chamberlain, SD. I had reservations up at Rainy the next two weeks. I’m not confident it will open up in time for the last weekend of the season. Back up plans.

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Reality bites pretty hard sometimes!! Who would have thought we would get snookered two years in a row? Open water is still light years from Birchdale, & of course double that to Vidas. We have officially scrapped our prespawn plans in favor of the first week of the Minnesota regular season. We will be on the river then. By then, we will be in post-spawn, but we should find some decent weather & some fish. Oh well,,, maybe next year.

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If it was me, I would eat the deposit and head out to Chamberlain, SD. I had reservations up at Rainy the next two weeks. I’m not confident it will open up in time for the last weekend of the season. Back up plans.

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This is exactly what we did. To go from potentially fishing the Rainy to being excited about a bag of 16″ was underwhelming to say the least. I had fun and our good day we caught over 50 fish in 7 hours. If anything, I have a whole new appreciation for pool 4.