October Trip

Beginning stages of planning a trip in October and looking good opinions. Option 1 is Rainy River and lake vermilion. I know they aren’t connected or anything, but would be fishing both for a few days each. Option 2 is Green Bay. Have never done either that late in the season, but have done vermilion and Green Bay before. Never been on the reading other than using it to access LOTW. Any input is much appreciated!

Both of those sound like a great fall walleye trip and I don’t think you can go wrong with either option. I have never fished Green Bay. Can it be easily fished in bad weather? Places to hide? With option 1 you have places you can still fish when it is nasty out.

Rainy when the shiners start running is suppose to be awesome.

I have been doing an early October trip for the past 12yrs. For the first 10, we went to Rainy Lake. We never got a guide, we prefer to figure things out as we go. Each year from year 1 to year 8 got a little better each time. Aside from the days with blasting wind, we were typically able to find some fish that would cooperate. the last 2 years, it was a noticeable decline for us, had no problem finding fish, but getting them to bite was a challenge.

Over the years, The guy at the Rainy Lake One Stop suggested going to Birchdale on those windy days and that worked out well most times so 2 years ago we decided to make the switch and stay on the Rainy River by the mouth of LOTW

There is quite a bit more boat traffic on that end of the river compared to Rainy Lake, but in our 2 years going there, we prefer the fishing there hands down

Staying at 1 of the resorts there, you have the option to fish the big lake when weather allows and when its too windy, just stay in the river

Regarding the fall shiner run, we have come across some decent days in early October but it is weather dependent from year to year, I think its driven by the water temps

snelson223 wrote:

Rainy when the shiners start running is suppose to be awesome.

You’re right but exactly when that is from year to year is hard to predict and planning a trip around the shiner run is hard to do.

Thanks for your thoughts guys. Roadwork, Green Bay is okay to fish if you have an any westerly or straight east wind. If you get a NE I’m guessing it would be brutal, but haven’t actually seen it. The rainy scares me a bit with people hitting stuff, but from what I’m gathering that is a little more on the east end and not so much around Baudette.

Loomis13 wrote:

Thanks for your thoughts guys. Roadwork, Green Bay is okay to fish if you have an any westerly or straight east wind. If you get a NE I’m guessing it would be brutal, but haven’t actually seen it. The rainy scares me a bit with people hitting stuff, but from what I’m gathering that is a little more on the east end and not so much around Baudette.

The rainy is a pretty easy one to navigate. Just stay away from the rapids unless you know the path.
We will be on the rainy for our fall run as well

Loomis13 wrote:

Thanks for your thoughts guys. Roadwork, Green Bay is okay to fish if you have an any westerly or straight east wind. If you get a NE I’m guessing it would be brutal, but haven’t actually seen it. The rainy scares me a bit with people hitting stuff, but from what I’m gathering that is a little more on the east end and not so much around Baudette.

Ya, depending on water level, the Rainy River can get tricky by rapids, my experience has been at Birchdale. The nice thing is that the river mapped pretty well on the Lake Master chip. I havnet noticed much for hazards on the stretch from Baudette to LOTW