Rainy River Ice Out

  • Red Eye
    Posts: 1045
    #2329751

    We caught alot of fish today. Best day of the trip by far. Took some dialing to figure it out, but after a while we were catching fish both dragging, and flowing down river vertical. And we would find a pod spot lock and pitch to them. Was a great day. The kid finally felt better at about 3 and came in the boat. Lots and lots of 25s and 26s caught today

    Well i guess i just suck.

    Mike W
    MN/Anoka/Ham lake
    Posts: 13478
    #2329758

    I’ll be back up that way tomorrow..

    Bearcat89
    North branch, mn
    Posts: 22495
    #2329765

    <div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
    We caught alot of fish today. Best day of the trip by far. Took some dialing to figure it out, but after a while we were catching fish both dragging, and flowing down river vertical. And we would find a pod spot lock and pitch to them. Was a great day. The kid finally felt better at about 3 and came in the boat. Lots and lots of 25s and 26s caught today

    Well i guess i just suck.

    It took us a few days to figure this out. I shared the info with full draw, he and his buddy are up camping next to us. All 4 of us were able to stay on the bite all day and get it really dialed in. I wish I was fishing tomorrow, but that’s how it goes.

    Bearcat89
    North branch, mn
    Posts: 22495
    #2329766

    Did you guys see the canadian conservation officers in the red Lund? They rolled up on me with 2 rods out, I thought they were dragging jigs way to close, turned out they were being real sneaky. But they were as nice as they could get with me. I never seen the fishing rod trick before

    Charlie W
    TRF / Pool 3 / Grand Rapids, MN / SJU
    Posts: 1422
    #2329788

    Pretty good bite the last few days. Water is a couple degrees warmer than the last two weekends and it showed.

    PSA that might get some hate here – quit fighting the snagged sturgeon for so long. If you want to catch them, then actually target them with heavy enough gear – they are sweet fish and a blast on real sturgeon equipment.

    Idk how many we saw just yesterday alone but a lot of guys out there fight them forever. You know it’s not a walleye after a few seconds so just pull on the line and more often than not the jig will bend out. Watching guys fight these things for 20, 40, 60, 80+ minutes is not a good look and also tough on those fish. Yes, they are resilient but they’re not invincible. Ok carry on.

    AK Guy
    Posts: 1603
    #2329793

    Pretty good bite the last few days. Water is a couple degrees warmer than the last two weekends and it showed.

    PSA that might get some hate here – quit fighting the snagged sturgeon for so long. If you want to catch them, then actually target them with heavy enough gear – they are sweet fish and a blast on real sturgeon equipment.

    Idk how many we saw just yesterday alone but a lot of guys out there fight them forever. You know it’s not a walleye after a few seconds so just pull on the line and more often than not the jig will bend out. Watching guys fight these things for 20, 40, 60, 80+ minutes is not a good look and also tough on those fish. Yes, they are resilient but they’re not invincible. Ok carry on.

    X2

    GB
    Baudette, MN
    Posts: 18
    #2329794

    <div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Charlie W wrote:</div>
    Pretty good bite the last few days. Water is a couple degrees warmer than the last two weekends and it showed.

    PSA that might get some hate here – quit fighting the snagged sturgeon for so long. If you want to catch them, then actually target them with heavy enough gear – they are sweet fish and a blast on real sturgeon equipment.

    Idk how many we saw just yesterday alone but a lot of guys out there fight them forever. You know it’s not a walleye after a few seconds so just pull on the line and more often than not the jig will bend out. Watching guys fight these things for 20, 40, 60, 80+ minutes is not a good look and also tough on those fish. Yes, they are resilient but they’re not invincible. Ok carry on.

    X2

    X3

    Full draw
    Posts: 1738
    #2329891

    Other than the rock episode we had an awesome trip.
    The prop shaft was bent to a .149 thousandth’s. My dad was able to get it straightened back to .003 thousandth’s. Took it for a spin on the lake and everything appears to be good to go.

    We didn’t land a lot of fish in total but a lot of what we caught was in the 24 to 26”. It’s going to be fun when that year class or two is 28 to 30”.
    We struggled getting a good consistent pitching bite going. We ended up pulling jigs and paddle tails upstream and slipping the current with a split tail plastic. Unfortunately I didn’t think of using the split tail until an hour or so left in the day yesterday.

    We had a blast camping with Bearcat, his son and friends. I am already looking forward till next year.

    I couldn’t believe how few of boats there was there this morning when we left.

    Matt Johnston
    Pine city
    Posts: 32
    #2329898

    Next year will be a blast mike! I’ll bring the roast again!

    Full draw
    Posts: 1738
    #2329905

    Next year will be a blast mike! I’ll bring the roast again!

    Heck yeah it will.
    That sounds great.
    I kid you not that roast you made last night was awesome!

    fins
    Posts: 497
    #2329907

    Other than the rock episode we had an awesome trip.
    The prop shaft was bent to a .149 thousandth’s. My dad was able to get it straightened back to .003 thousandth’s. Took it for a spin on the lake and everything appears to be good to go.

    We didn’t land a lot of fish in total but a lot of what we caught was in the 24 to 26”. It’s going to be fun when that year class or two is 28 to 30”.
    We struggled getting a good consistent pitching bite going. We ended up pulling jigs and paddle tails upstream and slipping the current with a split tail plastic. Unfortunately I didn’t think of using the split tail until an hour or so left in the day yesterday.

    We had a blast camping with Bearcat, his son and friends. I am already looking forward till next year.

    I couldn’t believe how few of boats there was there this morning when we left.

    How did you straighten the prop shaft? I hit a rock at about 5 mph 2 falls ago and the stainless prop bent the shaft. Insurance paid about $6k for a new lower unit and I bought it back for $75. Would be nice to get it good enough to be a spare.

    Justin Laack
    Austin,mn
    Posts: 530
    #2329909

    First time ever being up there for me and it was sad to see the amount of people fishing the Canadian side with minnows. We bought Canadian license and exclusively fished plastics. Friday fishing in one area watching a boat behind us catching fish they got close and I decided we were leaving. The gentleman in the bow goes you don’t have to leave because of us, my buddy says it’s slow in the area, I ask are you guys using minnows?? 15 second pause, boat driver says quietly yeah, I tell him he can’t have minnows on the Canadian side, he replies with its close enough (150′ past the line according to my map), besides we haven’t seen the chopper yet today!!!

    Mike W
    MN/Anoka/Ham lake
    Posts: 13478
    #2329912

    One more day to go. Where did everyone go today. Birchdale was a ghost town by noon. By dark there was maybe 6 boats on the water. Guessing tomorrow parking shouldn’t be an issue.

    Bearcat89
    North branch, mn
    Posts: 22495
    #2329926

    First time ever being up there for me and it was sad to see the amount of people fishing the Canadian side with minnows. We bought Canadian license and exclusively fished plastics. Friday fishing in one area watching a boat behind us catching fish they got close and I decided we were leaving. The gentleman in the bow goes you don’t have to leave because of us, my buddy says it’s slow in the area, I ask are you guys using minnows?? 15 second pause, boat driver says quietly yeah, I tell him he can’t have minnows on the Canadian side, he replies with its close enough (150′ past the line according to my map), besides we haven’t seen the chopper yet today!!!

    Let em get busted and pay the fines. Minnows are so over rated. We buy them to have for sturgeon fishing but ditch them for plastics on the walleye. But we made the same comment. Lots of minnows past that line.

    Bearcat89
    North branch, mn
    Posts: 22495
    #2329927

    One more day to go. Where did everyone go today. Birchdale was a ghost town by noon. By dark there was maybe 6 boats on the water. Guessing tomorrow parking shouldn’t be an issue.

    How’d the bite turn out in that area Mike?

    Bearcat89
    North branch, mn
    Posts: 22495
    #2329928

    <div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Matt Johnston wrote:</div>
    Next year will be a blast mike! I’ll bring the roast again!

    Heck yeah it will.
    That sounds great.
    I kid you not that roast you made last night was awesome!

    Venison roasts in the tent always are delicious. But those bone in shoulders really are the ticket.

    Full draw
    Posts: 1738
    #2329931

    <div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Full draw wrote:</div>
    Other than the rock episode we had an awesome trip.
    The prop shaft was bent to a .149 thousandth’s. My dad was able to get it straightened back to .003 thousandth’s. Took it for a spin on the lake and everything appears to be good to go.

    We didn’t land a lot of fish in total but a lot of what we caught was in the 24 to 26”. It’s going to be fun when that year class or two is 28 to 30”.
    We struggled getting a good consistent pitching bite going. We ended up pulling jigs and paddle tails upstream and slipping the current with a split tail plastic. Unfortunately I didn’t think of using the split tail until an hour or so left in the day yesterday.

    We had a blast camping with Bearcat, his son and friends. I am already looking forward till next year.

    I couldn’t believe how few of boats there was there this morning when we left.

    How did you straighten the prop shaft? I hit a rock at about 5 mph 2 falls ago and the stainless prop bent the shaft. Insurance paid about $6k for a new lower unit and I bought it back for $75. Would be nice to get it good enough to be a spare.

    We used a bottle jack and pressed on the prop nut. We put a 3/8” steel plate against the cavitation plate.
    We also has a digital dial indicator. We would find the low spot and the high spot. Then press on the high spot. We worked it slow. A little each time. Took us about 20 times to get it back into spec.

    John Rasmussen
    Blaine
    Posts: 6875
    #2329964

    Did you guys see the canadian conservation officers in the red Lund? They rolled up on me with 2 rods out, I thought they were dragging jigs way to close, turned out they were being real sneaky. But they were as nice as they could get with me. I never seen the fishing rod trick before

    Reminds me of a time me and a buddy got checked duck hunting. After we were done hunting and picking up, I look over and there was a guy paddling over in a kayak with a decoy bag and a black lab, didn’t think much of it until I saw his boy scout uniform. They can be quite tricky.

    Sam Menard
    Posts: 12
    #2329978

    Was going to fish this weekend but unfortunately had a funeral to go to. Maybe next year.

    BTW, the chopper flying around was in response to Trumps claims (and resulting tariffs) that fentanyl and migrants are pouring out of Canada into the US.

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