Rainy River Ice Out

March 27

April 5th

I can’t remember exactly what year it was. Must have been like 14-16ish somewhere in there because I had a new boat but that one year we were fishing the lake by late march, might have even been mid march. That was a crazy year. I’m all for the catch and release thing but it was nice to be able to fish the river all day for bigs then run out to the lake to get some dinner fish. That was an epic year. Why is it that you can keep fish in the lake and bring them back as long as you don’t stop on the way in but heaven forbid you keep your 2 fish on the Canadian side and bring them across in the same manner. Minnesota is so messed up.

fins wrote:

I can’t remember exactly what year it was. Must have been like 14-16ish somewhere in there because I had a new boat but that one year we were fishing the lake by late march, might have even been mid march. That was a crazy year. I’m all for the catch and release thing but it was nice to be able to fish the river all day for bigs then run out to the lake to get some dinner fish. That was an epic year. Why is it that you can keep fish in the lake and bring them back as long as you don’t stop on the way in but heaven forbid you keep your 2 fish on the Canadian side and bring them across in the same manner. Minnesota is so messed up.

Was that the year st paddys day was 80 degrees.
If it was we were up cutting a pool out of the international falls high school and Steve from Steve’s lucky bait let me and Charlie come borrow his boat and rods for the 2 weeks. That was a great year.

Yep that’s the one. That was an awesome year. Probably never had another one like that since. I remember sitting in four mile bay just whacking giants one after another. As far as numbers of big fish that’s the best year I’ve had over there.

fins wrote:

Yep that’s the one. That was an awesome year. Probably never had another one like that since. I remember sitting in four mile bay just whacking giants one after another. As far as numbers of big fish that’s the best year I’ve had over there.

Same with me. We caught more big fish that year then probably multiple years combine. I remember landing my first ever 30 and Steve was yelling to me to quick throw her back and land another one. To bad he’s dead now, Steve was a great guy.

He was definitely one of a kind genuinely great guy. One year I had just gotten a new boat and there was a crazy detour down there’s crappy gravel back roads. We stopped to get bait from Steve and he came running out, barefoot of course and said you have to wash that thing off! He strung out a hose so I could wash my boat in the parking lot. Another time we stopped to get bait and there was nobody around which seemed kinda odd. As we were walking back to the truck I heard someone yell I’ll be right there. Took me a minute to figure out what was going on but I looked up and he was way up in a tree with a chainsaw wearing nothing but shorts. No shoes, no shirt or anything. All we could do is laugh. He’s missed that’s for sure!

fins wrote:

He was definitely one of a kind genuinely great guy. One year I had just gotten a new boat and there was a crazy detour down there’s crappy gravel back roads. We stopped to get bait from Steve and he came running out, barefoot of course and said you have to wash that thing off! He strung out a hose so I could wash my boat in the parking lot. Another time we stopped to get bait and there was nobody around which seemed kinda odd. As we were walking back to the truck I heard someone yell I’ll be right there. Took me a minute to figure out what was going on but I looked up and he was way up in a tree with a chainsaw wearing nothing but shorts. No shoes, no shirt or anything. All we could do is laugh. He’s missed that’s for sure!

Yup Steve was definitely one of a kind. He was my best buddies uncle. We built the entire motel for him through 2 different fishing trips. Fish all day and work on that all night. He owned 1 pair of actual pants and those were known as his court jeans. Otherwise it was sweats all winter and cut off cargo shorts all summer lol. He was a very smart guy. He could work on anything and everything, it was actually impressive. I offered to buy his suburban when he passed but robbie wouldn’t let it go, and sadly she went straight downhill after he passed. Last time I was in there before she passed on she had a handful of methheads in there and it wasn’t the bait shop it used to be.

I bet it will be a late ice out into April, lots of ice on the river and the forecast up there isn’t as nice as down here, like usual. We won’t lose much ice when it’s still well below freezing overnight.

Bearcat89 wrote:

sadly she went straight downhill after he passed. Last time I was in there before she passed on she had a handful of methheads in there and it wasn’t the bait shop it used to be.

Bummer, Steve was 1 of 1, and Robbie was always entertaining too. Is it still open? I haven’t been up in a while, but will be next weekend and usually stop in there.

It looked like it was all boarded up when we went by the other day. Another cool memory from the river for me was that Covid spring. We fished all day and saw 2 boats all day. Fishing was awesome and there was nobody in sight. Once in a lifetime experience for sure.

BigWerm wrote:

I bet it will be a late ice out into April, lots of ice on the river and the forecast up there isn’t as nice as down here, like usual. We won’t lose much ice when it’s still well below freezing overnight.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
sadly she went straight downhill after he passed. Last time I was in there before she passed on she had a handful of methheads in there and it wasn’t the bait shop it used to be.

Bummer, Steve was 1 of 1, and Robbie was always entertaining too. Is it still open? I haven’t been up in a while, but will be next weekend and usually stop in there.

No, the kids want nothing to do with the bait shop. Max and Rosie said no thank you. So it’s shut down now.

Todays image.
It looks like it’s almost open to Pelland.

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Not saying things aren’t starting to creep in the right direction but lots of that stretch of river never really freezes at all or very much just because it’s so close to the dam. I’m not getting the boat ready yet that’s for sure. Unless they clean out the lot in town.

Here is my spreadsheet.
Sunlight has a lot of power too when it comes to ice melt.
Half of the days in the 10 day are cloudy.

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I’m sticking with the march 27th and hoping it’s true. I’m very ready to be up there.

If the forecast holds we will have 8 days in February where temps hit 30 or higher.
My guess is March 25th.

I haven’t seen any reports yet on people checking on the river.
Here is today’s image.
It looks like it’s really close to Loman.

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just need some warmer temps,day and nights both

buckybadger wrote:

March 25th at 8:26am

Can two have that date and time? That would be my guess too.

Our rods are all rigged and ready. Just went through the trailer last weekend greased bearings and prepped the boat.

I weighed jigs, cleaned and sorted them about a week ago. Got a few plastics to buy and a new landing net. Also reminded work to not expect me around much towards the end of the month and beginning of April.

Mike W wrote:

I weighed jigs, cleaned and sorted them about a week ago. Got a few plastics to buy and a new landing net. Also reminded work to not expect me around much towards the end of the month and beginning of April.

What did you get for a net ? And I’ve been hammering in major OT for a month and a half working 6 12s a week. Told boss man I’m taking 7 days off at what ever given day. Warned him I’ll give him the annual 2 day notice.

Full draw wrote:

I haven’t seen any reports yet on people checking on the river.
Here is today’s image.
It looks like it’s really close to Loman.

I don’t think there’s really anything to check yet. Lots of that stretch is really shallow and never really freezes that well in a normal winter. I really like the weather we have been having. Should be nice clean water with the slow melt when the time comes.

Think I’m getting another Frabil Conservation met. Haven’t seen any others I like yet..

Question for you guys from the Minnesota metro area or southern Minnesota. Why do you drive all the way up to the Rainy River when Green Bay is so much closer? For size structure and numbers of big fish I personally think Green Bay has Rainy River beat. Just wondering. It has to be well over an hour closer with way more amenities and room to spread out plus an optional night bite.

Cuz the two words Green Bay sucks duh.
Serious though I have done both. Both have their pros and cons.
One being drastically better than the other I will disagree with. Both are timing bites. When it’s on its on.

fins wrote:

I can’t remember exactly what year it was. Must have been like 14-16ish somewhere in there because I had a new boat but that one year we were fishing the lake by late march, might have even been mid march. That was a crazy year. I’m all for the catch and release thing but it was nice to be able to fish the river all day for bigs then run out to the lake to get some dinner fish. That was an epic year. Why is it that you can keep fish in the lake and bring them back as long as you don’t stop on the way in but heaven forbid you keep your 2 fish on the Canadian side and bring them across in the same manner. Minnesota is so messed up.

I’m guessing that was 2012. It was a week of 80 degree weather here in SW WI. Like 87 degrees on March 13th.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Cuz the two words Green Bay sucks duh.
Serious though I have done both. Both have their pros and cons.
One being drastically better than the other I will disagree with. Both are timing bites. When it’s on its on.

Oh yea by no means is one way better than the other. I just meant they are both some of the best walleye runs in the country. Just from my experience though it seems like Green Bay has a little better average size. That’s why I was curious why everyone goes North?

fins wrote:

Question for you guys from the Minnesota metro area or southern Minnesota. Why do you drive all the way up to the Rainy River when Green Bay is so much closer? For size structure and numbers of big fish I personally think Green Bay has Rainy River beat. Just wondering. It has to be well over an hour closer with way more amenities and room to spread out plus an optional night bite.

I live a couple hours west of the twin cities.
So for me it’s an hour farther to Green Bay than the Rainy River.
I do want to fish Green Bay though.

fins wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
Cuz the two words Green Bay sucks duh.
Serious though I have done both. Both have their pros and cons.
One being drastically better than the other I will disagree with. Both are timing bites. When it’s on its on.

Oh yea by no means is one way better than the other. I just meant they are both some of the best walleye runs in the country. Just from my experience though it seems like Green Bay has a little better average size. That’s why I was curious why everyone goes North?

North is beautiful, green bay is far from that. We do fish the fox and octono as well though. Some years we do a loop and some years we do just rainy. That and I’m north of the cities so the drive is about the same. Green Bay is 10 minutes different then birchdale.