Decisions decisions…can’t decide which one. Rainy river 1st week in April, or Green Bay Area rivers. Ocono,peshtigo,etc. targeting big prespawn walleyes. Both have great potential. I’ve fished the rainy several years. The drive time is about equal. Never done Green Bay. If you had to only choose one, which would you try?
I would look at conditions just a few days in advance and pick one or the other.
I’m not set on a date to go either. Just trying to decide which trip to take. Both look so tempting. Kinda wondering which one will produce more I guess of if anyone has fished both this time of year and had a preference in ideal conditions what direction they would go.
We had planned a trip to the rainy last spring end of march. Weather turned a few days before the trip. Ended up that weekend on Green bay. No regrets there. Two weeks later we were back on the Rainy fishing. No regrets there either.
Pick one, pick the other. Heck pick both. Not sure how you could go wrong. Which ever one it is make sure you have a good time fishing there.
It’ll be Green Bay for our group this year. Leaning towards Oconto if weather permits, otherwise the Fox river provided the water temps are optimal. Just seems to have more options.
I started a post titled “Fox or Oconto” that may be helpful should you choose Green Bay.
The Rainy can be awesome, but seems to be a really tight window more often than not. My $.02
Just my .02, but unless we get some serious rain in the next month, the pesh won’t be all that good this year. That small, shallow river depends a lot on snow and ice melt from inland watershed. With the unseasonably mild temps this year, that has already happened. Way ahead of schedule… Now if we get a bunch of rain late march, you should be good to go, but if we don’t it’ll be hard just to get a normal sized boat in there. And there won’t be as many fish. Years with low flow, many fish stay out in the bay to spawn. Not to say there won’t be a gajillion eyes to be caught somewhere in that area, but if your looking for the jig crushing phenomena the Pesh is known for, pray for rain! I know nothing about the Rainy bite, but know GB pretty well. The western rivers need good flow to really get em cranking. Otherwise, it’ll be the floating armada that it was last year, which can be very hit or miss.
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Thanks for the tip bud. Usually not praying for rain,but I am now. Lol
I’ve been struggling trying to decide where to go also. I know the window of opportunity on the rainy can be small some years. But I have zero experience with Green Bay. One question/concern I have is Do you need a big boat? As I only have a 16′ lund with a windshield. Nervous to make the trip to find out I’m not comfortable leaving the landing
One question/concern I have is Do you need a big boat?
That’s the beauty of Green Bay in the spring. Regardless of the wind, there’s always a river nearby that’s generally full of walleyes. Big boat may be nice, but its certainly not required. And if your planning of fishing the smaller rivers like Oconto or Peshtigo, your better off with a small boat.
My boat isn’t that big. I have a tracker v16 pro guide. Big enough for the lake if calm. Small enough for the river. Looking like there will be run off with the snow coming. That is a good sign. I’m just gonna play it by ear and go at the last minute.
Decisions decisions…can’t decide which one. Rainy river 1st week in April, or Green Bay Area rivers. Ocono,peshtigo,etc. targeting big prespawn walleyes. Both have great potential. I’ve fished the rainy several years. The drive time is about equal. Never done Green Bay. If you had to only choose one, which would you try?
So do you have your plans set yet? My plan this year was to hit Green Bay a couple of trips before heading north to the Rainy. Funny how the weather can change that. Looks like rain and cold for the next two weeks on Green Bay. Going to be interesting to see how much rain Wisc gets out of this and what it does to those rivers. On the other hand much better weather on the Rainy in the forecast. Last spring a Rainy trip got cancelled and we hit Green Bay. Looks like just the opposite might happen this coming weekend.
Good luck Mike. Hope to see you again this year. I plan to go the final few days though. May adjust slightly depending on weather.
I saw that. Looks like rainy for me at this point. Just looked at 10 day forecast for baudette and it is really looking good. The river is open past visas now but landings need to be cleared yet. But they are thinking that they will be cleared by this weekend. So as of now I’m planning to run up maybe next Wednesday or Thursday.
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