Hey guys I’m thinking of trying a trip up to the rainy river this spring for sturgeon. I was wondering if you could give me some tips on when and where to go. Any advice would be awesome.
Thanks in advance
Any time in April is usually solid, depending on the weather. We typically find ourselves going in the 2nd/3rd week. You can go earlier, but you’ll have to contend with the walleye guys (on the other hand, the walleye fishing can be fantastic as well). The walleye season closes on the 16th this year. There can be a ton of boats up there, so expect to get a little crowded at times, depending on where you go/fish. The community holes are just that, the most obvious holes in the river, where everyone congregates. You can definitely catch fish there, but if you can find a spot away from everyone else, that’s the best way to go about it, just like any other kind of fishing. As far as actual fishing goes, usually the head/tail of the hole is your best bed, they tend to channel the fish a bit, so if you can put your boat there, bingo. However anywhere in the holes will work, if it’s busy. As far as rigging/bait goes, your musky/catfish rods will be fine, with 2-5oz sliding sinkers (no-rolls are the most popular), and a roughly one-foot snell, using whatever braid you have on the reels. A 4/0 or 5/0 octopus or circle hook finishes it up, and as many crawlers as you can gob onto it! As far as accommodations, any of the places on Resort Row will work, they usually do cabins for $30-60 per person per night, and you can dock right at their slips, which makes for easy, fast access to the water. If you want to head upriver, there are a few different landings you can go to, ranging from in the town of Baudette, to about 30 minutes west at Birchdale. The fishing pressure can be quite a bit lighter, but you do have to trailer the boat, and those ramps can get crowded. Probably the easiest way to get into it would be booking a cabin at a place like Sportsman’s or Adrian’s, and just hanging out on that stretch of the river. Hope that helps!
TMF89 sums it pretty well. Also, I’ve attached a PDF of a thread from a couple of falls ago where FBRM goes into great detail how to sturgeon fish in general and several tips on what he does up on the Rainy. As far as I know, FBRM spends as much time on the water as any chasing these giants so I put his insight up there with the best.
Also, I think walleye season goes through the 14th which would fall in line with where they have ended the season in the past. Our group has always gone up the Wednesday night that Walleye season ends to avoid all that boat traffic and lines at the landings.
Although we stay in resort row, our group has traditionally trailored down to Baudette or further most years. Fighting less people for prime spots as most people fish out of 4-Mile Bay.
If you are okay with the extra boat traffic, the closer to ice-out the better. If you wait too long to go, typically end of April or early May before the season closes, or we have an early spring, you will miss the main migration up the river as they go to spawn. As always there will be fish in the river but just not in the high numbers if you hit the timing right.
Good luck and make sure to post pictures of your first trip up there.
Also, make sure you stay on the Minnesota side of the river. The Canadian side is off limits for fishing and could lead to trouble if you are caught in Canada. You could cut the river in half if you don’t have a GPS unit but just know that the boundary isn’t exactly in the middle in certain stretches of the river. You could also use the Navionics web map ahead of leaving for your trip to get a feel for where the boundary is and where holes are located on the river on the stretch you want to fish.
thanks guys, I’ve been chasing sturgeon on the Croix for a few years now and really wanted to give rainy a shot because of the girth of the fish I have seen from pictures up there. Your information has been very helpful.
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