The Rainy Grind 2022

Another April Rainy Trip has come and gone, and as always was one for the memory books. This year marks 15 years I’ve been going to Rainy, with a couple years missed due to ice, the forks or Covid shutting it down. Rainy holds a special place for me, it was the place that first got me started on serious walleye fishing, and seems to pose a unique challenge every year. This year was no different as we encountered black ice causing a few near jack knifes of the trailer on the way up, and a good fishing conditions yet still shut out on Friday. The black ice really slowed the drive from Cushing to Nevis on Thursday 4/7 and had us getting into the cabin around midnight. Friday we left the cabin in Nevis around 5 am, and made it to Baudette around 8. Vidas was packed, Frontier was packed, so we launched out of Birchdale on Friday around 9 am. The weather was decent, but windy, and we could not get bit to save our souls. We started with my personal favorite, jig n a minnow, and proceeded to throw the tackle box at em. Plastics, rippin raps, vertical jigging, casting, trolling big cranks shallow, going up river, down river and sideways. All we had to show for it was one hammer handle pike, for whatever reason we seemed to be the outlier, as we saw people catching fish, and had a few reports of decent fishing in that area. So we called it a day and grabbed some pizza around 6 pm to get rested up for a much longer session on Saturday with nicer weather.

We stayed at the AmericInn in Baudette, and Saturday morning we, and nearly everyone staying there, seemed raring to go at 5 am. We launched out of Vidas, and at 530 am there were already dozens of trucks parked, and probably another 30-40 waiting to launch. After a slight delay from my favorite kind of traffic jam, we were fishing by 7 am. Almost immediately we caught a 23” and a couple eye’s under 20”, and things were right with the world once again. It was not epic by Rainy standards, but we were picking up fish here and there, and the weather was awesome! We even put the Bimini up for a bit to get out of the sun while giving the sturgeon a run for a couple hours over lunch. No sturg but did catch one big old carp, which was a first on the Rainy for me. After lunch it continued on as the morning did, kind of slow, but a fish here and there on no apparent pattern. Late afternoon we hit a couple hour lull, and decided to try something new, running cranks upriver in the deeper channel. My buddy started running lead, and I threw on a 2 oz. snap weight and silver shad rap. Almost immediately I hit a healthy 27.5” that you make the trip for. Sorry not sorry if you were in earshot of the LFG I hollered after that one hit the bag! After a couple more decent fish for me, and a few fouled up lines for him, he switched to a snap weight as well and that helped keep him running clean. In the next 2 hours we (mainly me 😊) caught 16 fish, including 4 over 25”. We were the second to last boat leaving Vidas that day after about 15 hours on the water we had about 40 eyes on the clicker. That two hour stretch is why you make the trip!!!

Sunday we were back at Vidas, and fished until noon. We caught a half dozen or so, no pigs, only one little sauger trolling with a snap weight, and almost all on a jig and a minnow in the rain. The water clarity was great by Rainy standards, about 2-3’ with average flow, which made boat control a breeze all weekend. Also, my buddy brought the bike and that paid dividends as it was one of the busiest years I’ve seen at the landings and on the water. Still plenty of room to be had on the water, and some friendly banter going by boats is always a fun part of the Rainy for me, especially for the young bucks napping in the boat from too much fun the night before! Rainy makes you earn it every year one way or another, and the only way to know, is to go and grind!

p.s. Shoutout to the River King Mike W and Rainy Sage Bearcat for comparing notes leading up to and while we were there, it’s much appreciated.

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nice report and pics BigWerm, looks like you guys had a great trip. Like you, the rainy has a special place in my heart. Nothing else I’d rather do in early April than catch those pre spawn hogs.

awesome bud! glad to see you got into em. Sounds like a fun trip.

Whats the bike for?

crappie55369 wrote:

Whats the bike for?

To go get the truck and trailer I assume. Do you then lock it up somewhere Werm?
Nice fish and report. It is something I talk about doing every year.

crappie55369 wrote:

awesome bud! glad to see you got into em. Sounds like a fun trip.

Whats the bike for?

I’m assuming getting from where the truck is parked to the ramp?
DT

crappie55369 wrote:

Whats the bike for?

Yeah to get to and from the parking spot to the water, parking can be backed up a long ways and saves a long walk and sweat prior to being in the boat all day. My buddy did lock his bike up, some people bring them in the boat, and others leave them unlocked.

John Rasmussen wrote:

Nice fish and report. It is something I talk about doing every year.

Thanks! IMO the best way to go is to be able to drop everything and go as soon as the hog reports start rolling in. However, that’s not really an option with 2 little kids at home, so for the past 5ish years we just plan on going the last weekend. Works pretty well if you need to plan in advance, and only would cancel if the forks bust.

awe that makes sense. smart!!! i still have to make it up there one of these days. Started planning the trip a few times in the past but they never materialized

Great report. Can’t say I’ve ever tried the 5am bite yet. Sure hear the boat parade going by at that time but that’s usually a couple hours before we roll out of bed. If we get to the ramp by 8 we are doing good. It’s hard to get upset at the lines because they are expected. Make the best of it and go fish. And give rides to anyone you see making the hike.

It’s good and also a shame the Rainy run is over so fast. Would love to fish it for weeks or maybe a month. Bank account would be looking very slim if it went on longer.

Yep sorry it’s over already but there is always next year. Last year we fished it for 17 days before the closing date. That was awesome. Hopefully spring and summer fishing will be good

A carp? WTH? That’s a first from what I have ever seen!

Timmy wrote:

A carp? WTH? That’s a first from what I have ever seen!

Yup, caught me by surprise too, was really hoping a +30″ eye was hungry for my crawler/minnow combo.

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BigWerm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Timmy wrote:</div>
A carp? WTH? That’s a first from what I have ever seen!

Yup, caught me by surprise too, was really hoping a +30″ eye was hungry for my crawler/minnow combo.

Are you sure that’s a carp? I’ve caught several of the same looking fish up by Pelland and always thought they were suckers. Maybe a fish biologist will chime in.

That sure looks like a redhorse to me. Very common on the Rainy.

AK Guy wrote:

Are you sure that’s a carp? I’ve caught several of the same looking fish up by Pelland and always thought they were suckers. Maybe a fish biologist will chime in.

No, I’m not sure, it could be a sucker I guess. I’m more familiar with redhorse, which I didn’t think it was since it really had no red to it so I assumed a carp. State record white sucker is 24″ and 9 lbs 1 ounce, which this had to be pretty close to at least in length, didn’t weigh it. If it was a redhorse it was not close to the record.

I agree that it doesn’t have much red on it, but I think it’s a silver redhorse. The dorsel fin looks like a redhorse and not a carp.

Looks like a solid fish and probably fun to catch nonetheless.

Mike W wrote:

Great report. Can’t say I’ve ever tried the 5am bite yet. Sure hear the boat parade going by at that time but that’s usually a couple hours before we roll out of bed. If we get to the ramp by 8 we are doing good. It’s hard to get upset at the lines because they are expected. Make the best of it and go fish. And give rides to anyone you see making the hike.

It’s good and also a shame the Rainy run is over so fast. Would love to fish it for weeks or maybe a month. Bank account would be looking very slim if it went on longer.

Agreed all around Mike! Usually if you got to the landings early you could avoid the lines, but not this year. We usually try and get there early or later like you 8-10 am. I’ve also learned to embrace the lines, and boat traffic, everyone is generally really friendly and comparing notes from the day before while in line or how that day is going on the water is part of the fun. And like I mentioned a little ribbing for guys on the struggle bus, or swings and misses are just part of the fun too. Hopefully we will have a warm spring again soon that allows for a few weeks of Rainy River fun! There’s been a couple years when I first started going that I made multiple trips in one spring.

We had some pretty good days during our trip and then some off days. Last 2 days of the trip I didn’t catch any walleyes. It sure wasn’t from trying. Last day of the trip had me running from I falls to put the boat in at Wheelers point.

Nice report and fish BW! I’m jealous as I didn’t make it up this year. I’m just going to throw my name on the work calendar as off the first couple weeks in April next year.

Nice fish BigWerm!

I have seen long lines at accesses before but Vidas on Saturday morning was a first for me seeing that many rigs.
It was a fun first trip for me and my dad.
We were not even off the water on Sunday and already talking about next year.

We stayed at the AmericInn as well. That was a busy place as well. I think we were in the only Recon boat up there at Vidas anyways.

Good times

Can’t remember which day it was we waited a hour and a half or more to load up at Vidas. 30 to 35 boats at any given time floating and waiting for the ramp. Why does Birchdale move so much quicker that Vidas ramp?

Mike W wrote:

Can’t remember which day it was we waited a hour and a half or more to load up at Vidas. 30 to 35 boats at any given time floating and waiting for the ramp. Why does Birchdale move so much quicker that Vidas ramp?

Didn’t make it up this year but last yr with the low water most people that knew better would not use the ramp on the west side of vidas. Seen at least one guy get the cross member of his trailer hung up on the ramp. Had to relaunch his boat and move to east side. Did not sound good as guys were dragging their trailers up the cement ramp.

I think that was Friday night at Vidas Mike. Looked a lot worse at Frontier on Saturday.

That is definitely a sucker and not a carp. We catch them up there as well.
I don’t think we have ever been on the water before 7ish. We wake up whenever we wake up and then make breakfast. Camping at birchdale eliminates all launching and loading for the week besides one time in and one time out. Fishing was not as great as its been in years past. We did get a few fish over 28 but lots of males this trip. It was fun though and I will be back next year. Even though my brother murdered the fox river, made our trip look like child’s play.

For those that haven’t noticed, it’s complete disaster up there currently and would recommend thinking twice about any near future plans to fish the Rainy. Not even fishing, but from a safety standpoint. It’s not pretty right now.

3Rivers wrote:

For those that haven’t noticed, it’s complete disaster up there currently and would recommend thinking twice about any near future plans to fish the Rainy. Not even fishing, but from a safety standpoint. It’s not pretty right now.

Because of what? The runoff making the river too fast and debris coming down?

queenswake wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>3Rivers wrote:</div>
For those that haven’t noticed, it’s complete disaster up there currently and would recommend thinking twice about any near future plans to fish the Rainy. Not even fishing, but from a safety standpoint. It’s not pretty right now.

Because of what? The runoff making the river too fast and debris coming down?

They have had a ton of rain which melted a ton of snow. Rainy Lake has come up about 2 feet in about 2 weeks. The paper mill in I-Falls had to close gates on the dam to keep from flooding properties on the river from flooding. LOW has come up a bout 1.5 feet in the same amount of time.