Stopped at the ramp in International falls on the way to the grocery store. Looks like it should be useable by the end of the day.

Saw several trucks head out on the lake this morning up here.

Everyone has to keep in mind that there’s a ton of ice on the river this year. I’d assume it’s to the point now where it’s starting to get into the thicker stuff where it will start to slow down if it hasn’t already. I think this weekend will be the determining factor in how long our very short season will be this year.

I usually just google rainy river flow data and there’s all kinds of chats and flow data to look at.

We are on the way to Rainy right now. We have a place in Sand Bay. Plan to fish all day tomorrow, hopefully not in the rain. If your not familiar with the area be very careful around any neck down areas or narrows this time of year. Some already have open water but the main basins have a ton of ice. That Jackfish Bay around Doctors Marys Point and stop island is a notoriously bad area.

The weather app on my phone seems a bit more conservative. Upper 20’s, low 30’s all week. High of 37 Saturday. Really hoping we don’t get a bunch of rain. Nobody wins if that happens. I think it’s really hard for that water to get a full head of steam when it’s been so cold at night.

Onthewater wrote:

Do you fish in the waves? Like others have said I’d go glass. If you are set on these 2 the impact got that name for how your spine feels after hitting a few waves. It’s a nice family boat for someone that goes out on non windy days. It’s definitely not for the person that goes out in anything. I don’t own one but have fished out of the 20 foot quite a bit.

I couldn’t agree more. The money you’d save by buying an impact would more than get ate up on chiropractor bills.

If you scroll back a little ways there was some really good discussion about Rainy.

1 fish for non residents.

It’s 100% worth it. Fish the Canadian side all day for size and numbers and then stop on the way back to camp to get some dinner on the Minnesota side. Just make sure you know all the rules.

Pretty hot topic at my house too but what it boils down to is she can wash the dishes however she wants. It drives me absolutely nuts she won’t use the dishwasher.

KPE wrote:

Current owner of a 2018 impact 1775, it’s a good boat for the price, or it was back in 2018 anyway.

Now I see impacts going for 45k+ and pro V’s as low as 55k, there’s no question I’d rather a pro V. I paid 29k for my impact in 2018 and the closest pro V was still 50k, and we were making less money overall in our household so the decision was easy.

Pro V will have much better build especially on the storage compartments. Rebel vs impact vs pro V the storage gets more water resistant and better engineered with each tier.

Impact has a nice sturdy hull though. I have no lift problems, and if you felt it were slow to jump on plane you’d fix that with a prop change or adding cup to the prop anyway. I’m sure the ips2 on the pro V is a better ride though, how much better is the question.

Both good rigs but probably V is objectively better in just about every way.

The ride is night and day difference and the storage is way more thought out and well placed in a pro v. The layout in a pro v actually makes it a fishable platform. I’m not sure what Lund has in mind with those impacts but they aren’t very user friendly if you use it for a fishing boat. Probably a great family/fishing boat or awesome for people on a budget like you said but you get what you pay for.

I haven’t heard much about how much ice is on the river. One thing that did strike me as kind of weird was in that video that royal dutchman put out a while back is that there was no open hole off to the right at birchdale. Usually that opens as soon as it warms up or sometimes in the middle of winter. Hopefully that’s not a bad sign but I thought it was kinda suspect.

If it’s a rain day Saturday and we can’t fish I’ll take a ride over that way and get some eyes on what’s going on for you guys. For people that already have time off set in stone, if it doesn’t happen there are other options than just birchdale. I wouldn’t cancel your trip if you have it planned and can’t move your time off.

I’m guessing lots of it froze last night and into this morning. It was super cold last night and until about noon today. Right around 0 all morning and never got above freezing. I think lots will hinge on what happens this weekend if we get snow or rain. Come next Tuesday it will be much easier to make an educated guess. We’ve gotten a warm day here and there but nothing that’s going to really make it start burning up miles of ice. I’d say somewhere in that first week of April is a pretty safe bet… maybe.

I can’t remember if it was last year or the year before there was a big debacle about party fishing Canadian waters during a NWT event.

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jimmy wrote:</div>
I’d call the Ontario Fish and Wildlife and hear it directly from the source (1-800-387-7011). I’d bring paper copies of everything just to be safe – I believe that type of stuff is up to the direction of the officer and you never know what kind of person you will be dealing with and how reasonable they will be. Also, saying the kid is only catching and releasing while you have fish in the livewell might be kind of a gray area (again, depending on the officer).

Make sure you don’t have liquor (or other recreational substances) or live bait in your boat.

I won’t be keeping fish. Neither of us will

Again don’t quote me on this but I believe the rules work so a kid can keep fish but they count towards the adult accompanying thems limit. Party fishing is strictly prohibited in Ontario unless it’s under these circumstances. None of which apply to the river because you can’t bring them back across anyways. Minnesota is so stupid.

I think that’s all hashed out now but I know that stuff was a hot topic for a while.

Oh there’s no being picky on that detail. There’s no way I’d ever toss an anchor out without the proper credentials. That’s a huge no no.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

I believe a Passport card would work in this situation, but it wouldn’t hurt to have your passport with for back-up.

It’s my understanding you don’t need a passport if you don’t touch land, anchor, etc. we haven’t had them for a few years and have never had an issue or know of anyone that has. All those guides go straight to the Canadian side with their clients because it’s as simple as just buying a license, there’s no paperwork, no checking in/out and stuff. For how cheap Canadian licenses are and how good the exchange rate is, it’s a no brainer to go to the other side weather it’s the river or rainy lake itself.

Again don’t take what I say as gospel but it’s my understanding that you don’t need a passport as long as the rules we discussed before are followed. Ours have been expired for a few years and we fish the Canadian side open water on Rainy Lake several days a week.

BigWerm wrote:

I still think it’s going to be awhile yet, there is no snow up there which means no runoff. We were drilling at the mouth of Zipple Bay and still needed an extension this weekend. And no pike were found there either.

I agree. I think it will be a couple weeks before we can even start getting excited. After that rain they are calling for it looks like cold again so who knows. I just really hope we don’t get much rain. That’s never good when the ground is froze.

Today should help things get going in the right direction. Car said 50 degrees when we left the cabin this afternoon. Really hoping we can avoid that rain next weekend they are calling for, that’s the last thing we need. That’s a long ways away hopefully they are wrong.

We were on Rainy all weekend. I’d guess after today there won’t be much snow left on the lake but it hasn’t even began to touch the ice. Couple spots I couldn’t get through without an extension and everywhere else was very close. Fishing was the best it’s been for us all year with a nice mixed bag of a little bit of everything. Deep water was the best. 40 ish feet off the edges of reefs or in deep holes between islands.

Did you miss the part where I said I’ve seen lots of stuff get peeled out of the chinsey Lund tracks?

Our nearest FF absolutely sucks. I don’t go there for anything but fishing stuff but it seems like they get stuff once per season and once they are out they are out. Pegs are almost always empty of the good stuff. Once in a blue moon they have super sales flicker Shad’s though, I think that’s what keeps me going back.

grizzly wrote:

Ok guys you were talking about fishing green bay, i know nothing about this so what can you tell me about it? I may come up and fish the rainy if opens in time cause i have done this before or maybe the Detroit river for a change. Do you fish a river system also at green bay or what? Im interested if its big fish,please give me some info

The options at Green Bay are endless. As said previously it’s a timing thing but there’s so many different options you can kind of go to where the bite is at the time you’re there. The Fox River is probably the most infamous early spot but once the ice starts going off the bay lots of different options start opening up. I’d say the average size is way better than the Rainy but Green Bay can be really hit or miss and you can get blown off by wind or shifting ice.

How am I being a smart aleck? By trying to save someone from losing their stuff off the side of their boat? I don’t own a Lund and never would but I’ve seen plenty of stuff get ripped out of their tracks. But you’re right, everyone should encourage someone to do something even if it’s not the best idea.

There’s a place down stream from Birchdale a ways that we call eagle alley. There’s 3 huge eagles nests and a $hitty camper down by the river. The Canadian side in that stretch is really nice for trolling because the depth is really consistent, it doesn’t have that rolling bottom. It makes for a nice break from casting to break up the day a little even though catching fish trolling isn’t as fun.

Project farm has a good video comparing all the popular ones. I like his videos.