Rainy River Walleye Report 04.06.2011

Year in and year out sadly the ice season comes to an end which means in no time we have the annual spring migration of walleyes on the Rainy River. Each year is different in terms of weather and how the river will be affected. Having 10 years of spring river knowledge helps but Mother Nature can always throw a curve ball at the last moment and this was the year that Mother Nature ran her course.

Upon arriving at the river on Wednesday April 6th we were greeted with decent fishable river conditions with minimal flow, about a foot of clarity, and minimal runoff. Well Wednesday turned out to be our best day of river conditions continued to deteriorate as we got closer to the weekend. The feeder creeks let loose and started to dump debris and dirty water into the Rainy River. However when fish were found they greeted us with usual violent hits we all dream about and reason we all travel 5 hours to Rainy River. Not a lot of numbers of fish but the size made up for low numbers.

Fishing tackle was very basic. A simple BFT jig head and either a K-Grub or Moxie drug behind the boat at about .5 mph against the current. Dirty water had us focus on this technique vs. pitching jigs/plastics. Simple reason was to keep that bait within the strike zone the longest, while sending out major vibrations with the density of the K-Grub/Moxie. Again when a fish found your bait it was a fierce strike, these fish wanted to eat but it was difficult to get that bait specifically in front of the walleyes in the deteriorating water clarity. We also came to the conclusion that the walleyes were not in the river system yet. I think if they were in the river and we drug these baits even with limited visibility it still could have been a phenomenal trip. Yet we settled for a good trip.

It felt good to be back in the boat again and be surrounded with good friends/family along. We chose to stay in International Falls this year vs. Baudette, it was a good choice as the mileage is very similar from Wheelers Point area to the landing at Birchdale. So keep that in mind if you’re having troubles finding a place in Baudette to stay. By all means it was a very fun trip even though the fishing wasn’t at its best or even what Rainy River was capable of producing, however it was another year of experience and a chance at catching a true trophy walleye. In closing to all those heading up sturgeon fishing, the Canadian MNR officers are out doing their job checking for license and RABC (Remote Area Border Pass), so if your going to flirt with the Canadian border be careful. It will cost you a grand ($1000) if your caught without the RABC, and I don’t know how much without a license. We were checked 3 days out of the 4 fishing. Seen the MN DNR a couple times but we were fishing the Canadian side so they never checked us. Its going to be a good year for sturgeon fishing for those heading up, we seen quite a few caught, so have fun on the Sturgeon Excursion.
Til next time.