If there ever is a fishing trip that gets me more jacked up with anticipation it is the annual Rainy River pre spawn walleye run. The thoughts of 30” plus walleyes haunt the dreams of most fisherman making this trip. Daily numbers of big walleyes in excess of 50 fish per boat are also common, which only adds excitement to the early April weeks year after year.
The spring of 2015 Rainy River will most likely go on record of one of the lowest water levels. I would guess that river levels were 4-5 feet low. With the low water, great clarity, very little snow runoff, and the non-existent threat of the Little Fork and Big Fork rivers breaking loose seemed as though everything was coming together in a perfect alignment.
Beauty
In checking our usual fishing spots we quickly determined what the fish wanted and what worked best for our boat. We presented our baits in a pitching/dragging combination going up stream keeping speeds under .5mph. Pitched 1/4oz jigs/plastics perpendicular to the boat and as we moved up stream the current would eventually work the plastic behind the boat. While slightly lifting the jig off the bottom as it swept back resulted in many of our strikes. Now if you are not familiar with a jig/plastic walleye strike on braid line…..well you may be missing out on some of the most intense strikes that have made me come back for this trip for the past 19 years.
Doubled up
We had best luck on plastics with a paddle tail, with the low flow the paddle tail gave off a great amount of vibration, mixed with the clarity I feel it drew fish to our baits as we slowly moved up river. Once again a new bait seemed to shine, we found the Trigger X Slop Hopper 3.5” in pearl or baby bass was the hot color. Overall we had 163 fish for 3.5 days of fishing with a majority of those fish between the 22”-25” mark with several fish over 30” for our boat. It was a fun trip with great boat company, many laughs shared, and lifetime memories made.
Smile says it all
Thanks for sharing the boat with me Matt Grow and Jake Hayes
Cannot wait for the 2016 Spring Rainy River Run!!!!
Nicely done cal. I made it up on 4/10-4/11. Didn’t catch quite as many fish but it’s funny how your lures and techniques matched ours. I found the regular paddle tails worked for me. I kept going back and forth from natural colors to white or chartreuse periodically throughout the day. Natural during the middle of the day and bright during lower light.
We also anchored to fish sturgeon in 20 fow on Saturday and quickly netted 30+ Walleyes in less than an hour using live bait or frozen shiners. Not my preferred way to fish but I’d do that any time if the catching is that good.
Very nice Cal!!
Grow is still alive?? Good to see!!
Great trip and Report, thanks Calvin.
Awesome
Jack
To Cool Guys !!!
It’s been quite a while since my last trip to Rainy River in the spring !!
What is the best, easiest place to launch from? Would love to get my dad up there this spring in our new boat! Coming from WI, so need to make it count. Thanks in advance.