Old Man Winter is letting go of his season slowly this year. The 3mi per day progress with the Rainy River opening that was seen last week stalled out over the weekend with -15º temps. For all practical purposes, she locked back up to a half mile upriver of Birchdale. But never fear, the fish are still here. With a fishery like Lake of The Woods, 4 Mile Bay and the Rainy River, fishing opportunities still abound and are seemingly endless.
During this transition from ice to open water, trophy season anglers can take advantage of the good ice that is still available. Typically, the trophy northern pike are targeted since they are the first to head back to the tributaries to spawn. This is done very close to River Bend Resort on 4 Mile Bay as well as on the Rainy River. Most anglers will chase after these predators with tip-ups to cover more ground.
The fun fact is, if they are tight lipped on 4 Mile or in the river, there are other areas located in and around the southern end of Lake of The Woods that produce the same trophy pike using the same method through what’s left of the good ice. If you are planning on heading up this way, we will certainly point you in the right direction.
Once the Rainy does open, then it’s on like Donkey Kong! Currently the Rainy is open to just ½ mile upriver from the Nelson Park landing (Birchdale, MN). There is a small channel of open water on the Canadian of the river near Franz Jevne, which is east of the Nelson Park access.
But like I said, colder temps have slowed the open water progress a bit. Only Mother Nature knows, but when she does decide to give Old Man Winter the boot, the river will open. And when she does, it will happen fast.
Getting the boat wet for the first time of the year chasing big trophy walleye is as exciting as it can possibly get. The attention of many anglers turns to the ice out eyes with a vigorous passion and for good reason. These huge walleyes are returning in large numbers to spawn. Making this time of year the best, most opportunistic period to catch a whopper of a lifetime.
Did I say Whopper? If a true monster, and we mean … if the largest freshwater fish of a lifetime is on your bucket list, look no further grasshopper. We sit right on top of one of the best sturgeon fisheries anywhere to be found.
These true dinosaur’s live to be over 100 years old, grow to over 75” in length and more than 100 lbs. And the latest estimation is there are nearly 100,000 individual 40+” sturgeon that live within the Rainy River fishery alone. It doesn’t take a weatherman to forecast that the catch will be any less than awesome. Not sure about you but boating a fish that is as large 6 feet long has a certain allure to it.
Here is the icing on the cake. The deepest hole in the Rainy River is located right out in front of River Bend Resort. And that spot folks is precisely where these big fish like to lay. That’s right! From cabin to fishing spot in 0.02 seconds.
To make things even better, we are running a spring sale on our nightly cabin rate starting right now and running until May 13th, 2022. Don’t just sit around and watch the ice melt. Give us a call and book your trophy season trip today.
In addition, we do offer online booking for those who wish to do so. Please keep in mind that if you should experience any difficulty with our online system, we are a simple phone call away from getting you set up and fishing with us on beautiful Lake of The Woods.
Until next week … Keep a Tight Line! Bugs & Fishes ≤º))~{
