The Rainy River is open from International Falls to nearly Clementson, MN about 10 miles east of Baudette. While the ramps at both Birchdale and Frontier are usable they are still covered with shore ice. The people with smaller boats are having no problem sliding their boats over the ice to the water. With lager boats you have to push them from your trailers into the water and that makes for one big SPLASH!!!! Then your have to winch your boat back onto your trailer and that is not easy at all. With the warmer weather expected for this weekend maybe the ramps will clear of ice. The Vidas/Clementson ramp will probably be open early next week.

The fish are biting with the largest for us being 29 inches. A lot of males from 16-18 inches right now. Fifty fish a day for to people in a boat is not at all uncommon right now. The ratio of two fish over 20 inches to eight under is what you can expect right now.

The Rainy River flows 86 miles from Rainy Lake to Lake of the Woods. It is confined to a deep well-defined channel, and averages 600 ft. in width. The only dam on the river is at International Falls, MN. This dam was built in 1909 and has a 25-ft. head. The dam acts as a barrier to fish movement between Rainy Lake and the river downstream to Lake of the Woods. There is a boat ramp at International Falls just a little over two miles downstream from the dam. If you stay in International Falls, the Holiday Inn is on the river and less than a mile from the ramp. There are many fine places to stay in this area.

The next ramp is located about 42 miles downstream from the dam, near Franz Jevne State Park, and is called the Upper Sault Access. There are rapids just downstream from this ramp that act as a barrier to most all boats. Once the walleye have made it up these rapids they are almost home free. This is a hard to almost impossible ramp to put in a big boat. A person that can get their boat in will be in some the best walleye fishing water in the river. There must be close to six miles of fishable river that gets only a fraction of the fishing pressure that is found just downstream. For an example on one day I counted only four boats at this ramp while there were at least three hundred in the other 43 miles of river downstream to the lake.

The first major ramp is about 44 miles downstream at Nelson Park it is just north of Birchdale and is often called the Birchdale ramp. You can launch two boats at a time here and any size. A new parking area located on the west side of the park was developed in 1996 to accommodate parking. Signs have been installed to direct traffic and reduce congestion. Congestion can be an understatement, especially on the weekends. This access usually has the first really great fishing of the year. If you are as ever as lucky as I have been as to be there within the first hours that a boat can safely put into the river. It does not get any better walleye fishing than that. The fish there have not seen any fishing pressure and no one can safely get their boat up to speed without hitting a mini iceberg. You can put in your boat and just start drifting downstream or move out away from the ramp and anchor and start fishing. As the river continues to open up two of my favorite fishing areas are just river. The first area is just about two miles down river just past the big island on the Canadian side; this area is almost a mile long. From there you can see a blue silo, on the Canadian side of the river. Go just a few hundred yards down river and start fishing directly across from the mouth of Cameron Creek, also on the Canadian side. You should have no reason to go any farther down the river if you launched at Nelson Park ramps. Camping is allowed at Nelson Park while it is not at most of the other accesses.

The next major ramp is located a few miles west of Birchdale on Hwy 11 and is called the Frontier Access. While this ramp is about 51 miles downstream from the dam, it is only about 7 miles from the Birchdale ramp. This is the worst nightmare for a person with no patience. You can only launch one boat at a time at this access. This ramp seems to get more than its share of people trying to put in their boats. An example is the 217 vehicles that were parked around the Frontier access on a peak day in 1996. There will be no parking allowed along State Highway 11, near the Frontier access from now on. Of course with good reason the area from the ramp a mile in either direction is usually great fishing. Another plus for this access is the bend in the river often offers some protection from the wind. There is no overnight camping allowed at this ramp.

The next ramp is about 63 miles downstream and is known as the Vidas Access. This access is located 1.5 miles east of Clementson at the end of Kooching County road UT 392. This access was updated in the fall of 1997 and is not well known yet. The access has two ramps and good parking, you will probably see me at this ramp if I come downstream from the dam. There is no overnight camping allowed at this ramp.

Ontario access sites are located in Rainy River, Pinewood, and Barwick. Anglers with Ontario fishing licenses should explore the possibility of launching their boats at one of these accesses.

Yes there are maps of the river that you can purchase but I have found them of little use. You can not get lost on this one and it is not that wide. Plus you can only fish on the United States side this year unless you stay in Canada. There are as many fish caught on the U.S. side anyway.

I usually like to start out by drifting. The tackle that I use, you should use what is most conformable to you, is a 6 foot Mitchell spinning rod teamed with a Mitchell SC30 SpiderCast reel. I fill the reel with Berkley FireLine, the four-pound test with one pound diameter. This line does not seem to ice up on those real cold mornings and I have landed fish well over ten pounds without any problems. Another thing you should be aware of this line has little or no memory and very little water resistance. I sure do like Bait Rigs Odd'ball jigs, the big eye for tying onto the thin line on a cold morning can not be underestimated. The 3/8-ounce size seems to be about perfect for the river. My favorite colors on the river are orange, chartreuse, red or gold.

I never put much stock in sent attractants until one spring fishing on the Rainy River. When this friend of mine had me seven walleye to my three. What in the world was he doing different than I? He was putting sent attractant onto his minnow. I would have never believed it could make much of a difference in this cold water. Two days latter the same guy and another, plus I friend, where back on the river. This time I was prepared, not only did I have the Berkley powerboat walleye attractant; I had some Berkley Power Teasers. The power teasers had the feathers that really held the attractant. It was not long before the friend, that had not been with us two days before, was into my teasers and attractant. It did not take him nearly as long to figure out that it made as big a difference in catching walleye as it did me.

If there is one local technique that really works, it is to anchor and wait for the fish to come to you, and they will! Be sure and bring a good anchor and rope. This ranks right up there with dressing warm and bringing plenty to eat. I like to anchor somewhere on the break; you can not miss the break, and use a jig & minnow. Jigs may be as light as 1/8 or as heavy as 1 oz, depending on the current.

Other things that work well are trolling, usually upstream works best, plugs on three ways or clip on weights. You can be creative; at times almost every thing you try works. However, some plugs that work well for me are the Baby Thunderstick, SR5 Shad Rap and ¼ oz. Rapala Husky Jerk. If you do not have a least one of the ¼ Rapala Husky Jerk in the silver/blue you may want to bring one with you. Even the big fish will gobble up these small plugs up here.

Fish numbers. Well numbers are higher now than at any other time of the year. After the spawn over 80% of the fish will return downstream into Lake of the Woods. The rest will remain in the river as resident population. I do not know if these are a separate strain or just to lazy to move back to the big lake.

Fish sizes: another one that is not so easy to put your finger on. Most of the small fish you catch will be males and make up by far the largest numbers. Most of these fish are 16 to17 inches long and are about five-year-old walleye. Since the reason walleye enter the Rainy River in the spring is to spawn; there are relatively few small walleye. The problem is that sometimes you have a hard time catching the big females for these guys. But they make the best eating anyway. There will more large fish caught in the spring than at any other time of year. In fact; the proportion of large fish caught in the Rainy River in the spring is much higher than in Lake of the Woods during the summer. The fish at pre-spawn will not only be long but heavy fish. If you are ever going to catch a fish over 30 inches you have the best odds at this time of year. You can expect to catch fish in the 25-28 inch size in numbers if you get past the males. The walleye/sauger possession aggregate limit is 2 fish. Just bring your camera and a tape measure. You are going to have to have a replica made of your trophy. There is no way to keep a fish over 19 ½ inches at this time of year unless you fish in the lake. The river empties into Four-Mile Bay, on Lake of the Woods, a few hundred yards downstream from the Wheeler Point ramp. At this point the possession limit changes to 6 walleye, only one can be over 19 ½ inches, and 8 sauger for a total of 14 fish. Do not make a run up the river with a lake limit of fish. The replica fish anymore may even look better than the real thing. And it is great feeling to know that your monster fish is still alive and you may get another shot at her again someday. The best advise I can give you is " if you want a trophy fish, fish away from the pack of boats." So bring your camera along with you. This advise ranks right up there with do not forget your life jacket.

For a free Lake of the Woods visitor's guide or fishing update contact Captain Chuck Galloway (www.networksplus.net/lakeofthewoods/) Route 3 Box 50, Baudette, MN 56623-9400; phone before 9pm please @ 218-634-9878. For accommodations or fishing update at Lake of the Woods contact Captain Tom Schuster (www.digitmaster.com/resorts/schusters/) 800-243-2412.

Captain Chuck Galloway