Crystal Ball for Rainey River Spring Bite

Unfortunately I need to pick my vacation days By the End of the week For my Rainy River Spring Walleye/Sturgeon Trip. Looking at your Magic 8 Ball I was hoping a few Folks could throw out some dates for me I could choose from the Vacation Calendar. This trip is THE toughest of any of my trips to try to take Vacation days for. So much Influences the Bite up there that time of year & its next to impossible to Predict but I am still stuck Trying . Thanks Guys

It is tough. That is a long way to go (for most people here) and unfortunately, temp, flow, bait are the only real things that the fish care about.

You might consider booking the last week in March and either fish the river (if conditions allow) or go for one last ice fishing trip on the lake? Just a thought. The first two weeks in April are decent bets but one never knows.

Well I live in IFalls this winter has been a lot nicer than the last two.With that being said, Iam thinking the end of March unless things change drastically.There were a ton of minnows in the river this past fall and the walleye bite was very good.Thats no guarantee that the eyes will run .
This winter is really shaping up like some in the past , when the bite was early and awesome.Iam gonna be ready to get on the river as soon as weather permits.
Bassbuster2

Historically light snowfall winters like these, it seems to be a end of March to 1st week of April kind of bite. Now a lot can change, might be worth sometime to do some research on Clementson Resort website to look through the archives to see when either big boats are going in at Birchdale or when the good bite was. Then try to match that up with some weather archives. I mean if you have the spare time. I will help and give you the links to Clementson Resort archives. Clementson Resort

Also wouldn’t hurt to order the Remote Area Border Crossing permit if you have intentions of fishing in Canada and the Canadian License.

Ontario non resident fishing license

RABC Link
You need to scroll down a bit to check archives back to 2005! Good Luck

Thanks a lot guys. Great idea Cal. I started putting all the data on a spreadsheet last night. Pretty interesting.

I agree with Phil. It’s real hard to predict that magic window. I have done what he suggests; go in late March, get on the river if you can (drag a 12 footer down to Manitou Rapids, for example) and if you can’t get on the river fish the ice bite. I remember fishing for two days in the River, 1st week in April with NO bites. We bought a hand auger and walked out of Morris point and jigged with our long rods and got a limit. Desperate times Ever since we bring an auger.