If you’re ready for some spring walleye action, Brian Brosdahl recommends that you head for Rainy River and fish the current.

Anglers are anxious to slide their boats over the fringe ice, into the water of Rainy River in Minnesota. There isn’t a lot of room at first, but the sun and runoff quickly chew away at the ice. What are just small stretches early on turn into miles of open river overnight, spanning from Birchdale all the way to the Gap at Pine Island. Word gets out, and walleye fans know to get there fast! Rainy River has trophy walleye potential (it’s not uncommon to see 30-inch-plus fish with massive girth) plus a shot at numbers of small, medium and large fish. The river is catch-and-release only to protect spawning females.

Breaking bad

During this time of year on the Rainy River, most anglers have their lines in the water with bait on their Northland jigs. Savvy river anglers will chew up numbers—like 40 to 80 bites per day—with a dozen to two dozen fish over 25 inches. Most anglers will slip with the current, covering water.

When the Big Fork and Little Fork ice dams break loose, mud, sticks, logs and other debris wash into the Rainy River. This breaking is bad, as it turns the light-tea-stained waters into chocolate milk. Anglers who boated big numbers of fish the day before struggle to catch a handful. When you’re planning an outing, you can’t plan for weather or water quality. You just have to get out there and go fishing.

Vertical

The most important thing when fishing Rainy (or any river) is to keep your line vertical in the water. Keep your jig in the walleye target zone 6 to 12 inches off the bottom, and your line straight up and down. If the line goes under the boat, you’re dragging it on the bottom, looking for a log or rock to snag. If your line is ahead of you, speed up your Minn Kota i-Pilot to keep it vertical.

Once you know the speed to troll downriver, you can set your Minn Kota on cruise control. It holds the speed, and the motor will even steer for you to maintain a course. Some years, the flow is low, so it’s a mild drift downriver between 1 and 2 mph.

The speed of the current will vary in some locations, like the neck-downs or shallow shoreline-related bars that pinch the water to the center of the river; and, of course, in big, sweeping curves. Just remember that those spots are going to hold a bunch of fish. Some rivers, such as the Detroit River, have current speeds of 3 to 4 mph, which makes it more challenging to keep a vertical line.

Spot-Lock

Minn Kota’s Spot-Lock is definitely a game changer in the world of walleye fishing. With the push of a button, your hand-held trolling motor remote keeps you anchored with pinpoint accuracy until you disengage it. This works extremely well on the Rainy River. There are plenty of current seams to anchor along, and jig below and slightly behind the boat. I like to pound the bottom with the jig head and lift up a foot off the bottom to wait for the strike. Pounding the bottom too much will call the sturgeon to bite, however—which isn’t a bad thing!

I use Sunline SX1 green braided line. Its thin diameter cuts the water. I attach an 8-pound Sunline FC fluorocarbon leader that’s super-clear and abrasion-resistant. I wear Fish Monkey Stealth Dry Tec gloves and never have to take them off when baiting minnows on jigs; they are thin, waterproof and warm. Northland Whistler jigs and Thumper jigs, tipped with a rainbow or a frozen shiner, work extremely well.

With Whistler jigs, use short pulls forward with your rod tip, and then let the drop back for about 3 or 4 seconds. The next time, repeat the motion, but let out 3 to 4 feet of line. I would rather not hook a big walleye too far downstream from the boat, so I reel in the Whistler jig, restart vertical from the boat and then repeat the downstream walk.

Jigging with Humminbird MEGA Live Imaging in forward viewing mode will prepare you as the walleye approaches your jig. St. Croix’s Legend Elite 7-foot Medium-Extra-Fast is the Cadillac for this jigging approach. On windy days, I shorten up to a 6-foot rod for less wind drag on the rod tip.

Upstream

Sometimes, it is just better to go against the flow on a river. To get bites in any condition, try slowly dragging a 2- to 3-ounce bottom bouncer with a Northland Butterfly Blade Harness and a minnow or a ‘crawler. Or with a simple bead on a short, 2 to 3 feet of Sunline FC fluorocarbon leader with a Gamakatsu Finesse Wide Gap Hook. Big walleyes can’t pass up a fat rainbow sucker minnow or creek chub slowly dragging upstream on the edge of a current seam at .5 mph. This will create strikes. Just remember, its bottom bouncing, not bottom dragging. Touch the sinker on the bottom every now and then to make sure you are near the bottom. This is a great approach after a cold front or if the river is murky.

And there are times when crankbaits just work better on the Rainy River. I keep my rod locker ready with Northland Rumble Shiners on St. Croix Eyecon trolling rods, ready to deploy.

Whether there is a snow squall or a heatwave, you will find Heather and me chasing that 30-incher on the Rainy River in April!

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