Dutchman
Resort
2018-2019 River Conditions
April 3rd, 2019:
We woke up to some open water spots in front of the house. We are excited to finally see open water again.
Picture of the open spots early this morning:
April 2nd, 2019:
We had sleet/hail, snow, and mostly cloudy weather. Frontier opened for all boats and Vidas still has shore ice. The river is open about 5 miles east of our place. The water clarity is still normal and our guests did say that they have not seen any muddy water. Let's hope with these cold temps that the forks don't break loose until the end of the catch and release season for walleye.
April 1st, 2019:
One of our neighbors sent us this photo and said, "Open water along the channel at Vidas, as far west as the eye can see." As of last night you could only push out at Frontier as there is still some shore ice in the way.
On Saturday some groups said fishing was slow and other groups caught 75-80 fish for 2 people. We have heard of a few nice mid to upper 20 inch fish being caught. On Sunday we only had a few groups that fished and said it was tough. we need see some snow flurries again and they said the fish seemed to bite when the sun was shinning.
Picture at Vidas from our neighbor:
March 30th, 2019:
We checked the river today and boats are able to push out at Frontier. The equipment was down there yesterday and bust loose what they could. The river is open to the Pinewood Church on the Canadian side. This makes it about 5.5 miles east of Vidas Landing still.
Frontier Landing:
5.5 Miles east of Vidas:
Grant checked the river again later this afternoon and it is 1.5 miles from Frontier Landing. Yesterday afternoon and most of today has been windy which is helping the river open up more. Grant did check the Birchdale Landing and it is open for all boats! We are excited for our 8th Spring season! We hope everyone has fun and is safe.
1.5 miles east of Frontier:
Birchdale Landing open to all boats:
March 28th, 2019:
Grant found open water 3.1 miles east of Frontier. Someone emailed us this picture of Birchdale this morning. It sounds like they were able to open up part of the Birchdale access to allow boats to put in.
3.1 miles east of Frontier:
Birchdale Landing:
March 27th, 2019:
Grant went to check the river late afternoon and found that there was open water just west of Birchdale Landing. There is still quite a bit of shore ice at Birchdale but would be possible to still push a boat out. Boats are pushing out at Franz Jevne. Grant figures that Birchdale should hopefully open up for all boats sometime this weekend.
Birchdale Landing:
Birchdale Landing looking West:
Franz Jevne:
Franz Jevne looking West:
March 24th, 2019:
Grant went and checked the river this afternoon. The river is open about 6 miles east of Birchdale Landing. The closest open access is the Pelland access right before International Falls.
Birchdale Landing:
Franz Jevne:
Manitou Rapids:
Pelland Access:
March 20th, 2019:
We had temperatures in the low 40s today with it being most cloudy for the day. We had heard yesterday the river was open at mile marker 173 and today it was in between 169 and 170. The river is 14.2 miles east of Birchdale Landing, 22.1 miles east of Frontier and 38.4 miles east of our place. The county did plow out the Frontier Landing.
14.2 Miles east of Birchdale Landing:
Manitou Rapids:
Franz Jevne with a young eagle:
March 19th, 2019:
April 20th, 2018:
Timber Mill park is open for all boats.
April 19th, 2018:
Vidas was opened up for all boats just in time for the busy sturgeon catch and release weekend.
April 17th , 2018:
The river is open past our place about a mile now.
April 16th, 2018:
Open water is about a mile from our place as we can see the end of the open water just around the bed. We do have quite a few open spots in front of our place.
April 11th, 2018:
The river is open about 3.7 miles east of Vidas Landing. The open spot we found was just on the Canadian side.
April 8th, 2018:
Boats are able to get in at Frontier and Birchdale landings. There is path of open water at Birchdale along with the ice that has built up there. Frontier seemed like there was more open water than yesterday. There are spots where the river is still froze over that boats are breaking through to get to more open water.
April 7th, 2018:
With the cold nights the river has been freezing over. Today Frontier Landing was the only one open as Birchdale was locked up with ice that came down the river.
April 4th, 2018:
The river has been freezing at night. The river was open about 6.3 miles east of Vidas on Saturday. We haven’t had time to check since then and we are thinking it is still about the same. Some groups that have been heading out early to fish said they had to use Birchdale Landing cause there was less ice to deal with. By afternoon it sounds like some groups could get to spots by Frontier.
March 30th, 2018:
Frontier Landing is now open for all boats. One of our customers just sent us this picture:
There is open water west of Frontier Landing now. Jake sent us some pictures from Frontier Landing. One group said fishing was tough today. Another group did pretty good and came in with some nice eaters. Not many big fish were caught today with the cooler temperatures and wind.
Frontier Looking West:
Frontier Looking East:
March 26th, 2018:
Today has been a mixture of snow and rain but it isn't stopping our guests from fishing. This morning Cathy shared with us that the river is open 6 miles west of Birchdale. We also saw one Facebook from Jason Groll Fishing Guide that the county was down there breaking open Birchdale Landing. Thank you so much to the county!
Birchdale Landing (picture from Jason Groll Fishing Guide):
6 miles west of Birchdale (picture from Cathy):
March 24th, 2018:
There is open water about a mile west of Birchdale Landing. There is shore ice at the landing in Birchdale but you are able to push a boat over it. We did see a few boats out fishing when we stopped by before checking the landing in Pelland. The Kuttes Landing in Pelland is open for all boats.
Here is Birchdale Landing looking to the west:
Here is Kuttes Landing in Pelland:
March 23rd, 2018:
Jason Groll shared on Facebook that there was open water close to Birchdale.
March 22nd, 2018:
We checked the river around 5:30pm and the temperature was 40 degrees. We were surprised that the river is just about 1.5 miles east of Birchdale Landing. You can see open water to the east (where the river bends) while standing on Birchdale Landing. At Franz Jevene there is about 50 yards of shore ice. We did see one boat out fishing west of those rapids (we are not sure where they put the boat in). Rainy Lake tourism posted on their Facebook page that people have been walking down and fishing off shore at Kuttes Landing in Pelland (this access has not been plowed)
Birchdale Landing looking to the east river is open about 1.5 miles:
Franz Jevne looking to the east:
Franz Jevne looking to the west (1st boat we have seen while checking the river):
March 20th, 2018:
Cathy sent this picture tonight from Franz Jevne. We saw the channel was open on Sunday at Franz Jevne but was froze up to the east. We will be checking the river Wednesday or Thursday night. There are a few roads off of Highway 11 we drive down to get a better look at the river but right now there is about 2 miles we can't see the river.
March 18th, 2018:
7.1 miles east of Birchdale Landing:
Manitou Rapids:
March 16th, 2018:
Our friend Cathy stopped and took this picture at the Manitou Rapids. This means the river is open about 8-9 miles east of Birchdale. With the warmer temperatures coming we are hoping the river will open up some more in the next few days. We will be checking the river on Sunday afternoon.
Manitou Rapids:
March 14th, 2018:
Our friend Cathy checked the river for us this evening and shared a picture she took. The river is open about 13 miles east of Birchdale.
March 13th, 2018:
I had seen reports of the river being open near Indus so I decided to check it out. This picture is 15 miles east of Birchdale Landing. This was the best spot to get a picture but I did see the end of open water 14.6 miles east of Birchdale. For those wondering the open water is about 39 miles to our docks. The temperature was around 36 today. Looks like things are moving in the right direction.
Grant and I were thinking this year was going to be like 2014. I just looked at that years report and where the river is today is ahead of 2014 by 13 days (Birchdale was open for all boats April 8,2014). Hopefully this means by that last weekend in March Birchdale Landing will be open.
This is 15 miles east of Birchdale Landing:
March 11th, 2018:
As of Wednesday there was no improvement on the river opening up. The temperatures have not been that warm with very little melting happening. Also the we have had some pretty cold nights in the single digits and low teens. This coming week looks like we should have warmer weather so hopefully it will get things moving.
March 4, 2018:
We know everyone is waiting for River updates....We haven’t made the 120 miles round trip to International Falls to check yet. Grants Dad does drive that way once a week and when we know more we will let you know. We are hoping to have a report in a few weeks as there is quite a bit of ice on the river still.
