March 29th, 2022
The land of walleye remains in the grasp of old man winter!! The battle on the river between the ice and the open water has become a stalemate!! No movement of the open water has happened in the last 3 days now!! The open water still rests a mere 1/4 mile east of Birchdale!! What will happen and when will spring fishing on the Mighty Rainy finally be under way???! A crystal ball would come in handy right now lol! All I know right now is what the long term forecast says.... nothing good and nothing bad. Above freezing temps thru the day and lows down in the 20's at night. A lot of the snow has melted and lot more has just shrunk and turned into hardish ice piles that seem to be taking a bit more power to get any melt out of! The frigid temps over the weekend have taken there toll and it's gonna take a bit to get the wheels back in motion!! Positive vibes people, better days a head!! Spring has old man winter in a choke hold, the stubborn SOB just won't tap out!! Stay tuned I'll keep you posted!! For those about to fish, we salute you!! I'll see you on the water. The Dutchman signing out!!
March 24th, 2022
As day turns into night in the land of walleye!! The Dutchman dreams of open water and the beauty that is spring!! The geese have started to return and just as most of us, they must wait!! I see them sitting on the ice like WTF!!! They see me sitting on the ice like WTF as Facebook sends me memories of last spring LOL!! All joking aside,
As day turns into night in the land of walleye!! The Dutchman dreams of open water and the beauty that is spring!! The geese have started to return and just as most of us, they must wait!! I see them sitting on the ice like WTF!!! They see me sitting on the ice like WTF as Facebook sends me memories of last spring LOL!! All joking aside, The Dutchess headed east today and ran into open water at mile marker 160, leaving it 3 miles from Franz and just a mere 4 miles from Birchdale!!! Don't put her in drive just yet folks, we got some cold weather coming that could put a serve halt in the whole process!! That being said I intend to do daily runs now until the county clears Birchdale!
Put a fork in it!! The next thing on everybody's mind! What will the forks do? I will be making a run that way tomorrow as well. There is a lot of run off melt pouring onto the river around the Dutchman and can only expect the forks are filling up!!
Hustle and flow!! The flow in front of the Dutchman has picked up and I am finding bits of debris built up on my weight while trying to Sturgeon up!! The worst is yet to come! Sometimes it takes the worst to bring out the best and I feel strongly that the snow came because the Mighty Rainy and Lake of The Woods desperately needed it!! My
Hustle and flow!! The flow in front of the Dutchman has picked up and I am finding bits of debris built up on my weight while trying to Sturgeon up!! The worst is yet to come! Sometimes it takes the worst to bring out the best and I feel strongly that the snow came because the Mighty Rainy and Lake of The Woods desperately needed it!! My hopes are higher water and more flow will equal a more productive summer Sturgeon bite!
I'd like to end tonight by reminding you to remember to take every chance you have to get kids fishing!! It will change their life! That's a fact!! Me, You, and anybody else with a rod glued in their hand are living proof of that!! The best times I've ever had on the water were with my dad as a kid, which have been eclipsed by the amazing
I'd like to end tonight by reminding you to remember to take every chance you have to get kids fishing!! It will change their life! That's a fact!! Me, You, and anybody else with a rod glued in their hand are living proof of that!! The best times I've ever had on the water were with my dad as a kid, which have been eclipsed by the amazing time I spend on the water with my kids now!! For those about to fish, we salute you!! I'll see you on the water!! The Dutchman signing out!
March 21th, 2022
Things are moving along nicely and the river keeps taking out about 3 miles a day and the open water rests at mile marker 168, just before Indus, once it reaches Manitou Rapids it will take even more ground each day!
Kutes Landing at Pelland
March 19th, 2022
River Update! No real change at Kutes or Pelland. It's open but lots of snow on the landing still. The open water is right around mile marker 174; give or take a mile or 2. The open water channel gets real narrow a few miles west of Loman. So we've gained 6 or so miles in 2 days.
The real gain is at Franz Jenve with a huge U shape open water heading west, right by the rapids there!
When I was leaving, the Air Boat was coming in on a trailer! I remember seeing this guy last year so I hope he got out fishing cus I know he can get that boat across the ice to that open water spot! Still........tons of snow going down to the landing itself.
Frontier Landing is all cleared to the actual landing it self and I saw fresh ice fishing holes right out in front of the landing. No I did NOT go see how much ice there was......no sirree!
But from Frontier to us, the locals have been ice fishing still.
Stay tuned for the next update! Things are moving along nicely!
March 17th, 2022
Progress!!! The river has gained more ground in it's battle against old man winter and mother nature has jumped in to help with well above average temps!! The mighty Rainy continues it March for lake of the woods!!
3 more miles of ice have fallen victim to waters of the mighty Rainy and the town of Loman is in it's sights! It currently sits at mile marker 180 leaving it 3 miles from Loman and hopefully getting closer as I type!
The river has managed 1.5 miles a day in the 2 days since I last checked it and from what I can tell it should start eating at least twice that a day from what the long term forecast shows!
I have also heard the dam has been opened which should help shave even more ice!! No landings or parking lots have been cleared of snow and Franz and Manitou show no signs of opening!
March 19th, 2021
Frontier has opened up and you guys were launching already!
It's not quite to Vidas landing yet.
March 18th, 2021
Frontier Landing
Still a bunch of ice out if front on Frontier Landing so it probably
won't be until next week to launch big boats.
looking East
Boats were already coming down from Birchdale to try out in front of
Frontier landing.
Stays open for another 2.5 miles or so to the West! Water temp today
was 37 degrees!
March 13th, 2021
Franz Jevne
Franz Jevne
Franz Jevne
As you see, boats have been out at Franz Jevne but the 60ft ice chunk you have to cross to hit the open water will probably drop by tomorrow morning.
Franz Jevne
Franz Jevne
Boaters said the open water stops a little bit around the bend. Still froze up at Birchdale.
Franz Jevne
Huge chuck of ice floating by at Franz Jevne landing!
