Fishing Rainy River in the Spring
| Month | Avg. Air Temps °F (Hi/Lo) |
| March | 36° / 14° |
| April | 50° / 28° |
| May | 63° / 41° |
The spring is the best time to fish Rainy River, especially if you are fishing for walleye. The spring run starts early with anglers targeting walleye all along the river from March 1st through April 14th. There are special regulations that allow anglers to fish the open waters of Rainy River during this time of year. If you time it right and get good river conditions, the fishing can be flat out awesome. Pay attention to the area reports and go up last minute if possible. This will help you factor in current weather conditions and avoid coming when the water is too high and muddy, too early or too late.
When the regular fishing opener arrives, you still can catch some walleye in the river, but many of these spawners will have moved back out into Lake of the Woods. The smallmouth bass and northern pike fishing is still solid in the river though.
Fishing Rainy River in the Summer
| Month | Avg. Air Temps °F (Hi/Lo) |
| June | 73° / 52° |
| July | 79° / 56° |
| August | 76° / 54° |
In the summer, the Rainy River still provides good fishing. You may end up catching walleye, smallmouth bass and northern pike. Early in the summer, anglers do report good success with smallmouth bass and pike. In the summer, sturgeon get a lot of attention here.
Fishing Rainy River in the Fall
| Month | Avg. Air Temps °F (Hi/Lo) |
| September | 67° / 46° |
| October | 52° / 34° |
| November | 35° / 20° |
In the fall, walleye, pike and smallmouth bass do move back into the river as they follow the shiner minnows. You won’t see as many fish in the river as you see in the spring, but there will be plenty of fish to catch if you come in the fall. Follow the local reports. Once the shiner minnows move back into the river, you will hear about it because the fishing gets very good again.
Fishing Rainy River in the Winter (Ice Fishing)
| Month | Avg. Air Temps °F (Hi/Lo) |
| December | 21° / 5° |
| January | 16° / -4° |
| February | 21° / -1° |
The river have plenty of fishable ice, so you can definitely ice fish on the Rainy River. We recommend finding a guide or resort to help you plan your trip if you want to come out here to ice fish. Knowing the river and what parts are safe to ice fish is super important. The severity of the cold fronts will dictate where and for how long you can fish every winter. A lot of big walleye and pike will move into the river in February and early March, so depending on if there is ice or not will dictate how good the fishing will be under the ice. Walleye and pike feed all winter and these are the popular fish that anglers target here through the ice.
