Yesterday Kelly Blome, my grandson, Erik Faue and I fished the Rainy River near its junction with the Littlefork Rver. We fished for sturgeon for a couple of hours. We caught two small sturgeon and six suckers on crawlers. We then decided to give that up and go home.

During the boat ride back we decided to cast the shoreline and see what would happen so we stopped and fished a good looking shoreline. Kelly put on an XRap and Erik and I used a jig and plastic combination. In one hour (all the time we had left), we caught six pike, one walleye, and one 3-1/2 lb smallmouth--Kelly caught that. The river is low and the water temp was 40 degrees.

Lesson learned: Even in very cold water, hard baits and plastic work. Walleye fishing on the river is starting to pick up especially in the Birchdale area. Best bet for sturgeon is near the mouth at four mile bay, Some of the bays on Rainy Lake are ice free.