The Rainy River (French: Rivière à la Pluie; Ojibwe: Gojijii-ziibi) is a river, approximately 85 miles (137 km) long, which forms part of the U.S.-Canada border separating northern Minnesota and Northwestern Ontario.

It issues from the west side of Rainy Lake (French: lac à la Pluie; Ojibwe: Gojijii-zaaga'igan) and flows generally west-northwest, between International Falls, Minnesota and Fort Frances, Ontario, and between Baudette, Minnesota and Rainy River, Ontario. It enters the southern end of Lake of the Woods approximately 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Baudette. It is used for hydroelectricity at International Falls. The town of Rainy River, Ontario was named after it; the Couchiching First Nation and Koochiching County, Minnesota are named after the Ojibwa's name for the river and the lake. The drainage basin of the river stretches east to the height of land about 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of Lake Superior, where it was the southeast corner of the huge tract of land granted to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670. It ultimately drains through the Winnipeg River, Lake Winnipeg and the Nelson River into Hudson Bay.

Minnesota (ⁱ/mɪnɨˈsoʊtə/) is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state on May 11, 1858. Known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", the state's name comes from a Dakota word for "sky-tinted water". Those waters, together with forests, parks, and wilderness areas, offer residents and tourists a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities.

Minnesota is the 12th most extensive and the 21st most populous of the U.S. states. Nearly 60% of its residents live in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area (known as the "Twin Cities"), the center of transportation, business, industry and education and home to an internationally known arts community. The remainder of the state consists of western prairies now given over to intensive agriculture; deciduous forests in the southeast, now cleared, farmed and settled; and the less populated North Woods, used for mining, forestry, and recreation.

Ontario /ɒnˈtɛərioʊ/ is one of the provinces of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province or territory and fourth largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa.

Ontario is bordered by the province of Manitoba to the west, Hudson Bay to the north, Quebec to the east, and to the south by the U.S. states of Minnesota, Michigan (portions to the west), New York (portions to the east), Ohio and Pennsylvania. All but a small part of Ontario's 2,700 km (1,677 mi) border with the United States follow inland waterways: from the west at Lake of the Woods, eastward along the major rivers and lakes of the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River drainage system. These are the Rainy River, the Pigeon River, Lake Superior, the St. Mary's River, Lake Huron, the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario, and along the St. Lawrence River from Kingston, Ontario to the Quebec boundary just east of Cornwall, Ontario.

Rainy River can refer to:

Babe Winkelman is a world-renowned Minnesota-based professional fisherman, first coming into the national spotlight with "Babe Winkelman's Good Fishing" television program, which was first syndicated nationwide in the mid-1980s. The program airs nationally on NBC Sports cable network and syndicated on over-the-air local television stations nationwide.

Babe Winkelman grew up on a small farm near the small town of Duelm, Minnesota, where on Stoney Brook he was fishing, hunting and observing wildlife. He learned the value of hard work through his labors on a family farm. He learned by the example of his parents on how to run a business and get your fingers dirty at the same time.

From the time he was crawling, Winkelman lived the outdoor life, in constant contact with the natural processes of life and death, and the cycles of nature. Through endless hours of hunting and fishing, he polished his skills. During the 1960s, every possible moment was spent at the family cabin on Hay Lake near Brainerd, where he taught himself a "pattern" approach to fishing that he continues to teach others today. At the same time, beginning at age eight, he was developing his skills as a hunter of birds, small game, and deer.