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Ice Fishing River (St. Cloud Area)


fuzzyray

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I was wondering if anyone here ice fishes the river in the St. Cloud area? I have been hearing reports that people have been people on the ice below the Sartell Dam and the 10th St. Dam. I hear people also ice fish down by Cathedral. Anyone have any information about these spots or know of any other spots people fish on the river in this area? How safe are spots like these to fish? I have always atempted to avoid moving water when ice fishing! Am I missing something or is it that some people are risking too much to catch a few fish?

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yeah it can be a little iffy, that is for sure. The bite can be pretty decent right away but it has the habit of dying off real quick. Bring rope and life jackets to be on the safe side...safer at least smile.gif

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I avoid moving water ice if possible as well. Seems like all the accidents reported are on early ice, or on rivers... frown.gif

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I've still never ice fished the river. I can tell you there is always someone in front of the little fishing pier near Cathedral after dark when I'm driving by to work. I've just stopped once to check and didn't catch him with any fish, but he's always there.

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I live in Champlin and have watched the interesting things the river does in the winter on a 24/7 basis, if it's anything like that in St, Cloud there's no way in Hades I would go out on any place with moving water. Today frozen over, yesterday open, last week frozen, this week it'll be open again. In a minute the river will rise 2 feet and break up and flow again. No Thank You, be careful anywhere out there. blush.gif

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Below the Sartell dam has had a few people out and I walked to the 10th st dasm to check it out today. saw a few holes on the south east side of the ice. water coming over the dam and reforming ice on top. I use to fish these areas alot till al gore made it so warm out with his big S.U.V. wink.gif lottsa cold this year and sartell looks to be the best bet, you can go above the paper mill on the east side and drill by the wood posts and up for eyes and crappies. also up by gordons bridge can be fun. that would probably be the safest spot.

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no way, this is the bad spot! This will freeze good though if it stays cold and they slow the water some.

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How safe is walking above the Sartell dam? And is there a place to park on the paper mill side, or would I have to walk across the entire river?

I know that I've caught some of the biggest crappies of my life down by Cathedral, but that was probably ten years ago now, so I can't speak for anything recent.

I would just like to mention that, if anyone does get into nice panfish, to let go all but enough for a meal. The nice crappies are not numerous enough to survive large levels of harvesting.

Carl

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I made it down to Cathedral Saturday morning for a few minutes to punch some holes. There was 7-8 inches of ice....until you get more than 50' from shore and then I hit more like 3-4. Didn't mark much for fish. I was only there for about 30 minutes. Really scary how variable the ice is, which is what I expected I guess. Please, if anyone needs to fish on the river do lots of ice checks and take it very slow. I think I will stick to lakes for now! Hope everyone has a nice Christmas, I am off work for 11 days starting Saturday..plan to be on the ice for most of it!!!

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Was down on riv near Cathedral last night. Did really well on the crappies surprisingly. Just wanted to hit a close spot for some action. Careful, ice was cracking alot.

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  • 1 month later...

I always think about the kid who died by cathedral and i couldnt bring myself to fish on the river. What is more scary is when ppl fish by the 10th st dam one day theres people out fishing the next day theres no ice there.

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The River can kill you quick if you challange it, Summer or Winter. Watching it in front of my house on a daily basis and the changes in ice and water I'ld have a [PoorWordUsage] hard time going out there. Ice can go from 2 feet deep to 2 inches in a footstep.

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I love to fish the river in the summer huge smallies and plenty of them but i gotta stick to the lakes in the winter, maybe someday ill try to brave the river for some ice fishing

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Sure accidents happen, but if you are smart about it and test the ice, you will be fine. I've been fishing the river for several years and have encountered no problems.

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There are a lot of holes below the Sartell dam. Everytime I try fishing a worker says they're gonna open the gates and it's time to leave. mad.gif By the way they don't open them after I leave. When are people able to fish there??

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In addition to the paper mill workers, the cops usually keep a close eye on it and will tell people to get off the ice from time to time. I have been down there when the horn sounded and the dam opened...with the gates open it doesn't take long to wipe all that ice out down there so be advised.

Not worth the hassle from what I've experienced.

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I have been nailing some nice eaters 14-16" walleyes a quarter mile north of the Rice Bridge as well.

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There has consistantly been people on the river near Cathedral high school this year I see on the way to and from work. Any of these FMers and how's the fishing, I'm sure people are getting something because they're always out there.

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The ice varied greatly, between 5" and 15"+, so be careful. I walked down through relatives property but you can use a snowmobile/quad if you know the river and want to risk the varying ice conditions.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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