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Monty open water vs below zero temps


BigMike

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Not that I'm intending to try and get out in this sort of weather, but I know a number of us have seen the open water that is characteristic of this stretch over winter, but does 4 days of below zero temps ever freeze the water up at all? It's just plain nasty out right now!

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Nope!
No freezy on river.
Never will until they shut the power plant down.

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I can't even imagine what the 'sippi looks like when it's -20 below. Just looking at it free flowing, steam rising, snow covered banks almost beckons you to you to go fishing in this beautiful setting...

But as soon as you step out there and start... BAM you're a gonner! Not to mention even if you were able to stick it out long enough to catch something, getting your hands wet handling a fish would surely mean frostbite.

Not fair frown.gif!!!!

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I don't think rod and reels would work in this weather, although I couldn't tell you because I'll never try it. Wouldn't all the water from the line just freeze up the eyes? Careful fishing in the Monti area this time of year, you might hook a Swan. They're out of season. smile.gif

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You're loving this weather aren't cha BigMike? It's so cold that the birds aren't even singing.


Hawg Tide, (hope you read this) You mentioned that you wanted to fish some lakes for largies. I can show you Medicine and Tonka, but maybe we can talk Bill-E-Bazz in using his 17' Stratos!!

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Did someone say largies...Tonka... when...where...who... cool.gif I was getting all excited - until I went outside! This cold is brutal for guys from CA like myself. I'm sure Hawgtide isn't havin' much fun in this weather either.

How do people even ice fish in this kind of weather?

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Well to add insult to injury, my buddy Rob caught a 14" BASS on lake Sara over the weekend. It's his first bass ever in the winter. I still have yet to catch one.

Maybe we can get you out there to BigMike, it's just that I thought you were strictly a smallie magnet. smile.gif

Well there's 2 feet of ice to melt yet so we have plenty of time to day dream. The one and only one good thing about winter is there's no BUGS.

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There may be no bugs bites, but you'll have frost bite instead to deal with...

Bring on the largies. You can just call me SLM = Smallies & Largies Magnet! Tubes and Senkos work just as well on Largies smile.gif Just keep those pike off that spinnerbait.

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Yeah, you can pretty much kiss those days good bye. When I was up there with Hawgtide, we got a warning for fishing too close. There is a huge sign that says you have to stay 500 feet away from that inflow and there is a guard armed with a machine gun that will quickly come down and tell you to move. I don't feel like getting capped for a couple of smallies. Plus, I don't have a problem with it...there are a ton of other spots on the river to fish for even larger fish! Can't keep them off those tubes!

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I use to work at the power plant at Monti in security. We use to be able to fish at the warm water discharge, the public was allowed acsess also. In the winter fishing would be great. The fish hung out there and just about each cast you'd get something, you never knew what though. Lots of walleyes and sm bass. It's been a lot of years since I worked there. Does anyone now if security lets you go down there? Everyone I worked with is long gone.I would think since 9-11 security has tightened up.

Thanks, Happy cool.gif

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  • 2 weeks later...

Mike we havent seen anyone out the past 3 weeks. The river is open and the fish are there. Its just a matter of getting out. Unfortunately Friday's 30 degrees is the last chance for this year for those catch and release smallies. It looks like this guys personal best of Fishing Minnesota open water in a boat will end at 23 months unless we decide to hit Red Wing a month early. It was a great ride, and again the fish are very cooperative right up to the end of the season.
Hope you get out and let us know how you do.

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It's it until 2/15/04 for open season c&r. I looked at the weather and I may be able to make it on Saturday if it isn't too cold!!! It's suppose to get REALLY cold this weekend again frown.gif. If not, it'll be another few months before open water...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Happy Hooker... No dice on fishing near the power plant. You can't get in to fish there anymore and you can't anchor close to there at all. You have to keep your boat moving. I believe they ask you not to even work the restricted area. Even if your drifting down.

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Ha Ha! We've all got the itch so bad! The last page in this month's F&S has a humor piece about guys who go down and stare at the rivers this time of year. I did my turn Monday in Monty. My boy & I weren't the only ones, either! Half a dozen cars pulled into the lot and just stared. We hiked upriver about a 1/2 mile on the rocky shore and scouted a couple of dandy points where rock bass were feeding on small black bugs and some brown flies that looked kinda like mayflies. My boy was wearing his rubber boots, but I got drenched when my hiking staff broke while I was vaulting a little channel. Brrrrrr.
I think some frisky rock bass should keep me happy until it's legal to chase the rest. I'd like to find out where the river crappies hang out in early, early spring.

Peace and Rising Water,
Rob

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I would be careful fishing for "rock bass" up there on the 'sippi. I think with the concentration of smallies in that stretch it may be considered fishing out of season.

Other than that, how does the water level look? Is it up any??? Last year it was WAY down. I just picked up a pair of waders and boots this year and I'm looking forward to hitting that stretch come summer.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • 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
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