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Reports & Ice Thickness


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Any where from 9" to 11" of ice. We have areas of open water between Clementson and Silver Creek. The river levels had increased the past couple of weeks due to increase outflow from I-Falls. The levels are now declining.

Not sure what the conditions are near the lake, although the lake is reporting good ice depth.

Anyone been fishing Birchdale?

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I was just up there fishing the last week. There are lots of very slushy areas on the river and Sandee is right...I think three open spots between Clementson and Silver Creek. We found some of our fishing areas had only 3 inches of ice, nowhere near any open water either. The ice thickness varies a lot from area to area so be careful!

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I'm going to get my boat right now and leaving tonight. And I'm not kidding.

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hey tips

baitco's kids said his cousin picked up a 4 fish mount this weekend on url. the four went between 15-17". may need to travel that way this weekend, baitco will be over there and i might need to give him a jingle.

want me to put oil back into the lower unit tonight? there is a srift in front of the door to be worked on too.

parts for the sled should be in this week.

K2

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  • 4 weeks later...

With this mild winter weather, it looks to be a good spring season. Anglers have been out fishing, just to be able to say they have fished open water every month of the year.

Even if the weather gets cold and the river freezes, it will re-open fast with the February warm up. Early ice-out, there is normally anywhere from 12" to 18" of ice at Birchdale and it only takes a few days to open up, and with the ramps not being used to access the river, there shouldn't be excess ramp ice either.

Also, it shouldn't be as crowded, since most ramps should be accessible fast.

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Any thoughts on how early thaw will affect water quality? This will only be my second time up (heading up in mid-March), but had heard that when the feeders start running with melt that the water clouds and fishing is tougher.

Does that seem right? Appreciate the info!

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If you come right when the feeders open, yes fishing will get tough. It is kind of a washout thing though, after they open and all the crap makes it down stream it will clear up and fishing gets back to good. Big rains will do the same.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Several days of -20's have just about closed it up again. On the 27th there was no open water except for one small patch at Frontier. Forecast looks warm though. Sorry, I know that's not what you wanted to hear.

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Doug & Marilyn,

Thank you for your current report.

My little boat (15' Grumman Sportcanoe) and a 2 hp Honda sit on a lightweight trailer. I can usually drag this rig in and out if I can see the water... I'm thinking of hitching it onto the pickup when I go to LOTW next weekend (3-11).

Is the launch area near the Sioux currently usable? Is Jevne open for overnighting?

Thanks in advance for your opinion...

kooch

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Hey Kooch,

Afraid I'm not much help on that one. Not sure how the state is about plowing access in. I do know of people who have gone in to cc ski the roads so maybe it is just open to the first main area?

If you go, please let us know what you found.

Good Luck!

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The ramp cleaning is done by county. And the ramps are in 2 different counties. It usually gets done with in a day or two of ice out completely to the bank.

I bring a small boats and many years we are fishing a week before the big boats can get in.

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Time, winter left, and our patience {sp?}, then the tax dollars will get these/our counties time and funding moving eh. Given time all boats can access, parking is for shore much better now. Enjoy all and sing a song of AMERICA.

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I am planning on going up to the Rainy on the 24th of March. I thought I have seen boats using drift socks in prior years. Do drift socks work on the River when you are floating in a current?

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A drift sock wont do much of anything if there is no wind on the river. When there is a East wind a sock will help keep you at the same speed as the current instead of blowing you down river. I sometimes like to move slower than the current- thats where a trolling motor or anchor works good. Hope this helps.

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I use a trolling motor as well. Is there a technique to using an anchor to slow your drift. Does it slow the drift just by letting it hang in the water or do you drag it on the bottom and through rope tension keep it from snagging. Appreciate the ideas.

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I would almost say scrap the anchor and either use the trolling motor or nothing at all.

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I like to anchor just above any holes. I also use a drift sock quite a bit. Any time the wind is blowing up current I throw it out to help drift down with the current.

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Does anyone know if they will have nightcrawlers available for the spring fishing run through April 14th? I want to get my hands on some to use for Sturgeon fishing in the evening.

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Just got back from Birchdale. A local said 10-12 inches just out in front of the ramp.

Appeared to be some open water on the US side on the bend above the ramp. Couldn't see very clearly.

Did see a significant area of water on the ice at mile 147.

Nothing else to see, from the highway anyway.

Supposed to cool off again so don't think we'll see water for a week or so at the very soonest.

We'll keep checking.

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Have we melted another inch or two???? I can't wait to set the hook on an open water Walter...

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Did you see the pictures Art & Gail posted at the Clementson site? Looks like they are doing a good job. Thanks

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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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