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Southeast Minnesota Flooding


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Needless to say for those of you who have seen the events of the last couple days, the flooding around here has been historic, and devastating to many. Residents of Rushford are still out of their homes, Houston was evacuated along with Elba and Stockton and other small communities. While it's of course an afterthought with the affects on many people's lives, trout streams have taken a seemingly irrepairable beating.

Rush Creek looks like it was hit by a bomb, and by the force of the water, it pretty much was. A 37-year old man is still missing in Winona county after being caught in the waters of Rush Creek. 17" of rain fell around Lewiston, Utica, and Witoka, and all that water raged straight down Rush Creek and flooded Rushford.

Here are just some of the pictures I've received in the office over the last couple days.

Prayers go out to all who have been affected by this disaster.

I will be adding more pictures to this photo album as they continue to come into the office.

http://qninewmedia.typepad.com/photos/storm_damage/

chrisparker_stockton.jpg

chrisparker_stockton6.jpg

philhaney_mncity3.jpg

heathermerchlewitz_mncity.jpg

donanderson_stcharles_train.jpg

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my parents in utica had 7+ feet of water in there basement, i'm from stockton and most of my neighbors have lost there homes. my place is still in tact but have suffered lots of damages to property.

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WoW! Thanks for sharing WX, I knew it was bad but those pictures really drive it home. My prayers are with the folks in that section of the state.

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Pictures don't do some of this damage justice. I witnessed some of it first hand today near and in Elba. All I can saw is WOW. I have never seen anything like it in my life. I am sure I will see more as I have to work in the Rushford and Houston area yet this week.

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my wife and i were on line looking at all the pics today. there were too many familiar places in those photos. my first brown trout came from gavin brook in minnesota city. i got a 29 inch walleye jsut down the road from that classic car place outside of winona. i hope all of you and your families are safe. my brother-in-law lost his car dealership in hokah. things are gonna be tough this year for them. if anyone races quads or dirtbikes, you may know the plantzes. i hope every thing dries up quick for all of you.

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Unbelievable...My daughter-in-law's family had 12 inches in their basement in Lewiston. She was going to visit on Sunday, but her Dad to them not to come down. And more rain is in the forecast for that area.

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I thought the creek looked like it would be better for fishing below farmers park. There are some new pools. It's crystal clear right now. Of course these pools are only there because trees and other debris are damming the stream. Obviously not the most important thing.

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edited by Admin - [no links please]

frown.gif

Sad tale about my favorite state park in all of MN.

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Very disappointed to hear about all this. I saw it on the national news and otherwise probably would not have known. I lived in Mankato for awhile and did some trout fishing around the Southeast. Hard to believe any fish will even be left in some of those streams after this.

Of course my thoughts are also with the area residents and the losses they have suffered. That is a beautiful and charming part of the state, but unfortunately floodwaters have no conscience.

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Hey Jerry,

Thanks for the post. Many peoples lives have been put on hold and they're just trying to figure out how to rebuild.

As far as the fishes? They'll make it through...potentially better in places after an event like this, although that's hard to buy. Nature can undo what we manage to really screw up...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Has anybody seen the canoe access at Rushford since the flood? I want to fish the spillway, or at least check it out.

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I was just there last night. The spillway has a little yellow sign warning to stay out of the river, e-coli.

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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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