Horseshoe Chain Water Levels

[Coleman]

Hello, not sure how many of you planned to hit the chain for opener, but you may want to reconsider.  

 

When we put our dock in it was about 6" above the water level, I would say it's about 1.5' above the dock level now, so I would say the water level has risen about 2' this past week.  

 

I haven't seen the boat landing on 22, but I'm sure it's completely underwater.  I noticed the landing in Cold Spring was still "useable".  But it would be my advice to likely stay off the water.  Who knows what's floating around.  I know a few people that lost dock sections and will likely be floating around just at the surface.  You might be able to barely see them in daylight let alone night time. 

 

Hopefully the DNR puts up a no wake bulletin for the foreseeable future.  

[smurfy]

i drove past richmond this morning. sign says hwy 22 is closed, imagine water over the road!!!! there where no boats on becker or the river when i went threw, on y way home a boat on becker and seen 2 on the river from 23. and wowzer is the water high!!!!!!

[Coleman]

10 hours ago, smurfy said:

i drove past richmond this morning. sign says hwy 22 is closed, imagine water over the road!!!! there where no boats on becker or the river when i went threw, on y way home a boat on becker and seen 2 on the river from 23. and wowzer is the water high!!!!!!

The water was over 22 at the very south end of Mud and the overflow pond. I took that route to get to the cabin, I just moved the signs and drove through, saw a couple carp sunbathing on the warm road.

[deanbaron1990]

My soon to be inlaws have a cabin on Rice Lake. They put their dock and lift in last weekend and everything was looking good. After 6-8" or more of rain this week the dock is now at least 6" under water and the lift is unusable. Their neighbor's pontoon/lift actually floated out in to the lake. Most docks on the lake are under water and any boats on lifts are stuck on them until the water goes down. I bet the water level is up at least 5 feet from its low last fall after the drought. It's up probably 2-3 feet just from last weekend.

 

We didn't get a single bite this weekend. We marked a lot of fish but I'm sure the water is so churned up that the fish are inactive for a while. We didn't see a single other boat catch a fish when we were out Saturday or Sunday. Docks and lifts might be a big issue for a while. Hard to imagine the water level going down enough any time soon.

 

I'm sure most lakes and rivers in the area are facing the same issues.

Edited May 16, 2022 by deanbaron1990

[fishingstar]

I was on Rice this weekend also. Seen boat lifts with water up to the canopy. I was the only one to catch a fish out of the hole campground It was about a 6" crappie.

[Dash 1]

Went to the chain today. Put in at Long Lake access. Dock not in yet and water a little high but not terrible. Lots of activity as I hear there is a bass tournament this weekend?.?  Everyone was obeying the no wake.  My son got a nice crappie and my dad got 1 also along with a big cat. He fought it for 10 minutes. Did not want to come up.  Ended up going back to my dads and grabbing enough sunfish off the dock for a meal.

[Coleman]

So, the Sheriff pulled the emergency No Wake last week, but still has a posted No Wake, which is a recommended no wake.  Not many people are paying attention, even the Sheriff was cruising around on plane this weekend, and of course the Wake Boarding Boats were in full force. 

 

Anyways, water temps in the middle 70s.  Bigger gills(8-9"er) were tough this weekend.   I can normally snag as many as I want off the dock while getting dinner going, but they were pretty non-existent.  

 

I did chase some walleyes Sunday morning.  And they were pretty stacked up on a wind blown island.  I could have sat there all morning and caught 16-20" fish, but the kid was getting warm so he headed back to the cabin.  BIggest was just over 19.5", and all were over 15".  I released them all for someone else to catch.  Side imagining didn't pick them up, as they were hanging in the weeds.  I just had a feeling they would be in there.  If you had Mega Live or Live Scope you'd easily be able to see them chase your bait.  

 

Not sure how long they will stay in the weeds with these temps.  

[Coleman]

Just an update, walleye are still hanging on the week edges.  I caught mine in 8-10FOW again.  Lost one that was 4-5lbs.  Best part, I have yet to use livebait this open water season.  Basically the same technique as last week.  

 

Only issue is finding the weeds that hold the fish.  Same as last week, just looking on SI, finding small transitions between weed edge, soft/hard bottom ect.  

 

Once you find them, then you can spot lock/talon down and cast at them.  

 

And, as before all fish were released.