I made a run down to Bayport to check the ice conditions. I punched 3 holes out in front of Bayport Beach and got about 3 inches of good ice. That is still a little too thin for my liking. There is a coating of snow about 2″ to 3″ across the river but it did not seem to be creating any slush problems that I could see.
I drove down to Hubs Point and walked out about 50 feet and punched one hole and got about 2 inches of ice. The road is plowed out to the end of the point but it ends in a big snowpile right at the ice edge. Hopefully someone with a plow will make a road on to the ice once we get some good ice.
I then drove down to the Excel Energy King Plant and walked out to the outlet. The plant had a lot of smoke coming out of the stack and the outlet was open with a nice current flow. There was a warm water plume out into the St Croix and it was full of ducks. I didn’t walk down to the water edge so I couldn’t tell if there were any shad in the outlet. I didn’t see any fish jumping like you will see when the shad are active. It was still nice to see the warm water plume and I’m hoping it brings back the normal ice fishing season near Bayport.
I then drove up 95 to Stillwater. The river is froze all the way upstream. I was hoping the city would plow an access road into that area across from the Oasis and Jimmy’s Bait. I would like to try fishing that area this winter and it would be nice to have an access point there. Maybe if a few of us talk to our local councilmen we could get that done.