river open

The MN river from the Cedar Ave boat landing to downtown St. Paul appears to be open. I took a drive yesterday on Water st / Lillydale rd and the Mississippi river seemed quite navigateable. Stopped by the landing under cedar ave bridge (permit required) and took a snap of the landing and one of an adventurous soul already on the water.

BTW the Lillydale boat landing still has 30 feet of ice

Good luck and above all be safe

Scott

That would have been Capt. Fireman and Waste Water Guru.
The river is open from 35w down to the Confluence. The word from Capt. Fireman is that fishing was slow… but lots of birds.
I’m getting ready for warmer weather.
Still lots of ice chunks in the river.

Funny, the exact thought I had was only in a River Pro would I venture out this early.
More power to them. Bragging rights to the first cat from open water are at stake.

Wow, I had to check it out today at lunch, and it’s wide open. I just drove through there on Monday and it was ice covered from shore to shore in some spots. You are right about the birds LFC, there were dozens of Mergansers down there. I even saw two Swan pairs. Another cool sight was two bald eagles sitting not 2 feet apart on a branch right across from the Cedar Ave discharge station. It won’t be long now.

Thanks for the heads up.

I wonder if those swans were part of the flock I saw fly over my house late last fall/ early winter? Thanks for the report. I’ll have to wet a line from shore to stave off my fever. This has to be pretty early for ice free zones, no?

I’m not sure. About 3 years ago we were fishing at the end of FEB by boat and you could get from 35W to the Ford Dam.

It’s been some time, but its great to be back.

There was LOTS of bird watching. I lost count on Eagles at 40, and about half were paired up. There was one tree with 11 in it. There was at least 12 swans and hundreds of ducks. It seemed like everyone(wildlife) was out injoying the day.

The fishing was slow……..but the trip was more for sheding the cabin feaver then to catch anything.

It would have been a tough trip in anything other then a River pro. We broke alot of ice jams up on our way. Of corse we had to go thru them on the way back down. All in all it was a fun outing….just a few more weeks and a few more warm day……….