This mornings photo. Fair amount of ice flowing by in the main channel. A little progress from yesterday. Shore ice looks to be a solid 6″s. Goid news is the big sheet on the ramp is not froze to it. Couple ice saws going should make quick work of this.
20190104_111503.jpg
If you are planning to fish north of St. Paul I would bring a spud!
B92FF0EF-FE62-4775-985B-F0B8E39169D3.jpeg
Is anyone planning to make a go of it tomorrow?
We do. Those fish are lonely out there.
Saw 2 boats north of 494….assuming it was IDO guys. Hope their luck was better than mine on the ice!
Yep, me and Mike W and crew cut/chopped ‘er open today. Ramp is good to go. Fish are biting! Little slow for our boat. But better than looking down a hole in the ice. 
-J.
Here is this mornings photo of the ramp.
20190105_112022.jpg
Found a few decent fish yesterday. Not much for numbers but size was very good.
20190105_185304.jpg
20190105_135010.jpg
Nice fish there Mike!
Opening up the ramp in January!
-J.
Nice Mike,
How far downriver from 494 are you guys fishing? We always fish the river from 35 E bridge to the dam February to September but I am completely clueless about the stretch south of St Paul. We have fished hard water the last two days, but open water is always my preference.
Thanks
WP_20170702_005.jpg
Typically fishing upriver areas from 494 to the airport this time of year.
-J.
Was that you Mark that stopped by on the river today?
Slower bite for us today. Caught a few 20″ saugers draggin plastics. Still good to get out in the boat in January. Hope the ramp isn’t froze in to bad by next weekend.
Was that you Mark that stopped by on the river today?
Slower bite for us today. Caught a few 20″ saugers draggin plastics. Still good to get out in the boat in January. Hope the ramp isn’t froze in to bad by next weekend.
When James mentioned on the latest IDO show that a 20″ sauger is a trophy it made me think…hmmm…he hasn’t fished Pool 2, they are fairly common there!
We caught 2 of those sauger trophies on Sunday. Guess we forgot to take pictures of them.
Yup, that was me. Thanks for introducing me to a new section of the river. I also have had my best luck on sunny days. See you out there again .
Anyone know if the ramp is still open? May try and get out tomorrow or Sunday.
Thanks
My guess would be its iced in again but most likely not to bad. We had a solid 6″ of ice to saw through last weekend. Pretty easy to walk out on that and cut it open with a chain saw. This weekend im guessing its going to be more rubber boats and wader time. Bust out a hole big enough to back the boat in and turned around. Bust the rest out with the boat.
Ill be looking to get out again this weekend. Those fish get lonely in the winter time.
@ 4:00 this afternoon. Looks to be about 3″ of ice.
IMG_20190110_155656000.jpg
Thanks for the photo. One day closer to putting the boat back in there.
Anybody get out today?
Yes. We did.
Hidden falls open. 
You”re welcome.. 
Hidden falls open.
You”re welcome..
Fantastic. Can you get down to the confluence? River was still iced over at the airport north of 494 last weekend.
Haven’t put the boat in yet. Maybe today or Monday but that is the big question on whether one can get to the confluence.
There was a bit of ice last time I drove over the 5 bridge.
Yep. I know it likes it likes to stay frozen by the marina sometimes to the confluence. That and breaking ice with the boat going down river is b.c a little trickier than going up. Going up river what you break apart drifts away. Going down it doesn’t and if busting through the pack can drift in good behind the boat.
So up by the dam the spillway side is wide open to the east of the island…Lock side is buttoned up.
Still some current seems and down stream of the island areas to fish…
My gut or maybe my heart tells me we can get to the Minnesota River… 
I was on shore downstream of watergate. It looked navigable all the way down to 35E and beyond. But the confluence itself is pretty icy around the tip of the island and shorelines were good wide sheets. The deep hole on the Crosby side is iced up, and the Minnesota itself looks like a really tall order. Good luck!
The river is open from hidden falls past 35E as far as I could see. Hidden Falls ramp is clear. Ice sheets narrow the channel from the upstream side of the big hole to the tip of Pike Island. Water temp is 32.7 degrees. Had to play dodge em with the ice sheets at the confluence. Fished from 10:30 am – 12:30 pm. Tried dragging and vertical with ringworms. Don’t know if they are not there yet or I just could not catch them.
Thanks for the report from up that way Mark. There is always some fish up there. Getting them to bite is another thing. We have been on good bites up there in the late fall and mid winter before.
Should of taken my own advise on busting ice today. Thought for a bit my boat was stuck busting ice going down river when the ice pack got under the boat. It actually lifted the boat. Wasn’t looking forward to making the call if needed so pushed a little harder and got through. This was on the ice pack by the airport.
The bite around this area was decent this weekend. Slow dragging jigs and stick baits caught fish. Just had to take your time and have confidence your baits where in the right spot.
Got in one last trip today on pool 2 before the next cold front locks it back up again. Bite hadn’t changed much since over the weekend. Draggin plastics today out produced crankbaits for size and numbers. Didn’t seem to matter what color or style of bait we pulled it was still just one to two fish a pass. Fish ran a little smaller with most around 20″s. Of course its not a decent trip without getting atleast one decent one and that was a nice fat 27″er.
Not sure now when the next boat trip will be. Might have to tuck it away for a few weeks. Im guessing there will be a thaw mid February and with any luck back in the boat then. Til then might need to go find some water to walk on.
Good luck to any getting out this week before the river freezes again.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
