Where to draw the line—Brrrrr…

Typically I havent fished open water if the temp is below 30 or so w/ very little wind. Should I suck it up and drop my toleration point to zero, or am I being sensible. If you are catching fish-that is one thing, but one or two fish an hour makes it tough to justify freezing your tail off. The reason I ask is that I cant imagine being comfortable w/ temps that cold so I just havent done it.

Where does cold start to REALLY FEEL cold? 0? 10? 20?

I’ve fished in some horribly cold weather. And it was horrible. Not fun. Typically if I can see 20+ degrees without wind, I’ll give it a go. Frozen rod tips and spools of line are a real headache and once you catch yourself NOT having fun, its time to go, ’cause really, what’s the point of doing it if its not fun?

James is right. The wind is a big factor when the temps are that low.

If you can’t be comfortable, don’t go.

AND, there is always ICE FISHING!!

Going to give Lawrence Lake a try this weekend.

I,m glad someone asked that. I remmemer fishing Bellvue in january. It froze my bronsins off,no fun at all,didn,t catch fish either.I will be very selective this time.Was wondering about march & april I get time off,Is the run over then or is fishing good?When the reel and line froze I sprayed It with WD40 worked real good.When I froze up,I drank a little WD40 did not work good !!!!

Old Ranger

To answer your question, March and April, in my opinion are much better times to be on the river than January and February. That being said Jan. and February are times that the average joe will consistently put more fish in the boat. At that time river flows are low and the average sized fish are concentrated in commonly known and consistent locations.

I’m a guy that LOVES the high water of spring around spawn time… and that’s when the vast majority of the anglers call it quits and start making their plans for the in-land MN opener. Huge mistake. Once that water starts rising in the spring, concentrating all the larger fish that suddenly become much more aggressive than months prior, that’s when a guy can CPR numbers of huge walleye.

And if you ask me when my favorite time to be on the water on the Mississippi River I’d probably be torn between 3 key time periods.

Late March – Early to mid April (pre-spawn)

Mid May – June (early summer bonanza)

Late Oct. – November (fall feeding binge)

The Mississippi River is a tremendous, and often under-appreciated, 12 months of the year fishery. God I love that river!

PS – How do I know its too cold to fish without checking the weather forecast? That’s easy. Try to open or close those little tabs on a plano storage box. If you CANNOT get them closed without breaking them off and sending them zinging around the boat…. its too cold.

Thanks Jim!! Sure do thank you. Wife Mate & I are coming up ther over week end staying in River Falls,never been there but can,t find a place in Redwing Mn. Going to maul in Minniapolice & Casino,but will eyeball Lock#3 and pool#4 & Everts place. Have a good holiday and don,t drink WD40, it makes your bowels loose!!!