local ice…..

I have had to do some travel over the last week which took me to the Faribault area as well as the Cities and along the Mississippi River in Wisconsin, and then finally around the Rochester area. I’ve seen a lot of water and even some ice, but the ice is not looking too safe at this point.

We’d be best off if we had a couple wind free nights in the single digits but that seems to be a lot to ask. The ice I have come across is not the nice, clear, black stuff…its pretty cloudy from all the crap that’s been falling on it along with the continual warm temps. All of the water around Faribault I saw, save for some small pockets of backwater along the Cannon River or remote bays on lakes, was wide open yet. Some of the retention ponds near the cities had ice on Thanksgiving morning but were open yesterday. Along the Mississippi River a lot of the backwater areas had ice but none clear or black. There’s a lot of ice on the south side of the dike road, but again it doesn’t appear ready to walk on yet and it was over 40 degrees in that area yesterday when I drove thru. The retention ponds are covered for the most part around Rochester but a couple of the Cascade lakes had open water yet. Foster and the Zum are still wide open.

The weather isn’t going to help much this week either. The ice in this area just isn’t looking too good.

Thanks for the report, Tom. Your observations are depressing – and are the same as what I’ve seen, too.

Long range forecast is not looking good at all for ice making around here. Or even up north really.

Bummer.

I was getting bummed with the amount of ice talk… But thanks for the bright boat fishing forecast!!!!!

No interest in ice fishing at this time! None

I was thinking…yeah, sure glad I put my boat away. Darn it!

shockers wrote:

I was thinking…yeah, sure glad I put my boat away. Darn it!

Why would anybody put there boat away when the upper end of pool 4 is open year around ?

shockers wrote:

I was thinking…yeah, sure glad I put my boat away. Darn it!

Shorefishing dude! Lake City off the breakwater….crappies and walleye/sauger. Red Wing in front of the train depot off the levee wall.

Anything special about fishing in front of the depot? Live bait under a bobber?

Cast jigs. Minnows on jigs will work as will bucktails and plastics. There’s a nice little parking area right there and if you look to your left as you view the river you’ll see some pilings standing there. Cast between those pilings and work your way up to the corner by the grain elevator. Fish lay all along in there and out in front of the depot.

If you run down to Lake City and take a left at the second light, going south, go a block and a half and park. Walk out to the breakwater that lies straight ahead of you and fish the lake side. Again, cast jigs with minnows, hair or plastics. Scale down a little to 1/16 heads and a Gulp 1″ minnow and crappies are all over along the breakwater where the rock meets the bottom.

Mr. Sawvell you provide the best free advice I’ve ever seen. Thank you sir.

Thank You….but in reality the fish are there right now and there certainly hasn’t been a rush of people to bother a guy. Why not take advantage of the opportunity? Granted a lot of people will hit boats in the open water but the docks offer a whole lot more than the boats will in the case of crappies in the marinas….you’re standing on a dock that’s there all the time and the fish are accustomed to their presence. A boat pulls in and throws a foreign shadow, the fish move. I have no problem at all leaving the boat at home this time of year. No slips loading and un-loading the boat. I park and walk to where I want to fish which is a heck of a lot warmer than cruising over open water right now.

If you want to narrow the search for walleyes down, fish Red Wing on the levee as mentioned. Both walleyes and sauger males are shifting in that direction now and will be found fishing in front of that depot. The crappies like vertical stuff right now and Baypoint Marina will offer some of that on their pilings as well. It all depends on how far a guy wants to wander. Wabasha’s inner harbor/marina also offers some outstanding crappie/sunfish angling right now and even after ice up, but pike and some sauger/walleyes will show up occasionally where you’re jigging the crappies too. Don’t get caught up in the doldrums that waiting for ice creates. Take advantage of some simple shore-like fishing until you get ice.

I think I’m going to try it. You’re right about the “doldrums.” Ice would be great but I need to get out and cast a line. I looked the area over on Google Maps, I’m going to try by the depot first, I see the pilings I’ll try that, just not sure of water depth yet. I’ve seen some other stuff about the marinas by Bay Point, I can always try them too.

The water isn’t super deep around those piling….maybe 10 to 15 feet. There’s some current that can be a pain if you fish too close to the upstream side of the pilings. In front of the depot is where I generally have done my casting and have had decent luck.

Baypoint marina is usually full of panfish right now so don’t forget a lighter rod to work along the anchor pilings there too. An ice rod can be used in lieu of a long rod if all you are going to do is vertical jig small stuff for the pannies.

Wow, can’t believe I haven’t posted on here since 2011. Time flies I guess as I have been wrapped up with other things the past few years. Got out to Alma last weekend with my 9 year old and did ok on the Saugers. Was thinking about heading over there again late morning on Sunday, but maybe I will swing up to fish the marina in Red Wing instead.

Tom, this time a year are you still fishing plastics under a float or no float?
Thanks.

Andy

I generally fish plastic but if the fish get nit-picky I’ll use a 1″ gulp minnow. I might have a waxie with me but seldom use them preferring the gulp for a smaller offering.

Are you still lopping and chopping Andy?

I’m doing pretty good Tom. Ended up going over to Alma after all today. Water levels were quite high and the surface was pretty rough. Impossible to fish up near the dam so I opted to try a few new places I had seen other boats at downstream. Spent about an hour or so, with nothing in the boat so I decided to head home.

Hey guys, I’m kind of liking this local Southeast MN discussion, even if it’s only a few of us. I hope everyone’s Christmas time was very enjoyable.

Any updates or thoughts on local ice? I know this weekend probably won’t be adequate at all, but I’m sort of wishful thinking for next weekend (January 8-9-10) if temps stay below freezing. Would probably be looking for Foster, maybe Chester Woods.

Gotta give Foster a wider berth. The old pit has several areas with pretty active springs that can mess with ice development. When this snow hit Foster had some areas with thin ice but still had open water. I think where the water was open yet will provide the best ice as the cold makes ice. Where there was thin ice things may not be quite as solid.

As for the spring activity, right in front of the sand beach in the SE corner and towards the center of the lake from east to west at the north end, maybe fifty yards from the north shore. The one on the north end has been know to be in one spot one year and fifty feet to yards from that the next and seems to wander around from spot to spot on that end without much predictability.