Soft water is started

[KDM]

I’m having a hard time envisioning this roll of chains

Flat steel 2 inches wide with solid rings every 4 inches to attach chain to. Make the chains about a foot long so what you roll up or put together is the flat steel and the chains come with. Make'em in 4 ft sections and a bit wider than the ramp. A guy should be able to heft one section or he can use a wheeler when putting them up or taking them down. Hammer drill some big bolts with D rings to the concrete ramp for attachment or make footings for anchors. Make the chain at least a half inch thick and you have something that will last for years and years. Spray with oil when storing and rust shouldn't be an issue. Just seems like it would make fishing the race early and late a bit more enjoyable.

 

[guywhofishes]

seems like a roofed bin full of rock salt and a shovel sitting next to the ramp would do it

 

[KDM]

Until the shovel disappears or someone forgets to refill the rock salt. The tailrace fish cleaning station seems to gets trashed all the time, so the possibility for mischief is very real down there. I would prefer a more permanent solution, but it really makes no difference to me. I don't fish the race very much. Just trying to suggest possible fixes to an ongoing problem I hear about twice a year. Time to go through my perch stuff for tomorrow.

 

[dean nelson]

Nice thing about the river is she is either making ice or eating it and even though it's not overly warm out right now it's still to warm to keep ice on her and she's ripping it out at a rate of two to three miles a day.

 

[Skeeter]

Nice thing about the river is she is either making ice or eating it and even though it's not overly warm out right now it's still to warm to keep ice on her and she's ripping it out at a rate of two to three miles a day right now.

Don't forget she kicks out some damn nice fish too. Was fun on her today.

 

[dean nelson]

Well it's just about that time again. Nice to see the city getting the ramps ready.

 

[Hookin8easy]

It’s open all the way south of steckle but not to double ditch yet

 

[DirtyMike]

Well it's just about that time again. Nice to see the city getting the ramps ready.

what the hell. seems early!

 

[SDMF]

what the hell. seems early!

Spring of 2016 we put in @ Ft Rice on March 12th.

 

[5575]

Was out floating the boat the last 6 days about 12 hours a day and it felt very very good. #$%^&> :;:cheers

ha

Lets play a little game of guess the weight!
Hard to do if you've been looking at a bunch of long armed Winnipeg pics lately ha ha!
This is an honest pic and a real scale weight, good luck! I'll find something to send the winner. #$%^&>

 

[DirtyMike]

Spring of 2016 we put in @ Ft Rice on March 12th.

I’m referring to the game and fish getting the docks in. I know people were fishing the river the end of February in 2016

 

[Wishek08]

Is the boat ramp at steckle open?

 

[Flatrock]

Is the boat ramp at steckle open?

Not as of Wednesday. Probably a good 20-30 yards worth of solid ice in front of the ramp.

 

[dean nelson]

It’s open all the way south of steckle but not to double ditch yet

What are you considering open since double ditch went out sometime on weds night. There was still ice clinging to the sandbars yesterday morning but the main channel and most all areas with any current were blowing out. Normally it takes about a day or so after the main channel goes to clear the rest but not sure how much she removed last night but she's trucking south and will be to misty soon at this rate.

 

[ND58201]

Lets play a little game of guess the weight!
Hard to do if you've been looking at a bunch of long armed Winnipeg pics lately ha ha!
This is an honest pic and a real scale weight, good luck! I'll find something to send the winner. #$%^&>

Beautiful fish!!! My guess is 14.8 lbs

 

[Hookin8easy]

Was Wednesday around 5-6 or so last I was by double ditch but was no open water at that time, and as of that time steckle was iced in but river open, looks like about 10’ worth of water out from ramp then sandbar stretches south a ways

 

[dean nelson]

Yeah I first looked up there wed morning to see how accurate the satellite images had been. At that time she had just a tiny bit open a mile or so upstream but by yesterday morning she was for the most part open till about a half mile or so down stream and this evening the leading edge was just upstream of misty. Kinda curious to see how this will work since I've never really seen her break up when it's this cold so I'm wondering how those little back bays and side channels will clear out. Here's a shot from just a bit ago as the first push of breakup pushes in as viewed from heskit.....pushing a fair bit of debris with her. I doubt we will have any ramps going this weekend but it won't be far into next week and the boats will be back.

 

[shorthairsrus]

- - - Updated - - -

That puts us to April

 

[ndfinfan]

^ at least...unless we get a fast warm up come April, gonna have fishable ice until close to May.

 

[dean nelson]

- - - Updated - - -

That puts us to April

Tell you one thing with the snow pack sitting in Montana both in the mountains and on the plains the longer they stay cold the faster it's likely to melt when the switch comes and that tends to be a good thing for our lakes. Definitely wouldn't mind see a few more feet in Oahe this year.