Broken record I know! Can’t argue this at all. I said probably 3 fishing reports ago I was gonna make the switch over. Well, that hasn’t happened quite yet, but looking out my window this morning it’s definitely ice fishing season.

I was supposed to start the ice fishing season this weekend, but we were blessed and cursed depending how you look at the weather this time of year. So we decided not to move forward with the ice fishing fishing trips, simply because of the weather and poor ice conditions. Instead, we dumped the boat in a few times.

Speaking of launching the boat, if our water conditions don’t improve with a massive amount of runoff this spring we are going to have done launching issues. Both Fort Rice and Hazelton are about out of commission. Rifle range is out of commission right now, Misty Waters, Interstate landing, and the desert ramps are not useable. Graners is ok and little heart is ok and the best ramp at the moment would be fox island.

Another problem we will have next spring is the fish don’t usually migrate up as far. This creates a lot of congestion further south. If history repeats itself, the falls usually mirror the spring. The fishing this fall has been outstanding, the only problem is, I probably fished 40 days this fall and caught fish 35 of those days in the same half mile stretch of river. It was awesome early fall because most folks were staying away because it was a little difficult to navigate. Leaving the spot mostly empty of other boats. With low water, the spots are not very big and normally can’t hold more than a couple boats.

Again, this could create some intense moments this coming spring. So we all need to hope and pray we get major snows in the mountains of Montana. I know Sakakawea is gonna have some ramp issues also if things continue to fall.

My last day on the open water was really good! Caught some really nice fish. The smaller fish are definitely struggling somewhat and are pretty skinny. Guessing they are not finding enough food to sustain their diet. Hopefully, we get some water to flood the shorelines again, and give all the fish some great spawning habitat.

So I promise this is the last open water fishing report until the spring. Actually this was more of a low water, ramp situation, and looking into our future than anything. I will be on the ice up near Devils Lake starting next week! If you are looking to ice fish with me get ahold of me. I do have some scattered dates available.