Sad day for ice fisherpersons

[The_Duckslayer]

I am thinking that I am going to put the Fish Trap away for the winter and keep my bike out. Not really but it is pretty sad when on the 28th of January I was out for a 30 mile motorcycle ride instead of being out ice fishing! Don't think that I'll do either today though after the rain last night. Sure hope that it eventually gets colder before it gets warmer. Have a good one and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

[hawkeye43]

it kinda feels like a person lost their best friend in a car crash or something and dont know which way to turn. Trying to keep the faith that it will get cold soon and all will be right in the world again, but every day that goes by it looks like it will never happen. Never in 30 years have I not gotten the big house out on the lake at all. All the dump of last summer to put-up with, heat,bugs, storms, mowing lawn and we cant even get -10 degrees. What is this world coming to.

[smartguy]

from: http://climate.umn.edu/

Warm Winter in Minnesota:

2005-2006

Despite a cool front that moved through Minnesota on Thursday January 12, temperatures were still well above normal. From December 21 to January 12, the average temperatures across the state were between 15 and 21 degrees above normal. See the table below for some select cities.

Temperature Summary from December 21, 2005 to January 12, 2006.

City High Low Perd Depart

Ave from

Norm

Duluth 38 10 27.2 17.9

Intl. Falls 36 4 25.0 21.6

Moorhead 39 0 26.0 18.3

MSP Airport 43 9 29.9 15.9

Rochester 41 -2* 29.4 16.7

St. Cloud 43 5 28.0 18.4

Sioux Falls 46 0 30.0 15.5

*This -2 temperature was on December 21.

Another aspect of this unusually warm weather is the lack of below zero temperatures this January. The first time the thermometer dipped below zero was on January 14th at International Falls with -4 and at Babbitt with -2. So far Duluth, the Twin Cities and many other cities in Minnesota haven't seen a below zero temperature this January.

The La Crosse National Weather Service has a recap of the 2005-06 Meteorological Winter through January 15. Below is a Public Information Statement about the warmth from the Duluth National Weather Service.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT

345 PM CST TUE JAN 10 2006

...MILD WINTER THUS FAR IN THE NORTHLAND...

THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE IN DULUTH FOR THE 1ST 40 DAYS OF THIS

WINTER...DECEMBER 1ST THROUGH JANUARY 9TH....HAS BEEN 22.0 DEGREES.

THIS AVERAGE TEMPERATURE IS 10.9 DEGREES DEGREES ABOVE THE NORMAL

FOR THE FIRST 40 DAYS OF WINTER. INTERNATIONAL FALLS WINTER

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE SO FAR HAS BEEN 19.1 DEGREES. THIS IS 13.8

DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL.

THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE 1ST 9 DAYS OF JANUARY IN DULUTH...

HAS AVERAGED 26.3 DEGREES...AN AMAZING 18.1 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL.

INTERNATIONAL FALLS AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR JANUARY SO FAR...IS

23.2 DEGREES OR AN EVEN MORE AMAZING 20.8 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL.

EVEN WITH LOTS OF WINTER LEFT...THIS STILL HAS BEEN QUITE A MILD

SPELL FOR THE REGION SO FAR.

LOOKING AHEAD TO THE WHAT IF'S FOR DULUTH...

IF WE FINISH THIS JANUARY AT OR ABOVE 20 DEGREES FOR AN AVERAGE

TEMPERATURE...THIS WOULD ONLY BE THE 5TH TIME...DATING ALL THE WAY

BACK TO 1875 THAT THIS HAS OCCURRED. ALSO...WE HAVE NOT HAD A LOW

TEMPERATURE BELOW ZERO SO FAR THIS JANUARY. THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A

JANUARY ON RECORD...WHERE AT LEAST ONE DAY RECORDED A DAILY LOW

TEMPERATURE BELOW ZERO. THE FEWEST NUMBER OF DAYS IN JANUARY WITH A

LOW BELOW ZERO IN JANUARY IS 3 DAYS SET IN JANUARY OF 1889...1891

AND IN 1898.

THE EXTENDED FORECAST FOR THE NEXT 10 DAYS CALLS FOR CONTINUED

ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE NORTHLAND.

DULUTH TOP 5 WARMEST WINTERS

AVG TEMP YEAR

1ST 28.0 1877-1878

2ND 22.3 1997-1998

3RD 22.1 1881-1882

4TH 21.7 1930-1931

5TH 20.5 2001-2002

DULUTH TOP 5 WARMEST JANUARY'S.

AVG TEMP YEAR

1ST 21.9 1944

2ND 21.0 1880

3RD 20.5 1891

4TH 20.4 1878

5TH 19.8 1931

INTERNATIONAL FALLS TOP 5 WARMEST WINTERS

AVG TEMP YEAR

1ST 19.8 1997-1998

2ND 17.0 1920-1921

3RD 16.8 1986-1987

4TH 16.4 2001-2002

5TH 14.7 1982-1983

INTERNATIONAL FALLS TOP 5 WARMEST JANUARY'S

AVG TEMP YEAR

1ST 17.5 1944

2ND 14.6 1919

3RD 14.2 1921

4TH 13.4 1990

5TH 13.2 1942

[Dotch]

I hear ya Jimbo. We took the house off on Friday before taking off on social events for the weekend. Didn't want the wind to come up and swirl the water around the house as it did a few years back. Am thinking sometime in mid-Feb when we lamb it will be cold enough again. In the meantime, I could raise chickens in it or something. Just shove the [PoorWordUsage] down the holes and since it's on wheels, move it every once in awhile...

[The Grebe]

43...It started out lookin like it was gonna be alright this season, then we had 8 moveable snows and some piddly stuff here in the metro, the last part of November and all through December and it just kind of went down hill early.

That coupled with the warm temps and the rain, it has made things kind of miserable, in so far as ice fishing is concerned.

Good in other areas like heating bills and such, but it sure makes for a long boring gloom...I hesitate to say winter.

Usually I do alot of ice fishing...I'm sure I do at least 45 or 50 trips, which includes the stuff close to home...this season to date I have been out just 12 times that I can recall and we are past the midway point, or at least at it in a traditional sense. If this keeps on, there might not be any safe ice fishing in March?

Early on I just didn't trust the ice and even yet I'm a little apprehensive (Driving) about it in some areas. Our weather has kind of taken my usual enthusiam away?

[Captain B.R.K]

This is definately interesting weather.

I read an article in the St.Cloud Times today from the Outdoor Section of this last Sunday's paper. Glen Schmidt wrote that of the area lakes near Sauk Center, there isn't nearly the amount of activity as there usually is on any given winter day.

If people don't typically get out around Thanksgiving or Christmas, chances are they won't get out he says.

I can definately relate to that this year! We didn't have good walkable ice, until after Christmas due to all the holiday stuff at that time of year I had to attend to.

I don't have an atv or 4-wheeler either so I'm stuck fishing closer to shore where the fish aren't bitting or some of the smaller lakes that don't have much going

Plus this year the bite really hasn't happened on a lot of lakes from what Glen Schmidt wrote.......very weird this year.

[hawkeye43]

Big smiles around here now cause we got our hands on wheeler to use for the rest of the winter. The only thing it will cost us is a few meals of fish,I think I can handle that without a problem. Life is getting better

[Surface Tension]

Theres plenty of ice opportunities around Duluth. The warm weather made things a bit tricky in Dec but we have enough ice to drive on with most lakes. Actually with the warmer then usually temps and less ice to drill through, theres probably more guys out fishing this winter then in the past.

[metrojoe]

Definitley had to head north for some drivable ice. I've actually been considering taking out the boat and hitting the river, but it looks like we may finally get some winter like temps.

[howwedoin]

I've been waiting 4 years to build a colapsable ice house (looks like a mailbox). Well, my wife is due to have our first baby Mar. 24th and I figured I better do it now cause when the baby comes I won't be able to build one or go a lot. So I built it considering I'm not a handyman but it's great. It's sitting folded up in the garage We're having a boy so I'm thinking not next winter but in '07 & '08 winter I'll bring him out and teach him the excitement of ice fishing!