What is the coldest temp you've ever....

[Poutmaster]

Just a topic for discussion as I wait for cold temps to come back. What is the coldest tempature you've ever been out ice fishing in? My personal record is -30 one frosty morning up in Walker. Things just quit working at that temp, and propane won't flow!! We did pull some nice slabs that day however!!

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Love them 'Pout!

[Guest]

About -35 up on LOW. About 14 miles out on to the lake. We caught a lot of fish but boy was it cold!

Good Fishin,
Matt

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Catch-N Tackle and Bio Bait
MarCum

[hawkeye43]

took my girlfriend (now my wife) fishing to millacs in 1980, -36 on the lake. It was a bad trip from the start and never got better. the last thing she said when i dropped her off at school was that was the last time she was ever going icefishing with me and she has keeped her word. She caught all the fish.

[This message has been edited by hawkeye43 (edited 11-18-2003).]

[irvingdog]

Last year on my birthday, March 1st, in a crappy sleeper house on LOW with no back up heater, and no shore contact, Thirty five below before wind-chill. Yes, it was windy. Even banked in, those holes froze up really quickly. The outfitter told us we couldn't bring augers!!! I set a toastly warm beer out the door, and it froze solid in under 5 minutes!

The fishing was awful, but maybe it was the crappie minnows the outfitter gave us..........

[iffwalleyes]

My first year at Arensen's it was something like -50 or -60 below with the windshield. They had a big pressure ridge that we had to unload and walk to the other side. Then on the other side the Bombers were of course not wanting start and Albert was getting upset. For those of you who know him you know what that is can be like. But it was a great day of fishing just a little cool in the house.

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Grip it and Rip it

IFFWalleyes
I Fish For Walleyes
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[Kaz]

Well, it was an actual -46 in Orr back in '74. The propane quit and the Motothome was cold. We woke up and the only thing that was not frozen, was the food in the fridge. My hair was stuck to the wall because it was sticking out ouf the sleeping bag. Believe it or not, the engine started on the first try, LUCKY!! Colman lanterns were the only heat. We kept the motor running and when it warmed up to -30, we headed home. That kind of cold is very dangerous. I'll never do that again....Kaz

[rodbuilder]

Irvingdog,

PLEASE email me. I want to know (if you don't mind) who the BAD outfitter was. I have a sleeper house scheduled for December...I HOPE these are not the same people you had problems with! Please let me know at [email protected].

Thanks!~

[Scott Steil]

My coldest day was one winter when I was working up at LOW. This was the day they were throwing hot coffee in the air and it would freeze before it hit the ground. International Falls set a record for cold that day. I think it was -63 and my dad says it was -52. Neither of us can actually remember the temp, but it was COLD.

Yes, we fished that day. Nothing would start, not even vehicles that were plugged in. But, after an hour of work, all the bombers were running.

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Mille Lacs Guide Service
www.millelacsguideservice.com

[EBass]

Man, and I thought I had a rough weekend. It was MilleLacs last year in Jan. I think the temp was minus 12 with the wind around 20 mph. I didn't have any of the issues you guys have, but it was fricken cold none the less, especially in the fish trap scout and my heater kept blowing out.

[iffwalleyes]

We all have fished in these cold temps if we were normal people we give up on something like this. But it just goes to show you that icefisherman are tough and persistant. Yet I live for the winter to get out on the block of ice. Another time that I went out I think it was probably -20 or so. It was the first weekend in Dec. the ice was just starting to really build so we were going out for the first time in the year. We walked out about a 1/4 mile went to drill the holes my auger was so cold from riding in the back of my pick up, the diaprhams had froze so we had to set the houses get the heat going to defrost the auger and then finally drill the holes. Oh what we do for fun.

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Grip it and Rip it

IFFWalleyes
I Fish For Walleyes
[email protected]

[Lip RIPPER!]

I rembmber driving to Arneson's quite a few years back. When we went through Warroad, they reported the temp at -47 below. We had always taken one bombardier trip a year and luckily it was that day. Anytime you would open the door, the steam would roar in and you couldn't see the person in the other end of the fish house. Fishing was very good that day too. Scott S, do you remember what year you were there when it was that cold? It sounds like the same time frame. I was trying to figure that out. I am guessing the early 90's

[Sko]

Devils Lake, February of 2001...I cant remember the exact day, but it was the day Dale Earnhardt died. It was -24 when we got up, with -60 wind chills. First time out on Devils Lake. It was kind of surreal driving out on that lake in the dawn and it being so cold.

[Ya Hey Der]

The coldest was -35 at LOW. I was augering my second hole (no troubles with the first) and because it was so cold I didn't bother cleaning the shavings out. Bad move, just as I broke through, the water rushed up in the hole and froze my auger in. So, it's -35, I only have one hole drilled and my auger is stuck in the second, plus it was so windy my portable was about to blow over. So, I did what any anyone else would do, I set up a tip in that one hole and worked the auger free (took about 45 minutes). My finger tips hurt for about 3 weeks after. Lesson learned, make sure I take up two augers when I go to LOW.

[Guest]

walked out last year about a mile -15 with
windshield of -30,couldnt wait to set up portable and heater,called a friend who lives on the lake and bribed his son to tow us back with snomobile for $20,best twenty
i've ever spent,inside of my clam was totally
white with frost even with mr heater on high

[MG - Fishin']

Last year about mid February we were in a sleeper through Ballards and that Saturday morning the guy came out and said it was -55 w/ the wind chill. It was a toasty 70 degrees on the house, but stepping outside to walk around the corner to the bathroom door was a cold one. That's the coldest it's been when I've been on the lake in a long time. Luckily we were either in the heated bomber or in the house most of the time and didn't have to mess with setting a house up.

[Crossin' Eyes]

One year 4 of us went up to fish in the Perch Extravaganza at Liberty beach on Mille Lacs. It was really cold on Friday (-10 high) and when we got to our shack it was -30 with a lot of wind. We finally got the furnace going a couple hours later. We woke the next morning to -35 temps and found out from our ice neighbor they had cancelled the event. We made a big breakfast and decided to go fishing anyway. When we went out at 10 a.m. to start the trucks, they were both dead as doornails. An interesting trip to say the least!

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Good Fishin!
Crossin

[Guest]

This was back a ways, (Younger and certainly dumber) fishing with an old Friend up at Devils Lake ND.

We hit the worst time to be there in like forever!

Day 1- A few fish, not bad, looks promising?

Day 2 it went from a balmy -20 to a nice crisp -90 something with a nice little breeze.

Day 3- The door on the bait shop was frozen shut when we got there, they had a Nepco heater on it trying to get it open. We waited...should have went home then Eh.

Day 4- When you drilled the holes the water froze instantly and the chips crackled like bacon in a frying pan. The ice auger had to be kept in the truck with us or it wouldn't cooperate too well. You raced to get a minnow on the hook before it froze solid.

Day 5- The strippers refused to dance, too cold in the bar. (A VERY Bad sign...we just may need to go home now)

We were stubborn too, hung in there for nearly a week of it.

Ahh it can't last forever...right? After the first day I think we caught 4 fish. So stubborn was just plain stupid.

We had a diesel pickup then and it ran all week 24/7, we didn't dare shut it off.

Yaaaaaaa..that was kinda cool.

Dumb...and D-d-d-d-d-d-d-dumber go ice fishing..that was that trip!

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[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 11-19-2003).]

[willowcat]

A buddy and I went to Millelacs a few years ago. When we got there the wind had started blowing and a front was moving in fast. We got there at 4:00pm,the temp was -22. By 9:00 pm it had droped to -45. The wind was blowing at 48 mph. Rechord setting lows were advised for that night and the next day, with a wind chill estimated at 80 to 90 below. Even with the heater in the sleeper house on high,every hole froze shut. If you went outside your skin started to sting within a few seconds. Needless to say we got out of there first thing in the morning and cut our trip 2 days short.

[Animal]

A couple of years ago I was at LOW out of Nestor Falls, Ont. We awoke to a temp of
-25 with bright and sunny skies and no wind. We drove out to Hay Island and I set up my Otter. By 10 AM the wind was a steady 40 MPH with no rise in temp. The snow was being blown to total whiteout conditions. There was so much wind that heater could not keep up and was useless. I decided to pack it up when disaster struck. When I stood up the tent blew right over top of me and took off down the lake. I was able to chase it down about 50 feet away, but I had equipment strewn all over the place. With the whiteout conditons and the noise of the wind my two fishing partners, who had set up about 25 feet away from me, had no idea what was going on. I would say the windchill was about -40 or worse and I was rapidly losing my core temp. I managed to get my tent down and dragged it back to the truck. I pushed it under the bed to secure it and gathered up my equipment and threw it in the back of the truck box. My hands had ceased functioning and I was getting the shakes. I jumped into the truck and started it up. This whole event took about an hour. After I warmed up I walked over to my buddy's tent to tell what had happened. They, having no clue, both said, "How the hell can you stand this? Lets get out of here......"

[Mr. Pike1]

It was a day in the early 90's and me and my partner were amatures in the ice game. We were on lake Independance and God only knows the true temps on that frightful day. The wind was howling and we were not at all dressed appropriatly to deal with the elements that day. After a few hours on the ice we made the long walk back to shore. We arrived at the vehicle with frozen extremeties and fragile ego's. However we learned from this venture and now are better prepared to deal with these situations.

[Scott Steil]

Lip Ripper, I am guessing it was 1994, but could have been 1993 also. I froze some of my brain that winter so my memory is not that good.LOL

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Mille Lacs Guide Service
www.millelacsguideservice.com

[Jim W]

I don't know the actual temperature, but the themometer was bottomed out, it was too cold to heat up oil outside under a big burner to fry fish and fish froze with in 2-3 minutes, when tossed out of the shack.

Members of our party received frost bite burns on their faces. It was so cold we all had to time our "P" breaks, all leaving the shack at the same time, preventing to much cold air in.

Our 4 man home made portable didn't need supports. Our breath froze so solid on the inside of the shack we needed a chisle to break it down!

Upper Buffalo Bay LOTW. REAL COLD!
This si coming from a guy who prefers not fishing out of a shelter. It was too cold not to!

Jim W

[Guest]

About 10 years ago on LOW, the outside thermometer froze at -36. Nothing wanted to work at that temp! We did catch some fish though. TV news said the actual air temp bottomed out at -42.

Good Fishing,
Mike

[Guest]

Spring Break Madness

While my college roomates basked in sunny Florida, I had headed home to do a little ice fishing. Called up a friend, and we decided to head out for a little "spring" camping trip in the BWCA. Packed up, and headed out, snowshoeing and skiing in about 15 miles. Travel was excellent. The lake trout were fairly cooperative, and we had a snug camp (pup tent - no heater), and plenty of hooch to ward off the chills.

Day 3 brought a near-blizzard - and we stayed fairly close to camp. That night, the storm broke, the skies cleared, and it got COLD. Real cold. Could hardly sleep that night with all the trees snapping in the cold. Sounded like machine-gun fire. Awoke in the morning, peered out of my sleeping bag, and the whole inside of our little tent was brilliant white. Frost coated everything about an inch and a half. It was still except for the popping trees and the groaning as the lake made ice.

Putting on my spare boots, I trudged down to the fire area to get the coffee going, and man was it a bitter morning. Couldn't feel my face after a couple of minutes. Reached in the snowbank next to the fire and pulled out the hooch, just for a little nip, and saw it was frozen solid. I whimpered, piled some wood on the fire, and retreated back to my sleeping bag to regain feeling.
Half hour later, we checked the little zipper pull thermometer on my duffel bag, and it was bottomed out at -40. Couldn't go any lower.
After breakfast, we headed out on the ice and had some of the most spectacular trout fishing I've ever experienced. As soon as the cisco got below the ice a trout would hammer it. The trout froze almost instantly upon being pulled out, so the ones we wanted to release we unhooked in the hole. Broke camp and headed out that afternoon, and when we put our trout in the basement and they thawed out, the buggers started to flop around - 10 or so hours after we had caught them.

[Bruce Mosher]

I remember Ice Fishing for Walleyes on Upper Red Lake when my Dad took us kids out about 30 years ago. We didn't have rods and reels so we used stick poles. It was about -30 and when a Walleye would bite we would grab the stick pole and RUN. Sometimes the Walleye would catch good air and shoot stright up out of the hole! My brothers would be the back up guys at the hole. If the fish came off the hook in the hole they would plunge their gloves in after the Walleye - scoop it out and then instantly slap their hands together and all of the ice would fall off the gloves! It would take the Walleye about 2 minutes on top of the ice and they would be frozen stiff. It was very cold but we had a great time. We caught alot of Walleyes. Soon we will be after old marble eye on Upper Red! Can't wait. Bruce Mosher