whats the coldest weather you have fished

[Scott K]

December 04 or 05 LOW, not enough ice to drive on yet, my wife and I took the atv and the portable out. It was -30 something with 30 mph winds. We stayed at Adrians, drove the wheeler out past Pine Island, we would have to stop every 30 seconds to thaw out our eyelashes because our eyes would freeze shut. We would switch drivers about every mile. We made it out to Pine Island and we were so cold, we wanted to go back, but there was noway we would make it all the way back. I asked the wife if she wanted me to set up the portable and we could warm up for awhile, she said lets just keep going, we were only fishing a couple miles off of Pine Island. We made it out there, and we fished all day, caught many fish, it was the best fishing I have ever had, and I was glad I my wife was with to enjoy the fishing.

To explain how cold it really was , I called up there on Wed night, we were leaving Thursday am, they said 2-4 inches out to Pine Island, and open water beyond that, but there is a cold front coming, that I should bring the 4 wheeler, and there should be enough ice, well when we got up there there was 5-6 inches in 4 mile bay, and beyond the island there was 4. When we left Sunday, trucks were driving out past the island, the resorts were pulling houses out were there was open water 4 days earlier. That was cold.

I had another cold trip on URL, but we were able to drive the truck out then, so atleast we rode in the cab.

[wanger29]

January 5th, 6th, & 7th of 2006 up on URL it was -30 each day with 20-30 MPH winds helping drop the windchill to roughly -50 each day. We had been filling our drink cups up with a shot of water & sticking them outside for maybe 3 minutes to make ice cubes for our mixed drinks. Brought 3 sleds but they never got much time. Brutal!!! However the fishing was pretty Awesome in all honesty! (We had actually started in Duluth Wednesday to about 14" of snow there. So all in all an all pretty interesting)

[dirtking]

My thermometer bottoms out at -22.5 - Every year I wake up in the fish house a couple of times and its pegged.

I have seen it much colder on LOTW when we head out from the truck when we leave - I guess I don't know exactly how cold it gets. I guess I need a artic condition temp gauge.

[Quetico]

Dont do know about the rest of you, but I seem to do really well on extreme weather days. I've had such good luck on days when its -10 or colder I will sometimes take the day off work to fish. Seriously some of my best days each winter are when its too cold for anyone else to be out there.

[robert1965]

interesting brutal cold equals hot bite why

[mozy]

I think maybe -10 and some wind chill, if it gets much below that I'm staying inside surfing the web or something. I learned my lesson snowmobiling in high school about how quickly frostbite can happen. I would go out in colder if I had a permanent.

[Pleasant]

As I recall the coldest weather I have been out in a permanent is -38 with wind. But as stated earlier you really need to have your ""ducks in a row"" when the weather is that dangerously cold.

And I agree seems like I always get fish when it is seriously cold.

[Fishin Dan]

Somewhere between -10 and -15 with a 20 mph wind. Never doin that again!

[ddsbyday]

I could not give you numbers. I can only say that the fish (walleyes) were biting and that I got tears in my eyes when the flag went up. I got one up, my hands were numb, I left it on the ice to warm up my fingers in the portable so they would move. When I went back out 3-4 minutes later the fish was stiff.

[iafish4fun]

A few years back on Big Spirit. Went out for some night walleye action. It was -13 with a 15mph wind when we walked off. All was well until the 20lb tank couldn't keep up with 2 little buddy heaters and we had to turn them off and switch to 1lb. It also made for a cold trip outside to unhook the tank that we were sharing. The heaters struggled after that to keep up.

[Jarrod32]

Annual trip up to Winnie...mid January, the MLK Holiday weekend...when we drove out on the lake one morning, the temp on my buddy's truck said -34.

[Flatlander]

Last year, Dec 7-10 on LOTW. Friday night got down in the -20's, while Sat hit -30. I learned that my Kawi 360 pull starts very nicely after sitting only 7 hours below -30. My thumbs were another story. Definitly will have thumb warmers this winter.

[BobT]

A buddy and I were out once with -25 and 30mph winds. No fish house, just my truck. We about froze our fingers every time we'd bring in a crappie. They started biting and it got to the point we wouldn't even get out of the truck when our bobbers would go down.

Walked out on a lake a few times with no shelter at all in -20 or colder many times.

Now I'm spoiled. I won't hardly go out unless I have my shelter along.

Bob

[Bobberboy]

My first ice fishing experience ice fishing in Minnesota was on URL the high for the day was -27 and the winds were gusting to 35 mph. What an adventure! I've been hooked ever since.

"Your bobbers down!"

[Random guy]

I have fished and plowed ice roads in -40 sevral times. Amazing how weak iron gets at -40. If ya want to see some cold ice fishng footage check out the shots from the portables. We only got seconds before the camera would freeze solid.

Hunt Fish TV super cold

and this clip is fun.

[titelines]

Was out on Burntside once. Found a good spot, set up the portable, sealed up all holes to the outside. Had the heater on full and couldn't keep the holes open for more than a couple minutes. Said the heck with it and went to load everything up. I just tossed the portable on top of the truck...didn't tie it down or anything as I completely froze up and my hands stopped working. I had to drive to shore to get out of the wind. Sat in the truck for several minutes to thaw out and heard on the radio that the air temp was -35, wind chill was -65.

To this day, I have not felt cold like that.

[Loogie]

-38 while at Woody's fairly reliable guide service on Rainy.

Left a Mountain Dew in the truck. Sounded like a shotgun going off, because it froze so fast it split the bottle right down the side. The entire inside of the truck had a sticky dew coating. My buddies bottle of Dr McGillicutty's schnapps froze solid. Never saw booze freeze before.

Good thing was that there was no wind. Still made fishing tough though.

[JigginIsLife]

-20 degrees outside, and i think the winchill ws around -45 or 50. Funny story it was my roomates first time out ever and all i had was a buddy heater, and it was the old type of house not the new type of material it was the tarp kind of material, so it was cold in there, too cold to crack the door, and the buddy heater kept quitting on us, so all in all it was a bad expirence, now i upgraded so everything is alot easier.

[nofishfisherman]

-35 air temp with a 20 mph wind, not sure what that would make the windchill factor. We were outside of Detroit Lakes with no portable, no heater, just me, my dad a hand auger and 3 hours of zero bites.

Since we had to hand drill through over 3 feet of ice we just picked a spot and stayed there the entire time. No running and guning at that point.

Not sure why we even went out that day since we had to drive almost an hour to get to the lake in the first place.

That was the winter when the govenor closed schools becuase of the cold 15 or so years back. That was also the year I found out what it was like to have your eye lid freeze shut. Now that is an interesting feeling.

[slipperybob]

Three hours, an eight inch hole shrank to a four inch hole...

[Matt Johnson]

I spent a day on Chequamegon Bay in about negative 5 for almost 7 hours. Never stepped foot in an ice house all day and filmed about 15 smallies pulled through the ice. Everything was dandy until I had to take a glove off to land a fish That was probably the most uncomfortable day on the ice.

Otherwise, I remember a trip up to Whitefish Bay where it never got above 9 below. Windchills reached -50, consistent at -25, and any exposed bareskin would almost instantly become numb. Had to wait until around 10am for the sun to get higher before we could fish because the holes froze up as fast as we could scoop them out.

Cold temps are ok, but the wind is what drives me crazy...

[beer batter]

I will pass on fishing if the forecasted low temp is below -30 degrees F. Much colder than that (around -40F) and propane liquifies and you run out of heat. You're pushing your luck at that point.

I'm usually out in my sleeper shack with my kids, so I'm not going to risk anything below -30F.

[glenn57]

about 10-15 years ago left st cloud to go north was 37 below, 50 below no wind in deer river. fished in a house was 37 below high for the day. now if it gets 20 below i stay home. to many things can go wrong. may fish near home though.