Ice fishing on rivers...thought it was common sense to not do it?

[Sundancefisher]

http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t3#/video/us/2012/02/11/dnt-fishermen-rescued.wluk

[Lefty-Canuck]

Funny you should bring this up.....

I received a PM from 2 of the younger members of the site literally minutes ago asking if I knew any open spots on the NSR.....

BOYS LISTEN.....it is not even a hint of a good idea to try and fish the NSR right now.....get an auger and hit a lake if you have the itch stay away from the rivers....I for one don't want to read about you guys in the paper.

LC

[Kevin_Thunder]

There's probably a couple of spots on the NSR you can get access to, but I never thought it was worth the risk... A hobby is no reason to risk losing your life. Plenty of other nearby lakes to hit up until the river is safe again.

IBTBGSH.

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

Funny you should bring this up.....

I received a PM from 2 of the younger members of the site literally minutes ago asking if I knew any open spots on the NSR.....

BOYS LISTEN.....it is not even a hint of a good idea to try and fish the NSR right now.....get an auger and hit a lake if you have the itch stay away from the rivers....I for one don't want to read about you guys in the paper.

LC

X 2 .

I replied to there Email as well , informing them as of Friday Edmonton Fire Pulled some guy outta the river as he WAS FISHING , fell into the river or broke threw ice , and luckily fire Department was able to get to him before he was dead . I also stated BE MINDFUL TO YOURSELVES , THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU AND THE PEOPLE THAT GOTTA SCOOP YOU OUT . I suggested talking to other members on the forum who fish the Bow river as most times its ice free or large sections are and people fish it when it even during the winter . Anyone reading this Don't be stupid , wait 6 weeks and it will be safe to fish . Especially with the mild temperatures . Ive been down once a week for past month there are ice heaves that are as tall as a house , just safe to stay away .

[Cal]

In manitoba and other eastern places its fairly comon to ice fish on large rivers. I've tryed it with extreme caution but never had enough luck to make it worth the effort. In open water river fish inhabit very specific structures and one may catch a limit out of one small area of a large eddy while the rest fails to produce. In the winter you need to be very familiar with the river to even find the eddy let alone the specific spot that the fish want to be, and even more so than open water fishing if you have your bait even 15 feet away from where the fish want to be you can have trouble getting even a bite.

IMO not worth the effort (would never ever take a vehical or even a quad on river ice so your going to do lots of walking) not worth the extreme caution (I drill holes every few steps because the ice thickness can vary greatly, especily in an eddy which is what your looking for) and deffinatly not worth the extreme risk that would occur should you fail to excercise these precautions.

[fish farmer]

I've ice fished the north sask downstream of Edmonton lots. It's absolutely safe if you know where you're fishing and be sure to check the ice. We've caught some big eyes on he north sask at the Payton ferry crossing in sask in the winter. They even open spots at ferry crossings to allow vehicles o drive across in winter.

[flyfisherman]

In New Brunswick we fished on the river every winter and never had any problems, I would never do it on any of the rivers around here though!!
This picture is the Kennebecasis River just outside of Saint John.

[Sundancefisher]

I would say any river is an unsafe river. Currents eat away under the ice...currents sweep you under the ice when you fall in.

I was silly enough to flyfish a river one year after a long cold spell. It was all open water where I fished...but I kept getting knocked almost over by chunks of clear ice you could not even see.

Stay off all rivers when frozen. Frozen shoreline shelves collapse regularly.

[biggyJ]

I thought I remember reading in the regs that it is against the law to ice fish on moving waters. IE: rivers.

[pickrel pat]

I thought I remember reading in the regs that it is against the law to ice fish on moving waters. IE: rivers.

i as well

[NSRfishing]

i have have fished nsr all year from shore never go onto the ice this year very easy with very little snow

[thumper]

Does your finger ever get sore from too much wagg'n?

People fall through thin ice on lakes all the time - do we want to outlaw that too?
There's a thread on here about vehicles that have gone through the lake ice - should driving on ice *never* be allowed either?

If we keep making laws based on the lowest common denominator, we'd all be at home twiddling our thumbs.
What's wrong with people making their own decisions?

[Who Da Fisherman]

I've ice fished the north sask downstream of Edmonton lots. It's absolutely safe if you know where you're fishing and be sure to check the ice. We've caught some big eyes on he north sask at the Payton ferry crossing in sask in the winter. They even open spots at ferry crossings to allow vehicles o drive across in winter.

Yes this is a great spot, nice to hear another home town lad on here.
the largest we have caught in and around there was 10lbs, you?

[npauls]

I thought I remember reading in the regs that it is against the law to ice fish on moving waters. IE: rivers.

only in the eastern slope sections.

[horsetrader]

I've ice fished rivers as long as I can remember....

[Lefty-Canuck]

Does your finger ever get sore from too much wagg'n?

People fall through thin ice on lakes all the time - do we want to outlaw that too?
There's a thread on here about vehicles that have gone through the lake ice - should driving on ice *never* be allowed either?

If we keep making laws based on the lowest common denominator, we'd all be at home twiddling our thumbs.
What's wrong with people making their own decisions?

No.... but when a 15 year old kid PM's me asking if I know of any open water to fish the NSR as a responsible adult I am going to sway him not to do it....if you are a grown man you can handle your choices....I would never put a young kid in danger by suggesting something I wouldn't be doing....

....I guess I was the wrong guy for the boys to PM on this, some people would have gladly told them to have at it.

It is all in the context of the situation....

This is coming from a guy who worked in Cambridge Bay and hopped ice flows with the Inuit while fishing for char in the ocean.....I look back at that and realize how dumb it was....I was 20 at the time.

LC

[fish farmer]

Yes this is a great spot, nice to hear another home town lad on here.
the largest we have caught in and around there was 10lbs, you?

Personally the biggest I got was 7 pounds, but In our group, biggest is 12.

[Sundancefisher]

I thought I remember reading in the regs that it is against the law to ice fish on moving waters. IE: rivers.

You have to look to the regulations to see what waters are closed. Places we fished in the past are sometimes closed.

North Raven For instance is one that is open all year.

North Raven (Stauffer Creek) River – Open all year.
Apr. 1 to June 15 – Trout and Mountain Whitefish limit 0; Pike limit 3 (no size limit); Bait Ban.
June 16 to Aug. 31 – Trout limit 2; Brown Trout over 40 cm and Brook Trout over 30 cm; Mountain Whitefish limit 5 over 30 cm; Pike limit 3 (no size limit); Bait Ban.
Sept. 1 to Mar. 31 – Trout and Mountain Whitefish limit 0; Pike limit 3 (no size limit); Bait Ban.

[Sundancefisher]

Does your finger ever get sore from too much wagg'n?

People fall through thin ice on lakes all the time - do we want to outlaw that too?
There's a thread on here about vehicles that have gone through the lake ice - should driving on ice *never* be allowed either?

If we keep making laws based on the lowest common denominator, we'd all be at home twiddling our thumbs.
What's wrong with people making their own decisions?

Not sure who you are wagging back at. I wasn't saying make it illegal. I just said it was a poor choice of ideas with too many risks to one's life. If you wanted to cross the Bow River in the Winter...no one will stop you...but umm...I think it might break a bylaw...and they ain't finding you till around July when a streamer fisherman hooks you in a back eddy.

[Kokanee9]

Not sure who you are wagging back at. I wasn't saying make it illegal. I just said it was a poor choice of ideas with too many risks to one's life. If you wanted to cross the Bow River in the Winter...no one will stop you...but umm...I think it might break a bylaw...and they ain't finding you till around July when a streamer fisherman hooks you in a back eddy.

I have friends who found 2 people in the N Sask river while doing a canoe trip in May several years ago.

[Geezle]

Funny you should bring this up.....

I received a PM from 2 of the younger members of the site literally minutes ago asking if I knew any open spots on the NSR.....

BOYS LISTEN.....it is not even a hint of a good idea to try and fish the NSR right now.....get an auger and hit a lake if you have the itch stay away from the rivers....I for one don't want to read about you guys in the paper.

LC

Interesting...I also got the same PM.

I thought we went through this whole "fishing the NSR in winter" thing a month or two ago didn't we?

Seems like the answers are pretty similar now to what they were then.

As it is, the spot I was asked about is all iced over anyway, but it's close enough to open water that I'm betting the ice is sketchy. Heck, from what I've seen with the mild winter, it's sketchy all the way up to Fort Sask.


I wonder if there is a liability issue if I was to tell them where to go, and then one of them went under? :thinking-006:


It also looks like somebody opened up a second/new account?