I woke up this morning to this...... They said it was suppose to be a north wind at 20 mph which would have kept the ice from forming on the river but you can see from the pictures they were wrong!
Had 1 1/2"-2 inches of ice to break thru for 3/4 of a mile before reaching the main river.
Just thought I would post some pics of what we deal with in Minnesota to hunt ducks and geese.
All I can say is the Prodrive pushed thru like a champ and the boat just had some paint rubbed off the bottom otherwise all is great except the season is done on the river now.

two words!

F*CK THAT!

Was supposed to be a south wind 5-10. At 8 it was maybe 1mph and it was HOT.

You need one of those water blowers that keeps the water moving so it won't ice over, Or try just staying home, I VOTE THIS GUY THE WINNER OF THE YOU KNOW YOUR HARDCORE AWARD!

i was thinkin more like tard police but ok. jk, i sure as hell aint goin out in that!

Yall just a bunch of puzzies!!!!! Last yr had ice on EVERYTHING, includin the dog. Dead birds would break ice when they landed. It was friggin cold those few days. BTW, it really sux when ya throttle cable freezes up @ WFO!!!!

you must hunt some skinny water for it to freeze up that bad in setx!

It was only for a few days last yr, but it was friggin cold. Had some burlap coverin the boat up. When I tried to fold it, it broke.

Atleast you have a Pro-drive b/c a Gator-tail wouldn't make it!

Let me just ask... Does anyone else notice this cat has a trolling motor mounted right beside the pro-drive? Um...... Why??? I know dat ninja ain't fishin.

i know, i thought he was trying to say it was a every day thing. lol

Damn, and thats on a river with movin water!

I fell through 2 inches of ice into 3.5 feet of water last year and had to go back under to get my gun, I thought that one weekend of that was rough!

I remember the first time I discovered that my waders has sprung a leak in weather like this.

The morning of the freeze last year we launched at roussos and were planning to go across flat lake. Bad Idea first two waves washed over the front of the boat.
Turned around picked up the boat to go launch at adams. Went to get out of the boat at russos and busted my ass on the ice that had already formed on the floor of the boat. Picked the boat up drove to Adams. Got there and had icicles hanging from the PD and had to use the cigarette lighter to defrost the choke cable. Got to the lilies in the 30” and they were frozen solid and had to fight to get through them. When we finally got to bayou April the guy hunting with me had 6 inch icicles hanging from his jacket from where the water splashed on him while we were running. If it gets that cold again this year F#ck it I'm staying in bed

Had the same issue last Sat. in S. Mn. Open water heading out and by the time we were ready to leave there was 1/2-3/4" of ice on most of the lake. Shot a ringer that dove and ended up finding it under the ice. Damn floating ice moved all 50 goose floaters 75 yards from where we had initially set them.

This is part of a backwater I live on, not much current but it is open to the northwest and the wind was blowing hard when I came in the night before but it just died off in the middle of the night.
It was 6 degrees when I went out to find this.
We don't get many days to hunt so you take what it will give and when the birds are around you go!
I guess I am hardcore to go out in this but it is just Minnesota weather.
By the way the trolling motor is for the early morning when I want to sneak in and set up before the ducks and geese start to move.
No matter what Brand Motor you have I don't see a standard outboard getting thru this.

Too damn cold for me!!I done gotten too old for that kind of weather

Ya'll been huntin' Pansy Pond for too long. Welcome to North Quackilacky.



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxo1hxDrpsw[/youtube]

one weekend of extreme cold is fun, but that must suck puttin up with it for several months.

Nice film, Jimmy W.
Where can I get me one of them Pro Drives? heheheheh!
Next time you guys get stuck like that, give me a call and I'll pull you out with my 23.

When the going gets tough, old (wise) guys stay with their long-tail! Har Har Har.
Gonna put a sign on my transom, "I might be slow, but I'm ahead of you!"

Ice up is when the hunting gets fun.... Wendsday I had to bust 2" thick ice for 60 yards just to get to open water; and yesterday I helped drag my buddy's boat about 300 yards on top of the ice just to get to open water. We shot 6 mallards and a black duck

Wouldn't an Airboat be better suited for those conditions than a mud motor? I mean with an airboat you'd just be able to glide over the ice until you reach the open water and not have to deal with any ice breaking. Then again you'd probably freeze to death before you reach open water with all that air blowing towards you.

We are not allowed to run Airboats on the Mississippi in our area.
That was the first thing I looked at before I built my boat and got into the mudmotor scene.
There are still places I can get with the mudmotor that I could not with the air boat because of trees and other things.
Still would be fun to have if I could have both.
Good old law makers getting in the way again!!!!!!!!

Throttle cable froze on me while launching boat this weekend and I kinked it in frustration. Had to ramp up and fix. Took half hour. I was pissed . If you were there you probably heard me. Good thing about the day was we killed some good ducks.

Shit I was in Western Alabama deer hunting when it froze over down here

It was single digits up there

We were smacking ducks up here a couple of weeks ago as they flew in front of a massive cold front. Then, in a week and a half we have gotten 25 inches of snow with another 6-8 to fall today. It will make for the snowiest November on record for these parts. Last Wednesday a cold front hit that had temps between 10 degrees and minus 10 degrees for five solid days. It is warming up now. It will be a scorching 28 degrees today.

My buddy went out last Saturday to launch and go to a spot about 500 yards straight across a big old river we hunt. After breaking ice in the dark for a solid hour with no end in sight, he decided to scrap the hunt. It took him over an hour to get back.

The end of the lake in front of my house froze up solid in two days.

I like this kind of weather because IF you can find a boat ramp that is not snowed in and IF you can push out and get to the edge of the shore ice shelf on the big water and IF you know where the birds will be concentrated there is very little competition out there. It definitely separates the men from the boys.

^^^^

F*CK THAT

I agree there is not many that will take this on but the ducks and geese are still flying here so fight the ice we will till it is done in a couple days.
Then we can only go for the geese but I will take it.
I hear there is some good hunting in Idaho, how long does your season last?
I guess it is time to get the sleds out and put the boat away for a few months.