Open water reaches just past the blue silo between Birchdale and Frontier.

Do you think the person who owns this silo knows how many people need it for river directions?


The other picture is Birchdale ramp. No word on the county plowing it yet though. Once it is I'll post it asap.

I talked to a group at the landing at noon, when they came in for lunch, and they had boated about 30 walleye already today.

Water level is actually going down at Manitou right now, but the river continues to open more each day.

We got some great shots from the Roark group again today. Even a sneak peek at what sturgeon prespawn will bring. Check out the 62" inch sturgeon! The scale maxed out at 50 lbs so it's a 50+,+! The guys are hoping to be able to show bigger walleye tomorrow, biggest today was about 22".

More open water at Birchdale today. In fact it stretches 3 miles west of Birchdale now. We're looking at about 5 or 6 miles to Frontier now.

Landing still wasn't plowed as of about noon today.

The bad weather missed us, thank goodness, but the wind was very strong last night and into today. In fact it would feel much warmer it weren't for the wind.

Anglers are reporting good fishing now! We should see some real good photos starting this week!

Finally! Fish pictures! The Roark group did well up by Manitou today. No big sizes yet but the numbers are picking up. Looks like the season is underway :)

Birchdale has opened more today and I'll post a new picture tomorrow. Ramp isn't plowed yet though. Next landing to watch is Frontier.

Reports coming in from the river tonight that fishing is picking up! More numbersNo real big ones yet, but one group did get a 26" and 25", I'd love catching that size walleye any day!

No bad weather here yet, tonight may be a different story. Weather was warm today but wind was cold and strong.

Birchdale is continuing to open today and the 40+ temps should help make quick work of the ice.

We do have a snow system moving through tomorrow and I'll let you know how we fair. But temps will remain mild and even milder next week :)

The first pic here is of the Birchdale ramp facing west. The next is facing east.

Water levels remain steady, but still waiting to hear the fishing getting better, still quiet. It won't be long before it does though. I want to be posting picture of fish, not ice :)

Have a great day!

1st boats in at Birchdale today! The 1st picture is looking east. The second is looking more north standing on the landing. Small boats over shore ice for now but it will open even more by tomorrow with temps near 40 today.

The river opened through Franz Jevne today. Shore ice reaches to about the middle of the river where the water is flowing open on the other side. Landing is not plowed but anglers were pushing boats over the shore ice. Anglers fishing there reported the bite still being quiet though.

Standing at the Birchdale landing you can see the open water coming around the Franz Jevne bend, hopefully the bend doesn't slow it down much. Ice looked much weaker today at Birchdale as well. Anglers here are predicting tomorrow, but more likely Saturday for Birchdale to open. Course we'll have to wait and see and we'll be watching! :)

Reports today was a better bite by I-Falls than Manitou Rapids. Weather was sunny and around 30 degrees. Dropping to teens tonight and warmer yet tomorrow!

The river hasn't broke around the corner into Franz Jevene as of today yet. We're still waiting patiently.

Anglers up by Pelland report a still slow bite. Anglers that went up to the Lake to ice fish however have reported doing very well.

We're having phone trouble today but someone will be here between the hours of "soon and eventually" :) to fix it. In the meantime email is still dialing through.

We got snow last night :( over an inch. It's pretty sticky today so it shouldn't last long. Sun has been peeking today to warm things again.

With open water in a 4 mile stretch I can't see it's hard to know where to pin point it. I do know it's not at Franz Jevne landing yet today and that's where it will be when I can see it again. It had been opening about 2 miles a day, then 1 mile a day over the weekend. Lower 30's today, upper 30's tomorrow. Mild all week though with a system coming in this weekend.

We got a report from a helpful angler that Pelland is open and they did fish it yesterday, but it was quiet. Thanks for the report Jeff :)

There is also open water at Manitou Rapids but the ramp is more of a trail to carry small boats.

Franz Jevne, Birchdale and Frontier all remain not plowed as of today.

Water levels are still steady. Have a great day :)

P.S. Thanks again this year for the donations that help us with the exspense of checking the river everyday, it is very helpful and we are most appreciative.

Open water is between markers 162 and 158 (Franz Jevne) where I won't be able to see until it reaches Franz Jevne Landing now. Wind picked up today, it's a little cooler than we'd like but we'll keep you posted.

Birchdale itself is now starting to show weaker ice and weaker yet near Frontier. Hopefully this will help it break quicker :)

Open water reaches east beyond Manitou Rapids now and we only have 7 miles left to go to Birchdale Landing and less yet to Franz Jevne. The water level has dropped a bit the last couple days. We'll be watching close this week with the warmer temps expected.

We escaped the snow this weekend :) and since there's still ice in front of the bay Art and some neighbors went out and caught some walleyes Saturday night. Didn't do half bad either!

Have a Happy Easter!

2 more miles opened today so it's working it's way into the Manitou Rapids now. (8 more miles to Birchdale) Water levels are still steady and temps are still mild.

Have a great Easter!

This is the hole at Franz Jevne today.

2 more miles opened today so it's open at mile marker 166 now, in Indus. 10 more miles to Birchdale landing. We didn't get any snow today :) and temps remain mild.

Water levels also remain steady.

Despite dropping down to 5 degrees last night the river opened two more miles. Temps have rebounded nicely today and the sun is out again.

Snow is in the forecast but looks like we'll be too far north :) A sneak peek into next weeks temps are looking like almost 50 degrees. In the meantime 30's and warm sun will do.

The first picture is near Indus. The next is to show the ice conditions thru Indus, but hard to see with the trees. 12 more miles to get to Birchdale, about 10 more to Franz Jevne.

Have a great day :)

Little change showing today, but after a gorgeous day today with the warm March sun on the ice tomorrow will hopefully show us improvement. As the river opens into Indus, the ice in Indus is looking dark and weak. Birchdale is still holding on, but Frontier is showing weak spots now.

Water levels are still steady and temps are still mild.

The river opened the 4 miles I needed to see open water from the road again, mile marker 170. So in 3 days it opened 4 miles. We need 14 more miles to open to Birchdale landing. The river will have help at Manitou and Franz Jevne where there are current open holes and the ice continues to weaken daily.

Weather continues to be mild and barring any cold weather systems that may hinder the melt it will continue to open and I'll let you know where daily. We had no sun today but did have drizzle in the air. High near 40 and low tonight will remain in the 20's.

Sorry about the video, still working on it :)

I put a video up of Franz Jevne landing today. Once it's finished processing it should be able to play. Hold your fingers! Otherwise I'm back to the drawing board. If it plays, it starts east and goes west.

Open water today is still working it's way to Indus. Every trip shows weaker and weaker spots, we just need them to break. No sun today but the warm spring sun should be out tomorrow. We were at 36 degrees today and last night it only got down to 23 degrees. At least we missed the snow! Water levels are steady.

The neatest thing I saw along the river today was this eagle, also waiting to fish in open water!

I'm still working on the best way to get video on here, but dial-up sure makes it a challenge! In the meantime a quick river check today showed a little progress. I'm still waiting for open water to show itself at the next spot I can see it. I'll be checking again tomorrow :)

Water levels are still steady and mild temps keep things melting but not too fast. 30's in the forecast this week and lows in upper teens to low 20's.

Seeing progress today even with slightly cooler weather this weekend.

This photo was taken on the west side of Loman (mile 174) today facing west. Yesterday standing at this location it was ice covered from east to west and today water! The next spot I can see from the road is around mile marker 169, near Indus. Birchdale is at marker 156 and about 158 for Franz Jevne.

I took video of the river hoping to try to post it to show more but haven't got it to work. I'll continue trying, but photos until then. :)

A weather system is expected to come through early this week, but we may be north of it. I'll keep you posted. However temps will remain mild.

Fishing in the meantime has been quiet. A few here and there but nothing major yet.

Through the trees you can see the open spot at Franz Jevne in the photo here. This photo faces west, to the east of this photo it's begining to open in the middle. There's no sign of water at Birchdale yet but the sun continues to weaken the ice this afternoon.

Slush. The warm weather sun and drizzle has made the river pretty slushy now. Open spots at Franz Jevne and Manitou continue to grow with a new 1/4 mile long slit opening at Indus as well. ( just on the other side of Manitou)

Open water still remains to the east but it's getting pretty obvious the ice won't be safe much longer. The snow is dwindling fast showing it's weak spots now. Water levels continue to hold steady. Very mild night last night as far as temps go and it's expected to continue :)

Last weekend for the permanent ice houses. We have groups coming in this weekend so we'll also keep you posted on how their biting.

No pics today, wasn't too much of a change yet. The open water at the Big Fork needs to move at least 10 miles before I can see from the road again. It doesn't take long but I think mother nature needs of few more days like the gorgeous one today to show significant change. Highs have been up near the 40's and lows only in the 20's. The sun is a very welcome sight :)

Water levels show to be holding steady at this time, other than a slight decline at the Little Fork.

After a quick review we're already ahead of last year. Last year the river had to begin it's process of opening much closer to International Falls and open spots at Franz Jevne and Manitou are also much larger this year than this day last year as well.

Have a great day!

Much warmer today and tonight's low's will only drop to about 20 degrees. The weekend warmed slowly so no big changes over the weekend. Tomorrow more of the same is expected. The warmer it stays the more often I'll be checking the river. Tomorrow I'll try to post some photos to help you see what I see. Today it sure was nice to see the huge piles of snow around here shrink!

Just as I thought, this week's bitter cold change the river very little. Open water remains up by the Big Fork River. Today there was a noticeable change in temperature when you walked out the door however and this warming trend is expected to continue, finally. Stay tuned!

On the up side of news fishing has picked up again! Anglers report evening bite producing better than last week, but of course we would begin to see more numbers of catches this week, the limit changed to 2!

Have a great day :) !!!

Still quiet around here. We've had snow to move this week but the sun is out today. 2 more days of cold and then we should be on a warming trend.

I want to post a few dates of interest from the last couple years to help ball park trips.

Birchdale landing opened for small boats......

Mar 22nd-2004

Mar 24th-2005

Mar 17th-2006

and of course late last year at April 1st, but froze over again for us to wait even a few more days! :(

You can also view archived high and low temperatures from past years on the Accu weather link under our information option.

Have a great day!

Pics are working again! Thank goodness!

I took a trip up river today to get a sneak peek. River didn't show open spots until Franz Jevne then again at Manitou Rapids, where I took this photo. Similar size open spots were at Franz Jevne as well. After Manitou it didn't show any open spots again until the little town of Loman. The river is open on the east side of the Big Fork River to International Falls.

Temps this week will fluctuate between single digits and teens so I'm gonna wait till later this week to take another trip. If we warm up the way the weatherman says this weekend, and into next week, you may want to keep an eye on the posts starting this weekend, it could get interesting! Cross your fingers for warm temps!

Remember: water levels are higher than last year at this time, current is faster and plenty of snow this season insulated the ice better.

If you have any questions where these locations are on the river go to "Maps" and check out the river map, this should help.

In the meantime we'll be getting in last minute ice fishing!

March 1st! Can you believe it? The weekend is beautiful and will continue through the weekend. The sun is shining and hopefully working it's magic on the river.

A couple walleye were caught during the morning bite, no mad rush though. Anglers will continue to fish northern during the day and see how the evening bite pans out. All in all still quiet.

I do have some pics I've been trying to post the last couple days but blogger has been having some upload issues. Hopefully they'll get it worked out asap.

Temps this week are expected to be in the upper teens and lower 20's but no real cold weather is expected. :)