never ice fished a river before, when does it normally get "safe Ice" as far as that term can be used for ice on moving water?

DO NOT PUT YOUR BOAT AWAY!!!! you could fish from your boat almost all year.

Jigginjim made a great point. I had some great December days of fishing the river. We also did really well on those warmer February Days. But that was P4.

Havn't ever winterized the boat St croix till ice, pool4 till croixs ice is gone

You have to really work for your fish through the ice on the St Croix. Some people spend a lot of time out there (when the ice is finally safe to go out on) and don't catch very many fish. I'm sure some people have it figured out though. With that being said there aren't a whole lot of area lakes to put a shack on. Most of my ice fishing ends up being day-trips to the Amery area.

their were tons of boats in prescott confluence today, and did not see to many nets going up.. then move up north of the confluence where i caught 2 walleyes and one sauger for 3 hours of fishing.. it was slow, but sure was nice day. Will try to headout again maybe wed....

Thanks for the update. I might be there on monday.

Was out friday morning for about 3 hours along with about 15-20 other boats, not a bite and did not see many nets dip the water

I was out all day and it was very slow for me as well. 2 small saugers were all I came up with. It was an awesome day though and probably my last for the year, unfortunately. Time to catch up on the honey do list I've been procrastinating on for months. Can't wait for Spring!

I'll have to 3'rd the 13/14" saugers. I'll take a limit of those home any day. The bigger the sauger the nastier. Since sauger are typically smaller than walleye you have to think that a 14" sauger is like a 16/17" walleye which is some prime eating as well. i made the mistake of taking home one that was a little over 19" a couple years ago. That was the nastiest fish I had on a plate!!

Got out for a couple hours yesterday, after some Pheasant hunting in the morning/early afternoon. Current on the Mississippi at Prescott was moving fast, made it very tough to jig which is all I was set up to do. Hit a couple spots on the Croix and ended up with 3 walleyes between 15 1/2" and 17". Hopefully if the weather holds will be able to get out once or twice more before putting the boat away.

My wife and I were out with a friend yesterday, launched out of the Bluffs, slow for us also. I got two saugers, 17" and 15", with a half dozen other fish between the 3 of us, so it was the classic river mixed bag day. Looked slow all over, lots of boats moving around all day and not too many nets out. The current was cooking down in Prescott at the confluence, that's for sure. Nice day to be on the river, hope to be out next weekend as well.

Went this morning and got snuffed. Other boats had better luck. Should I be moving away from 3-ways and start trolling shap raps?
It was a really nice day to be on the river.

3-ways work year round on the St. Croix. Maybe speed up a little with the nice weather we have been having recently.