North Dakota: Tell me about it= Update

[beechbum444]

Evening Everybody:

First and foremost, I'd like to thank everybody for their input on the first post. A lot of info that came in handy. It has snowed several feet since I have been here and yes it is cold like ive never experienced. I backed out of a snow covered road today and hung the back tire off and got stuck for a minute. Before I could even call roadside assistance, two guys in a 4 x 4 asked if I needed a tow. They hooked up and pulled me out of the ditch. They just laughed and went on to pull some other folks out of ditches. The plan is to get some ice fishing in for Walleye in Minnesota when the lakes freeze over and experience the ice towns.....Regards

[BLAHUT]

YOU are going to freeze your man parts off.... It ant's even started to get cold yet, jest you wate... You will learn, by GOD you will learn, ND has some good walleye fishing also, watch the ice thickness, You do not want to go swimming this time of year, I was a cold-water search and recovery diver even back then with the best wet suit, it was very cold.... If you drop your truck in, you will not believe just how much it will cost you, to get it recovered ( pulled out ) ???

[G W Wade]

Look for perch, Lots of us prefer them to walleye GW

[ascast]

I can only add - don't take a wrong turn and wind up in central Wyoming - you start school all over again..

[36g]

Welcome to FALL in the Upper Midwest. Winter is still a few weeks away..

[GhostHawk]

36g nailed it, still november so still fall.

Remember that prior planning prevents poor performance.

Preppers say that 2 is 1 and 1 is none but really smart conservatives that live up north count on having 3 or 4 alternatives to anything essential.


The longer a truly cold snap goes on the harder it is on cars and equipment. And yes wind chill counts.
Arranging even a half a day inside at room temp can make a big difference.

If you don't have a 12 volt battery charger and jumper cables, get them.
As for that pull out of a bad spot, pay it forward at least 3x.

Enjoy as much as you can.

Fuel injected cars are better than the old carb types. But I have seen when I needed a hair blow dryer stuck into the air intake of my truck for half an hour before it would start on the 3rd day of -35 below. Gasoline just was not vaporizing.

[Loudenboomer]

Winter is coming. Plan for it have the right attitude and enjoy it.

[megasupermagnum]

I think you got a proper introduction. In all fairness that storm was pretty bad. If it wasn't a lot of snow, it was rain... while it was still 25 degrees or less. It's been a while since I've seen every single road a sheet of ice like that. I don't think I've ever needed a hammer to fill the truck with gas before. If I remember right you are only here another month and a half. You will see more snow, but it's possible you will not see another bad storm in that time. You never know though. It will definitely get colder, I just finally dug my winter coat out last week. Chances are you are not going to see anything too brutal in December. The wind looks mild, and the temperatures freezing the next few days. I'm betting a lot of lakes will be locking up with ice soon. There's a good chance we can be ice fishing thanksgiving. Don't be too surprised to see people out fishing Wednesday, even if the lakes are open today. Just don't be that guy.

[William Yanda]

GhostHawk quoted; prior planning prevents poor performance.
I learned that as the rule of 7 "P's", he left out proper and positively. Some even add an eighth referring to urine.

[GhostHawk]

Exactly so William, was being cautious.

[MaryB]

36g nailed it, still november so still fall.

Remember that prior planning prevents poor performance.

Preppers say that 2 is 1 and 1 is none but really smart conservatives that live up north count on having 3 or 4 alternatives to anything essential.


The longer a truly cold snap goes on the harder it is on cars and equipment. And yes wind chill counts.
Arranging even a half a day inside at room temp can make a big difference.

If you don't have a 12 volt battery charger and jumper cables, get them.
As for that pull out of a bad spot, pay it forward at least 3x.

Enjoy as much as you can.

Fuel injected cars are better than the old carb types. But I have seen when I needed a hair blow dryer stuck into the air intake of my truck for half an hour before it would start on the 3rd day of -35 below. Gasoline just was not vaporizing.

Keep in mind that below -20 steel starts getting brittle... leaf springs can break etc if hit with a hard shock(been there done that, 1 year old leaf spring shattered at -31f) Drive easy, avoid hard bumps or go slow over them... I hit a drift that wasn't soft and launched a 1979 GMC Jimmy into the air. Tow truck driver said I was the third breakdown with a shattered spring. Ratchet strapped the axle in place then loaded it on a roll back.

[anothernewb]

Fish caught through the ice are the best tasting IMO. just something about cold water. I've fried batches from the freezer together with fresh caught just hours previous in June - and you can tell the difference.

[GhostHawk]

anothernewb is entirely correct. Fish caught in 34 or 35 degree water taste totally different from fish caught mid summer in 60 degree or warmer water.

Crappies caught through the ice are the best eating fish on the planet from my experience.

I grew up spearing northern pike with my dad. Fish would get knocked in the head and buried in a snow bank.
It could be -20 out there on the ice with another 10- 16 degrees below wind chill.

Take that northern pike and slip it into a sink full of cold water and they would come right back to life.

Inside of a snowbank is always very near 32 degrees.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Evening Everybody:

First and foremost, I'd like to thank everybody for their input on the first post. A lot of info that came in handy. It has snowed several feet since I have been here and yes it is cold like ive never experienced. I backed out of a snow covered road today and hung the back tire off and got stuck for a minute. Before I could even call roadside assistance, two guys in a 4 x 4 asked if I needed a tow. They hooked up and pulled me out of the ditch. They just laughed and went on to pull some other folks out of ditches. The plan is to get some ice fishing in for Walleye in Minnesota when the lakes freeze over and experience the ice towns.....Regards

Glad to hear you have a good attitude with this storm. When winter starts early, it can get depressing, that's for sure. As megasupermagnum says, this storm was a bad one, and having a bad one this early in the season, usually means a long hard winter ...Good Luck

I think you got a proper introduction. In all fairness that storm was pretty bad. If it wasn't a lot of snow, it was rain... while it was still 25 degrees or less. It's been a while since I've seen every single road a sheet of ice like that. I don't think I've ever needed a hammer to fill the truck with gas before. If I remember right you are only here another month and a half. You will see more snow, but it's possible you will not see another bad storm in that time. You never know though. It will definitely get colder, I just finally dug my winter coat out last week. Chances are you are not going to see anything too brutal in December. The wind looks mild, and the temperatures freezing the next few days. I'm betting a lot of lakes will be locking up with ice soon. There's a good chance we can be ice fishing thanksgiving. Don't be too surprised to see people out fishing Wednesday, even if the lakes are open today. Just don't be that guy.

[William Yanda]

"Take that northern pike and slip it into a sink full of cold water and they would come right back to life." GH

Do I need a ladder to understand that account?

[GhostHawk]

A Northern Pike speared at 10AM.

B Temp outside 20 degrees below zero with a wind, total wind chill is probably in the minus 30 to minus 35 degrees.

C Fish was knocked in the head so it would not unbury itself.

D Arrive at home around 6pm. Fish was in snowbank from 10am to 5pm. If just left out on the ice fish would have been frozen clear through.(and a real pain to fillet)

E Preserved in snowback in AIR for 8 hours when reintroduced to liquid fish came back to life.

F I don't understand what a ladder has to do with any of this.

G If you don't get it, don't bother. The real point, fish from cold water and kept cold taste better than the same fish from warmer water (and hung on stringer or kept in livewell which is circulated with water from the surface, ie warmest water in the lake)

[ascast]

I just of this, don't think it was mentioned. DO NOT try to win any beers by licking a flag pole for 5 seconds. You will discover a new dimension of hell. Do handle metal stuff that's been out in that cold with gloves or a rag, hat something. They will freeze to your hand. Hunting knives also if metal handles. Not a big deal on your hands if a small object. Be good have fun.

[megasupermagnum]

Yeah Pike are some gnarly animals. They can survive in extremely low oxygen, lower than most other fish. They are all around tough until they get really big. It's common to catch little ones with injuries such as largely missing a jaw, blind eyes, etc. Such toughness led to the myth that you can gut hook them, cut the leader, and it will dissolve. That myth isn't true, but it is true they will survive out of water a really long time if kept cool. I too have had them in a snow bank for a day, only to try and swim away as I rinse them in the sink. Their brains are very small, and their skull overbuilt. The only way I've found to outright kill one is with a ball peen hammer. Find the flat spot on top of the head, just a little back of the eyes. Give a good rap in that spot.

[GhostHawk]

Actually Mega I speared one once that had a 8lb head but a shrunken 4 lb body.

When cleaning it I discovered top and bottom jaw were "Pinned" together by a long shank gold aberdeen type hook.
And were the hook was in contact with flesh the gold was gone and the steel was rusted.

When I touched the hook it fell intp pieces. So IMO that myth is no myth. But that fish had obviously been hungry for some time.

I won't use stainless steel hooks period for that reason, the fish would die before the hook breaks.

Your choice, believe what you like. But I know what I have seen. And what I believe as a result of it.

[megasupermagnum]

Sure sounds like you speared a pike moments from death to me. Besides, I was talking about a gut hook. You know, the old let them eat the bait until they swallow it, then set the hook. Lots of people still do that unfortunately, then still release the fish. If you puncture a pikes guts, it will die. It has been tested, they are tough, but not tough enough to survive a hook through the stomach.