Printable View
I have a new boat in the garage and I am dying to get out to fish! What kind of problems can I have with the cold weather putting the boat in and out of the water? Bilge freeze? Livewell freeze? What lakes have open water in central IL? sangchris? Clinton? Thanks - I am going nuts not getting on the water!!!
I don't use my bilge or my livewell pump in the winter and have never had any problems. I suppose if there is water trapped in one of the hoses it could freeze and bust. Sangchris was open as of last Thursday, with a balmy water temperature of 58 degrees at the hot ditch ramp. We were on Shelbyville out of coal shaft on Friday but had to break some ice and I'm sure it is locked back up by now. Not personally sure of Clinton, but have'nt heard of any plant shut down so I assume it is also open. Real, real hard to beat SANGCHRIS!!!
well said ^^^^
Mavs, I know how ya feel!!!!! I would be more worried about Ramps, don't want boat & truck in Water!! Do like I do, get a cold beverage, sit in the bump seat, pitch into 5 gal. buckets with Jimmy Houston on the TV in the garage!!!! Wife has finally declaired me NUTS.
We use 5 gal. buckets in winter time instead of livewells. my buddy plugs his livewells off in the winter time to keep out water. make sure you trim motor down as far as you can to let all the water drain out after pulling boat out of water. we dont have any problems, but we are in southern illinois and is probably a shade warmer. probably depends on where you store it also. we store ours in garage, that helps.
Hey JT fished Sangchris on Sunday. When we got to the boat dock there were three guys with a 18' polar craft that would not come off the trailer it was frozen to the bunks they had there 115 rpm out trying to get it off. They finally moved over so that we could launch. Got the boat off the trailer without any problems and it fired right up. But no water coming from the pump. The intakes were frozen and was not getting water pressure. I let it idle for about 2 mins and finally got pressure and water but when I put it in gear it had me locked out. After 30 mins of running the trolling motor I fired it back up and it ran right. The other guys had gotten there boat off the trailer and were using there trolling motor. About 2 hours later I seen them on there way back to the ramp there trolling motor had stopped. We battled frozen line and tips. and the little water that I did have in the boat froze up. The water temps were 39.5 at the discharge and later in the day we ran up to the main lake and had a higher temp of 41.3 I am a little baffled about that. With temp in the teens on Sunday the fishing was not that bad the winds were calm and the bite was a little slow but still a good day of fishin.
39 and 41 for sangchris? that almost doesnt seem right. Wonder why it dropped almost 20 degrees from thursday when cropee7 was there?
Birdman: Im not sure either I fished on Wednesday however I just completed the install on my Humminbird 788 on Sat and I dont have a report on the water temp from the 5th. I can tell you that I asked another boat for his temp and it was within 1/10 of the temp I was getting. Any other temp reading from sangchris would be helpful as I want to make sure there is nothing wrong with the new graph.
They might not run the plant every day. It's a coal burner so I think they can shut it off for a couple.
was at sang chris sunday, water had cooled to 43 from 53 in 4 days could not catch crappie shallow as before.the shallowest i caught one was 6 ft. does anyone know how to find out if power plant is running,before you go there?
Came by Sangchris on Sunday and the plant was not running. Water will cool off real quick as in any power plant lake when they are not running the plant. And believe me, the fish know this.Quote:
Originally Posted by birdman
dkb
Yeah I knew they shut off like crazy when the plant isnt running! Its crazy how fast the water temperature drops when the plant doesnt run...as stated earlier, is there a way to tell whether or not the plant is running before you head down there so an hour drive isnt wasted??
Most of the time around here it is done by word of mouth. Usually someone knows someone that works at the plant and word gets out. Most of the time in the winter they are up and running. I was really surprised to see Sangchris not pumping on Sunday. There are probably plenty of people on here that could let you know if it is pumping or not.Quote:
Originally Posted by birdman
dkb
Get this....the other day I was fishing Coffeen and I was in the hot water arm. Water temp was 62 degrees up there! They were pumping away! Did not catch a fish in the warm water though. I had to move to the cold water that was in the 40's and low 50's to catch crappie. Once I found them though, it was fun! The power plant lakes can be funny like that. Very "Hot or Cold" , no pun intended, and it has alot to do with that plant and its cycles.....in my opinion.
dkb