Ice Conditions- 2010-2011

[slystuff]

was out last night with the boy1 weed 1 bite no dinner in the pan again,good solid8 inches.

[guythathunts]

Trucks on the ice in benton county. 10 inches of solid ice with 2 inches of white ice on the top. Ice cracks like a biodegraetible sun chips bag when the trucks go by.

*NOTE* Please post what area you are in and if people are driving on the lakes. Any and all information is awesome. This is a great thread to help keep eachoter informed and safe on the ice.

[Pete]

I talked to a guy last week that said there was a foot of ice on Lake Hanska in SW MN. There's quite a bit of snow on it now. For anybody interested, he said that he was catching a lot of walleyes. He was catching smaller fish on live bait, but he was catching 24-28" fish on jigging spoons. He was fishing in about 5' of water on the dredge line.

[guythathunts]

12" of ice on a smaller Anandale lake. 2.5 white and 9.5 solid ice.

[icebanger]

Full size trucks and big houses going on on Knife Lake North of Mora as of last weekend.Not sure how thick the ice is but the lake I was on Sunday had anywhere from 12 to 15 inches Trucks were also driving out

[HappyGilz]

I was just out north of Freeport tonight...10.5" total, 3" was white, 7.5" clear. 

[guythathunts]

Out in Benton County yesterday. 12 inches of ice with lots of slush. Pulled my wheel house off and got stuck with my 4 wheel drive truck for 45 min untill some guys helped push me out of the rut I was in. The tracks that other trucks have made are froze with slush all arround them. Makes for a bad driving combo.

[22lex]

Was out last night on some ice in SEMN that was less than desireable. First hole popped was was 8/10 inches of good ice. A few holes later and 75 yards away there was 4 inches of slushy ice with a couple of inches of water, and 4/5 inches of crud ice beneath.

I hope the rain beats down the 10 inches of snow we have accumulated on some of our local lakes/pits in SEMN. She'll be sloppy for a few days until we get a cold blast.

[DDSBYDAY]

     The rain may salvage the season.  I drove by the access to White Bear Lake.  Talked to a guy that was going out.  7-13 inches of ice.   Lots of large areas now with standing water on top of the ice.  The snow looks pretty well beat down.  Drove around the north side and saw the same thing.  I wish the rain was a little heavier.  I do think this is going to help.     The cold will be here by the weekend.

[FireRanger]

Well...just got back from Little Elk west of Zimmerman. POURING RAIN!! The snow is getting a beating and the whole lake on average seems to be getting leveled out by the warm rain. Only fished for about ten minutes before realizing that having my two little girls soakin wet wasn't a very comfortable thing for them to be sitting in the portable. They were sad having to leave but daddy knows best  . There was around 12-14" of good ice with lots of slush and snow on top. Hopefully this cold weather to come will give us all a bunch of skating rinks to commute across! Glad I don't have a permanent....wouldn't want to have to go haul it off in this garbage or worry about it freezing in solid until the middle of March!

[HD]

After all of the rain, the snow has been knocked down on the lake.
The spots that were down to the ice had re-froze and getting solid.
The spots that still had snow cover, had water under it.
There was about 12 inches of ice, with 4 inches of  on top of it.

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[Brian]

For those who have not been out since the rain,  it looks like it helped out alot.  Went out yesterday and had 14 good inches of ice.  It looked very solid.  Going from 40 to -5 slowed down the fishing but we kept enough for a good meal.  Most lakes that we went by had at least a couple of perm shacks already up and people starting to drive on them.  Fished on the western side of WI north of HWY 8.

[Hawghunter1]

Heading up to Winnie on Thursday.  We had 11+ inches of snow this last go round in Grand Rapids.  Heard that Denny's resort was only letting people drive out 2 miles because of water on the road.  With all this COLD weather now I would think things will harden real fast.  There was a LOT of people in that first 2 miles and they were standing in water because of all the added weight in a small area.  I will be bringing the plow to make my own road off the main road to get to unfished (hopefully) areas.
Arnie

[MTCOMMER]

I was out on Lake Pokegama on Friday and there was a good 13-15" of ice with about 2-3inches of water/slush/thin ice on top.
Wherever there was still snow, there was slush underneath, but if it was just plain ice, the slush/water was frozen.  It would have been a tough walk out - thank goodness for the Rhino 
-- Fishing was slow though, caugh some smaller sunnies and alot of small perch, with 2 nice crappies mixed in.  We were marking fish all day but most of them wanted nothing to do with our bait.

[DDSBYDAY]

    Bald Eagle has easy travel.  The rain worked like magic.   The sheriff even put the blazer on the lake.  I Didn't know they could do this.

[icebanger]

I was on a lake north of Mora this weekend plenty of trucks driving on the lake me being one of them 16 to 18 inches of ice...I know knife is about the same from a friend that is a chicken on the ice but he had his truck out there so I know its safe!!!!good luck and be safe out there

[MTCOMMER]

Anybody know how thick the ice is around the metro - I am planning on going out tomorrow and only have a hand auger - so I am hoping I wont be drilling the holes all day!   

 :fishing2:

[DDSBYDAY]

    If you want to go to Go to Bald Eagle you can take my auger and vex.   Depending what time you are going I could meet you at the access and maybe fish for an hour or so.  The bourbot bomb heads are all painted and curing.  Final assembly tomorrow.   What time are you heading out?

[MTCOMMER]

Well, I got the vex.  I was planning sometime in the morning, maybe around 9, but not sure yet.  I thought about just going to Moore Lake, I figured the ice wouldnt be as thick and would be do-able with the hand auger.
Im going to kinda play it by ear, depending on the weather.
Would you recommend WBL or Bald Eagle?  I will definitely let you know if I decide to head out there.  If a certain time works better for you, I can work around your schedule.

[DDSBYDAY]

    If you go to Moore the closer you get to the bubbler and open water the less you will have to drill.  If you get too close you will have to swim.   Day bite  Bald Eagle.  Dusk bite WB.    I have some crappie minnows that I need to get rid of.  I could do 9 am.  I couldn't stay real long.  Anyone else ?

[MTCOMMER]

Ahh, well, Bald Eagle would be better than.   :fishing2: (its a little too cold for me to be swimming in Moore)
-- Yeah, if the fish are biting, I will be there all day - or until I get cold!

[DDSBYDAY]

     Fished Bald Eagle this am with Mtcommer.  Had a great time.  Don't need an extension on the auger yet but plenty of ice.   Report to follow. 

[MTCOMMER]

Anybody seeing any problems with the ice from all this warm weather?  Accesses or just general ice conditions.
Its gunna start to get sloppy out there if this freeze-thaw continues.

[DDSBYDAY]

    This is actually a big help.  The cold will be back soon.  The snow is getting knocked down and when the refreeze comes we should be in business anywhere north of Mille Lacs.  We only have a few weeks left of the eye season.  It's getting late but I still want a crack at them.     The Pout Fest may be saved too!!  Restrictions could be lifted. 

[wildlifeminnesota]

Stop at the fish house to night on the way home, snow was 1/2 gone the plow road had a little water on it but was not bad as the snow soak the water at this point, Accesses is good as most of the house are gone they are not tearing it up,  but would not drive close to shore at the time the water is running in to the lake and shore is not safe, I am on Big Pine Lake In Perham,

It should freeze at night and this weekend is to be colder, this will help to get out and move around.

DDSBYDAY  You are right on this,

[DDSBYDAY]

     Bald Eagle in the metro has plenty of ice.  The only problem right now is snow.  I wouldn't try it without 4 wheel drive.   Stay away from any vegetation because it picks up heat and will be the first ice to weaken.  At this point the shelters will be picking up heat from the sun so I would stay clear of the permanents that are still out there.  Even with the cooler temps the sun is higher in the sky and will be deteriorating the ice.  As alway be careful.  Driving on the ice in the metro will only be possible for a very short time.

[Retired on Osakis]

Checked today and still have two feet of good ice here. Wheel house is still out. Temperature is -1 right now, headed for -12 tonight. Wind is really blowing. Probably will have to plow part of my road to the fish house back open tomorrow. Need to have four wheel drive to get around and even then some areas can be difficult, especially with the drifting over of the plowed roads that's going on right now.

[pickelfarmer]

Plenty of ice in the Detroit Lakes area. I got out last Wednesday and there was a strong 2 ft of good ice. Lake travel was 4X4 only but it was pretty easy to go anywhere on the lake with a four wheel drive pick up. I figure with were we sit right now, looking at the extended weather forcast, we will be Ice fishing for at least another 2 weeks.

[Retired on Osakis]

The wheel house has been removed from the lake.



Still 24+ inches of ice so I should have plenty of time yet to pull the Fish Trap Voyager around with the Polaris Ranger before I have to start walking.

[DDSBYDAY]

     Thats a real nice set up you have there.  I am going to hate to pull the plug on the ice season.  It looks like we maybe going into April though.