ICE DEPTH REPORTS HERE!!!

[Ryan]

Ice fishing in the metro has been canceled this year.  I can't believe it is Dec. 30th and it is raining outside.  The MN river in Shakopee is wide open waiting for boats right now.  It had actually been frozen for a few weeks until today.  I don't think I would feel safe going on any lake around here right now.

[Spinach]

I completely agree, the metro ice is in terrible condition. Please be careful and use common sense if you dare to fish the metro area, maybe drive the few extra miles and head north where ice conditions are in fair to decent shape.

For those of you that are still determined to fish on the metro lakes, please make sure someone knows the area you are fishing, bring a cell phone in a waterproof bag, ice picks a rope and life jackets, use the buddy rule to, the ice is too scary to be out there alone.

Good luck and be smart.

[oscar]

live east of princeton and had 7-8 inches of ice on green before the rain and had a permanent on the ice but pulled it during the rain, already have 1 house frozen in on the ice. not mine thank god, hes in big trouble.crappies are biting.  good luck to all and happy new year. oscar

[Mayfly]

Hey oscar....did I hear a truck went down on green a few days ago?

[oscar]

havent seen a truck down but i live on the west side and alot of the fishing is on the n/e side. theres always some dummey that thinks 5 inches will support. hope hes allright if it did happen. itll cost im alot.

[jigglestick]

live east of princeton and had 7-8 inches of ice on green before the rain and had a permanent on the ice but pulled it during the rain, already have 1 house frozen in on the ice. not mine thank god, hes in big trouble.crappies are biting.  good luck to all and happy new year. oscar

good call oscar. I had to get a house off one year on pokegama. there was 4 inches of ice and I slid the house out. that was all fine but the first week in december, it started raining. pouring rain. some friends(thank god) walked out there with me in three inches of water on top of the four inches of ice. you want to talk about wierd. in some places you couldnt even see the ice because it was clear.

we got it onto the skids and pushed it by hand back to shore.
it then re froze and all was good to go.
man was I lucky...to have the help!

be careful out there.
WELCOME to MNO!!

[JohnWester]

12 inches in wigwam bay yesterday... we were driving out of north star resort on the south side of the bay.  I don't know what the rain did last night though...

[TK]

There was still 5" of ice on crooked lake today in andover.

[JohnWester]

was out last week just north of cass lake and we had 15 inches of ice, so we were driving all over the lake with the dropdown.

[ScottPugh]

21"+ out of Rocky Reef yesterday.  The cracks are still moving so watch out.  Wheeler or walk for us.

[eelpout]

Rush is a mess.  One spot we drilled through 7", the next spot we found 5" and a wheeler went through on 2". 

[jigglestick]

where was the 2 ". my guess is it was near shore or an under water hump. I hope all was recovered.

[eelpout]

The report on the Rush lake stores website said he was in 20 feet of water, but the local I talked to, said he was by a muskrat lodge, so who knows. 

[jigglestick]

late ice conditions will deteriorate much more rapidly near shore or near underwater structure like humps or sand bars. I think the cause is the sun shining down heating up the earth below the ice thus melting the ice at a much quicker pace.
lets just hope this cold snap will firm things up enough to keep people safe.

what is unusual is this stretch of unseasonaly warm temperatures.
it is starting to seem less like a fluke and more like a way of life.
the trouble comes with people who are used to driving on the ice by this time of year. they have done so all there lives. things seem to be changing and I dont like it much.

[blazer]

As of last saturday there was still 6-8 inches of ice on the lakes in the chisago lakes area.  This cold weather should help the ice out.  The top 1.5 inches of ice looked pretty cloudy but below that the ice was still pretty clear and relatively free from bubbles.

[laker]

14" on Agency bay of leech lake yesterday. And yes the perch were biting pretty good.

[Bruno24]

15" in Shingobee Bay on Leech, however there was still open water in Walker Bay up unitl this past Sunday. 

Vehicles were driving around "the hole" right in Walker Bay and on Shingobee Bay, but people were not driving from the park landing in walker across to Sand Point. 

Most people were on ATV's.

Bruno24

[Outdoors Junkie]

Thanks for the great update Bruno24!  Keep us posted, when you can.

[sunk1]

I was out on chisago this weekend. The ice is 14-15 inches thick . Lots of people driveing on it.

[ScottPugh]

13" out in the West Metro.  She was sure talking when everyone (but this guy) was driving on it.

[Bruno24]

14.5" all over Riley Lake in Eden Praire - although not too many fish came through my the holes I drilled..........

[Lee Borgersen]

Skim ice only in the bays of Lake Geneva S/E WI. ( it's 147 ft deep) late to freeze

Northern IL. Lake villa: They pulled out 1 guy on sled yesterday. He is at the hospital in critical condition now.

Three goof ball Bear fans jumped into Lake Michigan after they left the game yesterday.
Good thing there was no ice ::)
They had to be rescued and 2 are in the hospital.

[outdoorguy22]

most lakes in northern wisconsin has anywhere between 10 and 15 inches.

[7Pines]

Yep, Chisago area chain of lakes ice is in good shape...HOWEVER...as usual, particularly this season, stay the heck away from bridges and channels.  Here's a shot of a dummy that drove right into OPEN WATER between Little and Big Green.  The channel is well posted, but these guys were running well after dark and didn't see the signage.  Lucky for them, the water in most spots in that channel is about 2-3' deep.  Had they hit the dredged channel used for boat traffic, they'da been in 6 foot of water.  They got it out.

[Rywheat]

I had a nice 12" of cubes in the cooler on saturday

[Mickbear76]

What about the 3.5 feet that was holding up kegasaurus

[Mickbear76]

What about the 3.5 feet that was holding up kegasaurus

[GRIZ]

had skim ice on the pond where I was hunting this AM. Was skimmed entirely over except where the geese kept it open.

[ThunderCAT]

I love that there's a new post on this thread! Bring on the hardwater!

[repoman]

 ::dito ::dito ::dito ::dito ::dito ::dito ::cheers::cant wait for the ice , im starten to get antzy thinking about it