Ice conditions 2012-2013

[DDSBYDAY]

  Please help your MNO members by reporting any current ice conditions you know of.  

[pheasantman2121]

There is a report that there is 5" on red and they are fishing

[lentz]

Cookie where are you?

[UplandObsession]

Boy lake is 95% iced over but I am unsure how thick the ice is, I'll keep people posted for ice in this area.

[pheasantman2121]

6"-7" of ice being reported on red lake.  And guys were out fishing over the weekend

[Outdoors Junkie]

Cookie where are you?

I encourage you to send him a pm. That will give him a notification in his email. He is good at responding to pm's.

[wildlifeminnesota]

The bigger lake are not all ice, little pine and big pine, are still open!!!  Smaller lakes like bear are all ice over, As the ice is not safe at this time I would you Caution!!! 

[Retired on Osakis]

Osakis still has a lot of open water towards the middle of the wider part of the lake and also some east of Coon Point almost to the narrows. There was a guy just coming off of Manthey's Bay, which is usually the first fishable ice, this morning when I got there. He said there was around three inches. I went out this afternoon from my place to check the ice. Had four inches just out from shore. Was down to about two and a half by the time I got out about 50 yards. Still not ready. I also noticed the middle portion of the lake out from me had opened back up a little. Has been frozen the last couple of days.

[guythathunts]

I checked around the St. Cloud area yesterday. Little rock and Mayhew were covered. There was 1.5 inches about 5 feet from shore on Mayhew. That is all the further I went out as I didn't want to get wet. As I drove along Little rock lake there were about 6-people out on the ice. There was even a small permanent on the ice! Like any rational human I thought "Dang, there must be 4 inches out there" Here is where the scary part starts. I got out of my truck with hand drill and tape measure. One guy coming of the ice told me there was 3.5 inches, another told me 4. As I was drilling I shouted out to the group of guys and they said the same thing. I then used a tape measure... just under 2.5 inches in 3 different spots. Turns out the first guy stuck his hand in a hole and became the "resident expert". Check the ice often, check it yourself, and use a tape measure. I am sure the knuckle head that said 4 inches is the same guy that shoots deer in the head at 600 yards. Be safe. More updates this weekend from the St. Cloud area.

[indyefi500]

Lot of people out in the Willmar area.  NO THANKS!  Call me chicken but at least I am dry and not in the hospital.

[dakids]

or dead and in the morgue

[FireRanger]

4+ inches on Little Elk Lake West of Zimmerman. People fishing and a guy was out there whippin on the ice on a quad.....jack .

[MTCOMMER]

All the ice is off most of the metro lakes again.  During the night, they get a skim, or the bays/shores get a little cover.

Anyone know how the ice is looking up on LOTW, or Red Lake, with all this warmer weather???

[corny13]

Fished in ND this weekend .....5-7" of hard ice on all the lakes I went on.

[Fawkinnae]

Fished in ND this weekend .....5-7" of hard ice on all the lakes I went on.

First the Rockbass Championship, now 5-7" of hard ice... Oooo what a lucky man.

[FireRanger]

Tried to get on 2 lakes this morning, Elk Lake west of Zimmerman and Baxter lake East of Zimmerman and both were inaccessible. The snow has created a ton of slush on the is and has insulated it from freezing. One lake had no ice under the snow as far as my boots could take me without getting soaked. The other had about 4 inches of soft ice that was cracking way too much for my liking. I'm not a happy camper. Hope we get some REAL cold weather or this storm has ruined the ice around the snow belt.

[Stnmtz]

Seen two guys out on Big Spirit lake IA yesterday.... they claimed there was 3" when i asked them still open water on parts of the lake

[Retired on Osakis]

Here is todays report. People going out on Manthey's Bay and a few other areas including Schultz's Bay. Seen a couple atvs's out and one snowmobile. Two guys pulled a couple small skid houses out onto the Northwest corner of Schultz's Bay with a utv. I went out from my place and found these conditions. The first 100 feet there was a lot of water on the ice and really slushy with five and a half inches of ice under it. After that the slop slowly tapered off until about 150 feet out there was just snow, about four to five inches, on top of the ice and no slush or water. Had six and a half inches of nice clear ice under the snow for as far out as I went which was maybe 200 yards. I'm going to give the slushy stuff a couple of days to harden up. If it doesn't then I will just plow the whole mess way over to one side. Think 

[DDSBYDAY]

   That is good news.  For the metro there is a rain snow prediction for the weekend.  If we get the rain the snow slush problem will be solved.  From the looks of it I will be lucky to hit the ice until the first week of January.   

[ling0069]

They're fishing on Garrison Bay on Mille Lacs, not sure how much ice, but folks are out there. Catching Pike, not sure you can get to any walley structure yet.

-Wally

[lentz]

Saw one metro lake no snow on it out season might be saved

[UplandObsession]

10-12 on NE side of leech

[walkingstick3]

10-12" on Mille Lacs today, North side 3 miles out.

[lentz]

Most metro lakes have atv/snowmobile traffic

[MTCOMMER]

8-10 inches on Bald Eagle in WBL (a few inches of white ice in the bays above about 7" of 'good' ice). 
Lake Gervais is Little Canada has 7-9inches

Lake of the woods has 14-18" out of 4mile bay around Zippel - now allowing truck out to the ice.

[MTCOMMER]

I changed the name of the board to 2012-2013
I ALSO DELETED THE 2011 conditions board, I didn't want people heading out and falling through!   

[ray634]

Just got off Lower South Long (brainerd) and had 12" in the middle of the lake.

[dakids]

Fished sarah today 11-12 inches,  Most people were walking, a few small cars and 1 full size truck were out on the ice.  The fullsize truck went to the south end through the narrow part of the lake.

[kenhuntin]

I changed the name of the board to 2012-2013
I ALSO DELETED THE 2011 conditions board, I didn't want people heading out and falling through!   

Good call MT regardless of how interesting it would be to compare ice depths year to year it is better to play it safe because humans only tend to absorb 20% of the info presented. I consider myself a little slower than most and at the most probably only absorb about 3% of all info in front of me.

[kenhuntin]

Tonka is filling up with wheelhouses. No highway legal vehicles out there yet but the guys are parking on ice by accesses and the typical deal is they see someone parked and then they are pulling up right beside because it must be safe there. It never ceases to amaze me how guys will park on a lake as if there are painted parking stripes on the ice. To reinterrate the first guy has two wheels on shore so the next wizard pulls parallel to him in 5' of water and the passenger dings his door when he gets out The third wizard out there then puts two of his wheels on shore but creeps as close to the first guy as he can because it is safe there and it goes on and on untill; well you all have seen the photos.