Da snow changed ice scene.

[Lee Borgersen]

2/16/13

                      The snows changed ice scene.



In some parts of Northern Minnesota it has become very difficult to get around on the lakes after last Sunday’s snow event. After a winter that was for the most part wimpy but still provided good ice depths, and one that allowed anglers to travel just about anywhere they wanted with few issues, everything changed in a 12-hour window a week ago.

Depending on the area, approximately 10 to 18 inches of snow piled up in a short amount of time. Behind that snow came some pretty strong winds that left drifts bigger than we’ve seen on Minnesota lakes in a couple of years.

As I talked with guys I know from different parts of the state this week, it sounds like the hardest areas were north of Brainerd and northwest of Alexandria. There was a distinct line of heavy snow that slid from the western part of the state up to Duluth that has made ice travel difficult unless you have a snowmobile.

On some of the state’s bigger lakes, those with resorts that rent fish houses for example, most had plowed roads open by mid-week to their fishing locations. But from Leech Lake to Winnie, up to Red and Lake of the Woods, resort owners weren’t advising much vehicle traffic off the main roads.

It was those smaller, less popular lakes that might be hard to access for a while. Unless somebody is nice enough to plow a road through the access and onto the lake, snowmobiles are likely going to be the only way to get around.

Jim Tuller of Swanson’s Bait and Tackle in Hackensack told me he was being brutally honest on Thursday as he described the lakes in his area. Simply put, he said you couldn’t get out with a truck due to the deep snow and drifts and that there was slush settling under the snow.

He said that anyone who left their fish house on the lake prior to the snow is going to have a tough time getting it off until the snow settles or some marginal roads are busted open.

John Store of Quality Bait in Detroit Lakes and Ben Kellin of Ben’s Bait and Tackle in Grand Rapids both told me they received more than a foot of snow. They, too, said that snowmobiles are the only way to travel if you want to get off the main roads, very few of which were opened by late this week.

In the central part of the state, snow depths varied, but lake conditions don’t seem to be as bad around St. Cloud, Osakis, Glenwood and Sauk Centre as they are to the north.

Four-wheel drive trucks are making their way through the snow on most lakes, but I have to add that I’ve talked to several anglers that were glad they had shovels with them in their trucks because they did get hung up in drifts.

 Before I hit the ice, I will have made plenty of calls to see what the conditions are like on select lakes. The only factor I know for sure is that they’ve changed a lot since my last outing.