Ice Going Bad !!!

[Zoobert]

Went out yesterday morning to check on my perm. Ice was a little crunchy on top but seemed ok to me so far.

I think this summer I'm going to look for an old pontoon boat, clear off the deck and put my permy on top and mount a small kicker motor. License it as a boat and leave it on the lake all year. I don't think I've seen in the regs where a boat has to be "removed" from a lake any time of the year.

Ha! Y'know, when I got my boat, before I got my dock - I talked to the DNR to see if there was any regs against just throwing anchor to shore to hold the boat there - and they said there wasn't - that I could do just that - if i wanted.

So I did. For a few weeks until I could finally afford the dock.

[Zoobert]

Yes, three days of warm weather won't do much...but when the foreseeable future is nothing but 40F temps, it makes you wonder how much longer we really have until we are planking it out to the ice and fishing the same open hole for a week.

We may still have weeks of fishing, but driving days are numbered.

The way it's going - I figure I'll be able to put my dock in and do some open water fishing - before the season ends!

[Nick Kuhn]

Permies will go through if anyone leaves them in the same spot. The sun (when it comes out) will really heat up the shacks, eating away at the ice around the shack rather quickly. The sun isn't bright enough to do much damage to the ice itself, but giving anything to shine on (think of snow starting to melt around tree trunks first) it can really damage the nearby ice.

[McGurk]

With talk like this, the DNR will impose a Early House Pull-off date. Too bad for Permies; Hooray for Portables!

The silver lining is that some lakes that get pounded due to easy vehicle travel and good ice may get a bit of a breather this season. I'm not talking about permy owners, but the tailgate guys.

[MnIceman]

I pulled mine off today. The ice has actually gotten thinner than when I put it out. When I put it out almost 2 weeks ago there was 14" and more. Last Sat. there was 16-17" . Yesterday It was 12-14.5".

[griff321]

The silver lining is that some lakes that get pounded due to easy vehicle travel and good ice may get a bit of a breather this season. I'm not talking about permy owners, but the tailgate guys.

What do you mean by this? Permy owners walk out with portables on less ice, but tailgaters don't?

[McGurk]

What do you mean by this? Permy owners walk out with portables on less ice, but tailgaters don't?

In my estimation there are a fair amount that don't. I know a number of guys that won't walk on ice but will drive when they can. I have been wrong before and will be wrong again though.

[tencountff]

Come on guys it isnt over till its over, I bet we will have fishable ice at least till the middle of march. Here west central MN most lakes have around 17 inches of ice. Low to mid 30's won't do anything to the ice when its still cool at night. Now if get 50's days and 30's nights then i agree it will be over soon. Last time i checked its only Feb 2 and have alot of winter left to go.

+1 Same here in Kandiyohi county. It's hard to keep me off the lake when the fish are always biting.

[griff321]

I have been wrong before and will be wrong again though.

I wont be the first one to cast a stone when it comes to being wrong good buddy. Lord knows I've been there.

I've been tailgating when my buddy goes out with me ever since the ice has been good enough for truck traffic. We were going out before hand just walking the sled of junk out almost daily. We just don't have the money for a permy, sled, or atv so tailgating is the most efficient way to fish when possible. I only have a car, so when I'm alone I walk regardless of ice.

[slurpie]

after drilling some holes yesterday the ice is getting weaker on top. Little wind and the water on top of the ice will open the lakes right up.

[harvey lee]

Come on guys it isnt over till its over, I bet we will have fishable ice at least till the middle of march. Here west central MN most lakes have around 17 inches of ice. Low to mid 30's won't do anything to the ice when its still cool at night. Now if get 50's days and 30's nights then i agree it will be over soon. Last time i checked its only Feb 2 and have alot of winter left to go.

I agree that a few days in the 30's and nights in the 20's won't hurt the ice too much.

But, in my area this week, Monday through Thursday was low to mid 40's and the nights were 32 or above. Thats not good as it thaws all day.

Now, this am it was 31 so it held maybe last night.

Our extended forecast for the next 4 days is the 40's and next Tuesday it will be a high of 28. That's not a great forecast for keeping the ice thickness where it was 6-10 days ago.

I know of a few lakes in south central Mn that have had open water holes for the past week and I am sure they are not freezing over.

Now, up north with cooler temps, I am sure things are much better. All depends on what part of the state one is fishing and the lakes and how they differ with springs and such.

I would guess that one can still walk out for quite some time yet but we do need some temps to help extend the ice season.

One simply has to be aware of thre ice conditions in thier area and hope for some cooler temps to save what we have. No doubt the ice is not as strong as it was a few weeks ago at least in the area I fish.

[bobbymalone]

maybe we'll get to chase walleyes from the boat before the season closes...

probably not.

either way, i'm thinking the boat will get some extra time on the lake this year before it gets warm enough for the wakeboarders and mosquitos jetskis.

[Zoobert]

before it gets warm enough for the wakeboarders and mosquitos jetskis.

This.

[Ringtailhunter]

Was out yesterday (metro) was 14" now 12". Still 3" more than when I put out the permy. Temps at night are doing a good job of freezing things down and I expect it to continue for a time at least. Not worried yet...I think there are a few naps left to take in the season. The real benefit to this ice is that it is keeping the salt off the access leaving it great for wheelers, sleds, peds.

[blackdog1101]

I was out on the western end of 'Tonka on Friday, and measured 10" in several holes. The ice seemed solid, but I don't think I'll be driving out anymore unless we get some more near-zero temps.

[otterman91105]

Seem's like there was a hand full of vehicles that went through the ice over the weekend. Again the news last night was saying stay of the lake's.

[griff321]

ABC 5 news said two went through 'tonka this morning and they had a DNR spokesman on saying they're advising people to not drive on any metro lakes.

[cavalierowner]

I walked out on to Carsons Bay on Mtka this a.m. and did some fishing. On the way back home I couldn't stand it and stopped at the approach by the bridge where I watched a guy drop a front wheel in Saturday. I wanted to be sure he had marked the hole like I asked. It looked like at least one more vehicle went thru right in front of the landing after I had left. The are now rocks all the way across the landing. What surprises me is that there's still 14" to 15" of ice where I fish, the same as there was 2 weeks ago; and the quality looks about the same.

[Summett]

On the way back home I couldn't stand it and stopped at the approach by the bridge where I watched a guy drop a front wheel in Saturday. I wanted to be sure he had marked the hole like I asked. It looked like at least one more vehicle went thru right in front of the landing after I had left. The are now rocks all the way across the landing.

I fish a local lake that has a North access, which by it's location can get beat up pretty bad when the sun gets stronger...but what i can't understand is why people feel the need to back onto the ice within 20-30 feet from shore and unload their portable (or fishing equip).

All this does is mess up the landing area terribly when its a warm sunny day. It saves you from dragging your portable, what, 20-30 ft across a small amount of gravel (if there's no snow).

Granted, i use an ATV to pull my portable so I'm not one that has to do that short drag, but the same thing is happening at this lake. The ice is really really good, but the landing is already [poorwordusage] because of this deployment method! Even when they SEE that the landing area is starting to deteriorate...you still see them doing it and backing out a little further. (Rant over!)

[OnAFly]

Funny thing happened yesterday. We were waling back to the truck along a well traveled area of a lake where a shallow point comes out. There was a muskrat sitting there next to his hole he opened up right where ATVs and cars had been driving. There's a stick there now, but I'm sure someone will end up putting a wheel through there.

BTW, I don't get the idea of driving 30 extra feet onto the ice either. Those landings are looking pretty bad with the road salt and sand that's all over them.

[cavalierowner]

...Those landings are looking pretty bad with the road salt and sand that's all over them.

That's why I resigned myself a couple weeks ago to walking out for the rest of the season. I can't see them being safe any more unless a miracle happens. I sure hope next year is better.

[Norm1980]

I'm a portable only guy and walk out every time. Personally I wish every ice season was like this year. I've been out with just jeans, light coat & baseball cap more times than I can count. Not to mention with so much less fishing pressure I've had probably my best fish catching season also....

[Gordie]

Funny thing happened yesterday. We were waling back to the truck along a well traveled area of a lake where a shallow point comes out. There was a muskrat sitting there next to his hole he opened up right where ATVs and cars had been driving. There's a stick there now, but I'm sure someone will end up putting a wheel through there.

BTW, I don't get the idea of driving 30 extra feet onto the ice either. Those landings are looking pretty bad with the road salt and sand that's all over them.

We have had this with the muskrats all year on our lake

[basssmasher*]

Glad I'm in Western MN, I was out sunday locally and there was a good 2 ft of ice on the lake I was on

[Zoobert]

We have had this with the muskrats all year on our lake

Same with mine, just a few yards down the shore - the muskrats actively work on keeping a channel and hole open near where they build their den. They *tried* building one under my boat before the winter season hit - I discouraged that by tossing a few big boulders in the mouth of their tunnel. They answered that by trying to nest *inside* my boat (last few weeks, I never took the cover off).

Came to take the boat out of the lake, and found four muskrats, tons of weeds and snail shells in the transom. They chewed through every single wire back there, too.

Ugh.