Anyone been out this year?

[PurpleFloyd]

I haven’t had much time the past few years to get out on the ice because of moving and other things but I’m planning on a lot of ice time this year. Lots of my stuff was up there in age and most got replaced with updated versions. 
 

Anyone else itching to get back into it? 

[rundrave]

Only 2-3” here in SD and most is now covered up with fresh snow

 

I know few guys getting out. I’m gonna hold off and keep chasing pheasants for now. I’m on vacation until January 3 after I get done putting in a few hours this week.

 

Hopefully the mild weather this week will put a dent in the snow and then we get some cold temps to make a good base of ice.

 

good news with all of this  bad ice is the thundering herds are not out yet around here. I can only imagine what the crowds are further north in spots with good ice.

[Wanderer]

Lakes in the Brainerd area are beginning to see walk outs with a few people braving it with ATVs as well.  The most ice I’ve been on yet is 5 inches.  Took my brother out for his first spearing experience yesterday.  Didn’t take long to check that box.

 

[rl_sd]

6" on Big Stone I guess.... hoping to get up that way this weekend

[PurpleFloyd]

Last night didn’t do any favors for the lakes in the southern part of the state 

[leech~~]

1 hour ago, PurpleFloyd said:

Last night didn’t do any favors for the lakes in the southern part of the state 

 

Don't be to quick with that.  With the cold weather coming, melting some of the snow off may help them harden back up faster. 

[rundrave]

I’ll take a hard reset rather than 3 to 5” of crappy slushy ice covered in snow as our initial base.

 

I hope the rain finished off what little ice was left and the wind got it all blown up. hopefully this cool down coming gives us a fresh restart of good ice.

 

At this point I’m more concerned about the upland birds. Rain immediately followed by a quick freeze would have been devastating to those birds. Hoping they had some good cover to hunker down in and wait out the weather.

[PurpleFloyd]

Last night we got things ready for the ice. We installed lights and built a power box for the Eskimo flip and I got the Active Target and Carbon 12 wired up. I’m excited to see how that combo does on the ice. 

[Wanderer]

That should help ya find em.

[PurpleFloyd]

10 minutes ago, Wanderer said:

That should help ya find em.

Hopefully. I have traditionally fished in very shallow water but I’m probably going to be trying deeper water with this 

[Ronnie D]

Won't find any ice here for about 8-10 days and the 200+ mile drive north will still make it worthwhile. 

Put together a new spear over the summer& can't wait to get it wet!

[rl_sd]

Been out a handful of times but the continuous snow has made things interesting in west central MN! Got my youngest out in the wheel house for a few days. Decided to pull him out of school for a day and am I glad I did. Had awesome fishing Friday morning, but everything [PoorWordUsage] down Friday afternoon when the weekenders started rolling in! Perch don’t take too kindly to commotion, especially during high barometric pressure! It was a lot of fun watching him run all four lines. I just sat back and removed a swallowed hook here and there. He took care of the baiting and measuring. Lots of fun!

[Ronnie D]

Temp.= 2 degrees

Water = chocolate milk

Genitals = pruned

Fish = 0

Mid week solitude = PRICELESS

 

Swift Tines