I saw Ice!!

[TheGuy]

I know it's very early but I did see ice on some small ponds/big puddles this morning. Do you think we will be on the ice around Thanksgiving on the small lakes in the Metro area?

[hanson]

Its cooled off a lot in the last couple days. Frost on the windshield this morning.

Thanskgiving? Lets hope so.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Way down here in dixie, (SW Minnesota) there was frost on the windshield this morning!!!!

Soon, very soon.

[Borch]

I was out fishing around St. Cloud on Saturday night. Surface temp was still 51-52 degrees. I'm araid it's gonna be a while unless things change drasticly around here.

[Matt Johnson]

I found ice in the Metro the last couple Thanksgivings. Not a lot, but enough to walk out on and punch a hole

Make sure you keep safety first and foremost. I know we all want to get the first ice "jones" out (I'm very guilty of it as well ), but it's not worth taking the cold plunge. I always like to hit the ice with a partner during first ice, this way if something happens I'm not alone.

The ice fishing season is fast approaching!!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Blaine]

I'm jealous out here in CT. Matt, speaking of safety... Do you guys carry picks with you? HT makes a neat set called Polar Picks. At about $5 for a pair, everyone should have a set around your neck for early and late ice. They work great and could easily save your life!

Every winter we take a group of Cub Scouts ice fishing. Obviously there is PLENTY of ice when we do this but we clean off a strip on the ice and the kids have races, dragging themselves across the ice. You'd have to run to keep up to some of the big kids... They work that well

[Matt Johnson]

Baine,

Yeah, I've seen the picks you are talking about, a very good idea to have during early ice. Sounds like the Cub Scout outting is a blast!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Bob_D]

Don't worry Blaine. I'll be calling you soon. We are suppose to get snow showers tomorrow.

[Dan Thiem]

Blaine, are the HT picks the ones that come poking out of the handles when pushed down? Then they retract when released? I like those so no accidental sticking.

And about the Cub Scout thing. We did the same for a little ice fishing contest one time. It makes a big difference what you are wearing. Carharts dont slide for s*&^t.

[Bob_D]

HT picks are not retractable. I'm not sure if I like the ones with the retractable covers....Just one more thing to fail. I keep several sets of picks with me so if the people fishing with me don't have any, they can borrow mine.

I have pics around my neck in this photo. I know...it's hard to see them with that big fish in the way.

[Blaine]

Thanks Bob... You beat me to it. I tried to find an online pic but HT's site wont let me link to it. All the pics I have of me wearing mine are also obstructed by giant fish

[Bob_D]

Ha..ha..ha...

I'll take a pic of mine sometime. It seems like I need to post pictures of them a couple times a season.

[The Grebe]

In a word, No! Nothing safe enough to be ice fishing on.

Now you got to understand that this is just one mans opinion, but it was 50 degrees or more here in the twin cities today.

The grass is still growing in some areas and there are still some flowers blooming! We would have to have one heavy duty turn around, in very short order, to have fishable ice by the end of the month, in the metro!

There was some ice in the bed of my pick up this morning and I went into a kind of trance?

Like a robot, I went and put on my cold weather gear, fumbling and bumbling, Sorels on the wrong feet, woke my wife up in the process. I vaguely remember her muttering something, but I just kept saying "Ice, ice!"

I stiff legged it to where I keep my ice fishing gear, got my sled with all the ice rods and the power auger, I fired it up and zombied toward the bed of the truck.

I clambered up into the bed..."Ice, ice!" I was just about ready to drill my first hole of the season, when out of the corner of my glazed eye, I seen a flash, as my wife leapt through the air and broke a chair over my head!

It was the best thing she could have done, it brought me back from the brink, I was a little miffed though, because I thought I had caught her trying to take my fishing gear to the pawn shop! How else would it have gotten out, unless she did it?

At any rate, I got on my work duds and hit the trail, I did'nt like that chair much anyways!

[The Grebe]

If it is any consolation...I had a layer of ice in my truck bed this morning...thats how it started last fall! Is it starting again? This is Minnesota you know?

[Dan Thiem]

Grebe, I know! I had ice this morning in the duck pond and in the dogs dishes. Whats up with that? We had snow yesterday for about 10 minutes.

[outdoor ran]

Grebe, bite your tongue

[The Grebe]

[The Grebe]

Dan...same here...I thought I was going to have to hook the plow back up?

[Duffer]

i had a nice thin layer of ice on my winsheild the other day maby its not over yet and not to mention the snow the other day............