You may want to move your house..Please read!

[basmastermatt]

The weather is unseasonbly warm and we have had a lot of rain around Waconia. I was just out to take my house off the holes and they are already over 14 inches across.

If you have a house out with holes open you will want to move it to higher ground. Heres what happens. The standing water has to have somewhere to go so it drains down your holes. When it does this it causes a swirlling effect almost like a bathtub drain. As the wind starts to blow tonight and the water continues to swirl it will cause open holes to enlarge and connect to other holes becoming one large hole that your house will fall into.

I went through this two years ago on Waconia and it was all over the news. After working for over 20 hours in 10 degree weather we got all the houses out. I live on the lake and am watching it closely. I brought both my houses off the lake and am waiting for the water to drain and refreeze.

I want people to be informed and if you have open holes you will want to move. And this goes for more than just Waconia.

[Dan Thiem]

Matt, You hit the nail right on the head about the holes melting. I have seen it before.

We also had a house go through one time. We got ours out also. It's kind of wierd standing on good ice only feet away from your fish house bobbing around in the hole in the ice.

[basmastermatt]

Dan, I have to agree. It is pretty weird to have a truck only feet from a fishhouse that is under water. People need to be careful we never thought that day two years ago would happen in the middle of the winter. Nor did we think it would happen again in our lifetime....we may have been wrong again.

Matt

[Valv]

There is a house at landing on Shields lake, it's from somebody from St. Paul

It's standing in 12" of water, if owner reads this, hurry up and move it before it freezes up again. Water is above bottom door opening, so I assume it's flooded.

[Moose-Hunter]

Hey Matt...

Thanks for the "heads up".... Unless you like the game of bobbing for houses, getting them off the lake may be something to think about....

[hawkeye43]

we lost alot of ice today. I pushed two houses off the holes on tetonka for someone or they would be floating in no time. So much for our good ice

[basmastermatt]

Moose, No problem I was just out on the lake again and there are quite a few guys that have acknowledged the warning signs and headed for shore. There are still a lot of houses in the bay but the traffic of trucks with houses headed to shore has not let up. I can look out the window and see them now. give it a few days to refreeze and we will be back at it. Good Luck everybody.

Matt

let me know if you have a house in the area you want me too move if you can't get to it. Drop me an e-mail or respond to this post.

[Kylersk]

Is the ice still safe to fish on with portable?

[basmastermatt]

Kylersk,

Yeah, but it is VERY WET. There are area's with 3 plus inches of standing water. And it sounds like tonight the wind is going to blow adding to the affect.

[vikingmeatwad]

This really blows, been planning on fishing tonite and all day tomorrow and now the permanents must come off!!

You can't believe how mad I am.

I hope it cools down quick and I can get out tomorrow. Says a high of 28 but that is a lot of water!!

[pikerliker]

Good post. This is already happening in Southern MN. I went to German Lake with a friend about an hour ago and there are already 2 large holes that have opened and one has already swallowed a house that is bobbing half submerged in the water. This lake had 7-10 inches of good ice on it just a day ago! Things can change quickly! Be safe out there!

~piker

[Ryan_V]

ditto to everyone, I fished my house out of the lake a couple years ago, luckily all i had to do was replace the carpet and no other damage was done. this weather sucks, I would really recommend taking them off the ice, or moving them off the holes. it is far easier to do that than to fish it out of the water, believe me!!!!

[Gess]

I just came in off medicine lake were i was in my portable and the standing water found one of my holes and went from 8" to 13"in a couple of hours. i couldn't beleive the water as it swirled in the hole. Only good thing is that was the hole i pulled all my fish up through..

[Powerstroke]

This isame thing occured on Minnetonka also 2 yrs ago. I remember seeing portable worth more than $20K bobbing in the lake or frozen solid in the ice. Unless you can cut it free with a chainsaw and pull it out with a truck you will be watching your premanant ice cube the rest of the season.

[arbuck]

piker - did you fish German while you were out there? I was by there the other day fishing Jeff and there were a lot of houses out on German. I was on German about 2-3 weeks ago the first weekend with good (4") ice and got a couple eyes. There is alot of water on the ice around the waseca area and alot of houses out on clear but I didn't drive by to see if they were pulling them off or not.

arbuck

[korn_fish]

Just came off of prior and watched a hole grow from 20" to 48" within 2 hours. Sad thing is there were two cars driving out onto the ice that appeared to be cars full of teenagers heading to a fishouse party. I don't want to spoil their fun, but does anyone think I should be calling the cops on this one?

[mistermom]

If you don't and something happens you aren't gonna be too happy with yourself. I still think about that girl who froze to death on 'Tonka a couple of years ago.

mm

[buzbunni]

Thanks for the heads up bmmatt. I do not have a permanent, but all this is helpful information for those that do(maybe that will be me some day ). I look forward to meeting you on Waconia some day soon(when it gets a bit cooler!).

A sincere thankyou!

[basmastermatt]

Just came off the lake... It is as bad as you could think. The holez are growing fast. I hope everyone is alright and there houses are alright. Goodnight

Matt

Talk to you all tomorrow. I hope you all heeded the warning signs.

[Ed Carlson]

As the need to remove large shakes from the ice to prevent loss has developed on many area lakes. I would strongly urge anglers to mark these bad spots so other anglers do not inadvertently drive or walk into them.

Once they crust over and get a dusting of snow on the surface these bad spots will be hard to locate. So please mark and flag these areas.

[basmastermatt]

Ed, You are correct we need to mark the bad areas. But please make sure that this post stays near the top....even if it changes subjects.....which it seems to have done with the mark and flag response. I just hope everyones houses are alright. I want people to have a better understanding of what has happened and can happen.

Matt Peters

[Peepers]

How are you guys marking the weak spots where your houses were?

[Philo]

Was out at Bald Eagle yesterday and the Ramsey County Sheriff was installing baracades at the boat ramp to keep people from driving out onto the lake. Apparently someone dumped a vehicle through there on Wed. night. The fishing was awful and there was about 4 inches of water on the ice which was looking very rotten. A few ventured out on ATV's. Not sure I would have done that or not.

[federline]

The way I mark holes and weak spots is to use dead brush from shore like branches and small logs, when available. The same from other kind people has helped me easily avoid weak spots, spearholes, joined holes, etc.

I'd be using an ice spud today if I were going out, and keeping a good grip on it. Be safe! If you're out on popular lakes today where it was 50 degrees yesterday (and at 6PM last night?!?!), you're just plain going to find some BIG holes covered with a lot less ice than the rest of the lake.

I saw a car with only it's parking lights on that was racing across Buffalo Lake last night in a rooster tail of spray... With 36" holes around, I'm wondering what happened with that...

[danny berg]

Went out last night and pulled my house off the holes and dropped it off by shore. I almost lost my house 2 years ago, and didn't want to take the chance. After I pulled the house off I went back to look at the location it was in. Boy, am I glad I pulled it. I had 3 "RIVERS" of water flowing into my open holes, about 8" wide and 2" to 3" deep.On the south side of the house you could see where the running water had formed a dip like a little waterfalls. the ice at this little waterfall was approx 1/2" lower than before. I will have to check with In Towne later on today to see if the water on top of the ice has frozen enough to put the house back out.