Ice Conditions

[fishinalot]

I was out to a couple of west metro lakes since the snow we got over the weekend. The ice conditions are better then they were a week ago with the slush from the snow freezing together with the ice we did have now adding 2 more inches for a little extra strength (around 10" now). Good thing it didn't stay as the snow form or we could have really been in trouble. But you still need the ice cleats. I'm hauling back out the wheeled house tomorrow.

[LMITOUT]

The slush that froze on top of the ice has very little strength and I wouldn't include that when measuring the ice thickness.

[nitroant]

I agree, that slush that froze on the top adds little to the strength to the ice and is probably worse for it becasue of the weight it added. Be safe.

[thirtysomething]

I was out the other day and the slush froze nice and hard. it really tighted up the lake and made it good for walking. I felt pretty good on it.

[DitchPickle13]

Does anyone have any ice thickness reports for specific lakes they'd be willing to share? Prior, Spring, Waconia, et cetera After seeing a guy trolling in a boat on Orchard lake(on the News) I thought I'd see if we can get some safety info up. Thanks!

[slick814]

The slush isn't good ice, no matter how nice it feels. It's rarely clear and black. Some people call it "Fluff" for a reason. It will let you think that it's nice solid stuff, but it holds less than half the weight of truly solid ice, and will cause problems with whatever little good ice that's there.

[bassislife]

Frozen slush on top of 6" of ice is better for the ice then 5" of wet snow over it. I've been out a few times the past few days and the Ice conditions are much better then they were before we got the frozen slush on top.

[IcemanMN]

Problem with this slush and snow is when we do get cold weather we may not get an even freeze. So ice thicknesses might vary have seen it happen in past years.

[Burchoid]

This frozen slush is stonger than most people think... usually the slush melts real good before freezing, making a pretty darn good extra little layer of frozen stuff.

I have tried breaking sheets of "white" ice next to clear ice and noticed they held about the same weight and broke at about the same weight.

Either way, its better safe than sorry. Personally, I count white ice as 50% of what is actually there. In other words, 4" of slush ice is the equivelent of 2" of clear ice when I am considering my safety.

[bgreen82]

went out on a pond and small lake in my part of town(cottage grove) to test my new lazer hand auger and a cheap portable fish/depth finder a friend of mine got for free today. a good 6 solid inches everywhere we drilled on the pond and 4-5 inches most places on the lake which has a max. depth of about 17 ft. wish i woulda brought the fishing stuff with. next weekend ill be back for sure.