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When was drivable ice on Mille Lacs last year


daveyred

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In laws are coming to town at x-mas and I am thinking of a ice fishing couple of nights. Wondering how far north I will have to go. Is Mille Lacs a safe bet by x-mas or do I have to head north further? Thanks for the help.

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I would check with the local resorts around the 10th of Dec. Mother nature determines when houses can go out. Usually by the 10th you can get a good idea of the weather forecast for the next two weeks and would be a good indicater if houses are able to make it out for X=mas.

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Quote:

In laws are coming to town at x-mas and I am thinking of a ice fishing couple of nights. Wondering how far north I will have to go. Is Mille Lacs a safe bet by x-mas or do I have to head north further? Thanks for the help.


In my travels on MIlle Lacs Last year, it was a late year for ice. A couple bays were available for minimal car travel at that time, but the rest of the lake around then was either still open in places or was very risky for ATV or Snow travel to a couple miles out.

Check with the resort owners.

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Nope, I will check with the resorts as it gets close was just looking fro what was the norm. Heard this year was suppose to be wetter which means more snow and less cold. Hope we get the good cold first. Thanks guys.

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I was out there with my S-10 after the first of the year out of Agate Bay. I took a wheeler out sometime between Christmas and New Years out of Agate and a guy in a full size truck and a decent size wheelhouse pulled up and asked how we were doing. Some resorts let them out while some wait a little extra. Call ahead.

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We rented some shacks out of the Red Door last year Jan 11th weekend and that was the first weekend they allowed vehicles out from their access.

I'm pretty sure it was similar for most resorts on the lake last year.

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Last year a Friend of a friend who was stuck working out of state let us borrow his wheel house...

We put it on the ice and then towed it into place crawling with a Wheeler... And that was the last week of December...

Road travel for trucks didn't open up until Mid January if I recall.

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Dec 27th of last year is when my 10x18 was pulled from Hunters out to 3 Mile reef....White knuckles all the way. The storm following made for some very interesting conditions.....woke up to my holes swirling like a toilet bowl with all the water draining back into the lake. crazy.gif

Accesses closed for a while after that...

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I made it out for the first time in my 3/4 ton truck last year on Jan. 10th. That was still a little risky, probably won't be doing that this year unless we get some seriously cold weather quick! I am going to be purchasing a wheeler here in the next couple weeks if I can find a decent one at a decent price so I don't miss the prime bite this year! Good luck all.

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If this weather holds up it will be after new years. We need two weeks with the temps in the teens at night to get it started. The lows lately have been in the mid twenties and the day time highs 35 to 45 are kind of cancelling each other out, so hope for some cold, ice making weather.

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Quote:

Dec 27th of last year is when my 10x18 was pulled from Hunters out to 3 Mile reef....White knuckles all the way. The storm following made for some very interesting conditions.....woke up to my holes swirling like a toilet bowl with all the water draining back into the lake.
crazy.gif

Accesses closed for a while after that...


We were out fishing the needle with wheelers the night that storm hit. Thats definitly one I won't forget, quite the sloppy ride and a fair amount of problems arose from that out there. I seem to remember it being into January before a majority of resorts were driving last year. Wheelers were out a little earlier obviously.

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