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How much ice is on the lakes?


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some of the big lakes are ringed with ice. i walked out to my duck hunting spot on ice the other day. along the shore and dragging our boat behind of course.

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Quote:

Little Pine was still wide open this last weekend.


I'm hoping to hit Little Pine this winter for the first time (my mom has a place there, but I've never been up for the ice). When does it typically ice over? I've been hitting some smaller lakes further East the first weekend in December the last couple of years (under 200 acres), but I'm not familiar with how soon a larger lake freezes up. It's a long drive up, so I don't want to make the trip too early if I can't get out on the ice. grin.gif Any assistance is appreciated. Thanks.

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As you know, it varies from year to year. 5 years ago we were ice skating on Thanksgiving day, staying fairly close to shore, but there was about 3-4" of ice there. The last couple of years, nothing. Right now my guess is that walking out the second weekend of December should be possible.

Staying near shore.

And away from the river in/outlets.

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Poked some holes on a small lake (less than 100 acres) today - only wandered out to where I knew I was still in shallow water (less than 4 feet). Was about 3.5 inches of ice in most places. Would think many of the smaller lakes should be fishable this weekend with the forecast looking frigid. Will still need to be very careful.

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Thanks for the info Smokey. I may be at my early ice location that weekend so it sounds like it may be worth a trip to check it out.

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-6 this morning, and South Turtle is freezing before my eyes. It could be a go by this weekend. Of course, I have our RMEF banquet.....Doh.

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I drove by the west end yesterday, and a lot of it had iced up. In fact, there was ice as far as I could see about 11am. There was some steam out in the middle, however.

I have never seen the outlet have so much ice surface. The flows must be pretty low. Even the launch ramps had ice on them.

Just about everything was tightening up yesterday. I watch South Turtle go from nothing at sunrise to 3/8 to a half inch by sundown.

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Thanks Gissert! The report is much appreciated.

Hopefully I can get out there sometime mid next week. I'll throw a ice report out if/when I do.

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I can tell you that the north end of Clitherall was wide open shore to shore at 5:30 last night.

Bass and Norway are froze solid. With some spots having ice since last wednesday night and some just freezing over in the past 36 hours or so. With the light skiff of snow seeing those spots that have been froze for a week and might be pushing that 5-6 inch mark and the 2-3 inch stuff isn't going to be easy. Bass for instance had slivers 10-12 feet wide kept open by the wind since last wednesday when we had our first cold snap. These spots stayed open right up until monday night when the bottom dropped out.

The best fishing is right now, but remember you can't fish when your dead.... Be careful!!! With that being said, I will be out on some lake in OT county this weekend.

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Drove by West Battle late yesterday afternoon. Open with whitecaps rolling in. With the wind today I'm sure Battle and other larger, deeper lakes are open. If the wind goes away, it should freeze.

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I heard on the radio today that 6-10 inches of snow is forecasted tomorrow. Not sure whats forecasted up there, but wouldnt that be fitting to get a couple inches of ice and then a bunch of snow on top to sink the ice, get water on top and make a real mess of it. Cripes.

Could make things interesting.

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I hope not that will put a damper on my fishing plans this week end the weather report am looking at is saying flurrys and watching the weather on the news last night just said some snow 6 to 24 inches is a pretty big spread

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Hey Gissert, have ya checked the ice on South Turtle lately? I'm looking at trying it tomorrow...weather permitting that is.

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I took the spud bar in front of my place this morning. It looks to be about 3-4 inches of nice clear looking stuff.

A word of caution - I could see steem rising down areoud the access area. I have not had a chance to take a closer look as of yet.

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Thanks, sounds like I might need to go do some scouting today. Any other suggestions? I just recently moved back to the area(breckenridge) after beeing in the Brainerd area for the last 6 years. Great fishing out there, mille lacs is awesome! I'll let ya all know what I find for ice. G5

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What station gave the prediction of up to 24 inches of snow up in that region??

All I have found online is 4-6 for that general area.

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Just trying to give the Sled Heads some hope! The weather people never know for sure on the first storm of the year, so I think anything's possible. I'm hoping for NONE myself.... 5 1/2 inches as of this morning on the lake I'll be fishing tonight.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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