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N metro ice report


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Checked 2 local lakes today. Centerville lake, didn't even bother. Lots of open water. Lake Peltier, walked out chiseling as I went. Got about 30ft out before it went through with 2 good stabs to the ice. Turned around and went home. frown.gif It will be ready next weekend. mad.gif

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Why rule out this weekend even if it's not quite ready today? By Saturday there could be 2-3 more inches of ice. Your chisel won't go thru if it's 2-3 inches thicker. My point - keep checking, the ice will form faster than you think!

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I saw a guy on the north end of Bald Eagle last night. It looked like he was in a spot that is only 5-6 feet deep. Its been frozen for almost a week now so maybe this weekend??

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Checked areas of Bald Eagle and WBL at lunch, and while there is some thick ice around shore, there is open water and some open pockets all over the place. I was hoping to give it a try this weekend, but maybe not quite yet. Maybe Ice Show to spend some $$ on stuff that I absolutely NEED wink.gif

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Box - I will fish with you this weekend if you walk out first! If I were you, I would wait until next weekend. Your brother sounds like he wants to ice fish this winter. We will need to take him up to Green or Chisago and get him into a mess of bluegills and crappies.

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Chisago is froze, but I wouldnt trust it yet... South Center you can still launch your boat without any problems mad.gif

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Mpester and Box -

As soon as you geniuses chop a big enough hole for me to do a figure 8 with the Cowgirl you'll get me out on the hard water! tongue.gif

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That sounds a little dirty and I am not sure I what to be around when you are "doing a figure 8 with a cowgirl".

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With the forecasted snow, if the lakes are locked up and don't have much ice, it is going to make it pretty unstable. If the lake is open, it will melt as it falls and possibly help reduce the surface temp to the point where it locks up nice after the snow.

I think it would be better if the lakes are not locked up right now and hope they lock up after the snow. I will be waiting to hear when the first truck drops through on Chisago if it is already froze, could be some sketchy ice out there this year.

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I agree with POLAR. I'd wait and see how the forthcoming snow will influence the ice. I know we've had some great ice-making weather recently, but for sure the snow is going to make reading our now questionable ice more difficult. I just hope it stays COLD. The last few years of sloppy early ice hurt my head.

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Drove by Long Lake in New Brighton on my way home, was already dark out but there is a bunch of open water spots on the south end.

Really hoping this storm doesn't #$#$ things up for the rest of the year.

Anyone been by Johanna, Josephine, etc.? It's been frustrating this week to leave for work in the dark and come home in the dark - puts a damper in my lake ice scouting. It would be nice to know what was froze over for more than a day before the snow hits.

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Drove by Silver Today by North St. Paul Area. Pretty Good ice but the aerator is keeping part of it open.

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I was out on silver today, the one in St. Anthony, by the landing. Plenty of ice, probably 5-6" as far as I went out, which you can see by the holes I drilled. As expected caught about 200 crappies, nothing bigger than 7" and most around 5", but it felt real good to be out for the first time this year!! If you go do be careful, though, cuz there's still open water around the islands.

Also checked medicine, almost wide open, looked like the north bay was froze but the wind was pounding into it, I donno how long that ice will last.

Twin Lakes in Crystal was still about half open, even lower twin, which really surprised me cuz the last few years it was the first to freeze.

Eagle in Plymouth is still almost completely open.

Weaver had good edge ice, 3-4", but as soon as I got deeper than 6' it was real shady.

Didn't check fish in maple grove yet, but I'm sure it's not holding any ice due to wind direction, it blows right up the entire lake. The south bays might be worth checking.

Long Lake in New Brighton looked too sketchy to check, lots of open water still.

Hope that helps some of you guys. If you're looking just to get out, try silver, you'll get action! Waxies on a #12 marmooshka, 7-10 fow all day long. Oh, and if you have cleats, bring 'em. I just got a pair and they sure are nice when the ice is bare! Just remember, be smart and be safe. If you're checking ice, always wear a life jacket, or at least have some picks handy!

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I live on the North basin of Long Lake in New Brighton. The ice was booming like crazy this morning. Making ice! 5 inches of good clear ice today. Yipee! (I went ice skating with my kids for 2 hours this evening.)

Does anyone ever catch anything in the north end of Long Lake? I know where to fish on the South basin but that end is still open water.

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I drilled a hole off my beach to check the ice thickness. Other than that I haven't seen anyone out drilling holes.

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Quote:

Chisago is froze, but I wouldnt trust it yet... South Center you can still launch your boat without any problems


How about the Chisago channel? I would be surprised if no one was out there. Maybe little lake also.

Going to check Peltier now.

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Check the east central forum for channel reports Ron, I believe that the channel was mostly froze as of Friday but that there were open water areas up till Thursday. Forest lake is mostly frozen on lake one with a few smaller open areas out towards deeper water that probably froze last evening. There was a larger open area from the second lake side of the channel running north and east out into the middle of second, as of Thursday there was quite a bit of open water from the landing east on the third lake side of Willow point. Straight out from the landing in town there is about 4 inches in most areas but I'd check as you go if you venture out. I am thinking this storm is really gonna put a hurting on the area ice for awhile if we get the snow they are predicting. A few people have been out on Glyers bay of Green up in Chisago and fishing on Sylvan off HWY 97. Talked with a guy that said he had 4+ inches of ice on Sylvan on Weds.

Tunrevir~

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Just got back from checking ice. 5" with one person setting up out there. I will be out there this afternoon. If people are going out on the ice I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ICE CLEATS . It is slippery out there and is going to get worse with the snow.

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5 inches on peltier? That's good to hear...although this snow has motivated me to wait until next week now.

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Hey fishuhalik thanks for the info! I was thinking about heading up north today, but with the wind (cold!) and the snow making it a pain to get home, it was nice to get a good report on a lake close to home, even if it is a lake "just to get out". I don't like to be the first one out because I'd hate to be the first one in. tongue.gif

I went out there this morning for about an hour and a half until the wind and snow started and it got cold. I didn't catch hundreds, but I got some. Several small crappies and a small bluegill. I usually like waxies too, but they freeze and die on me sometimes, so I tried the Gulp maggots instead. I did miss quite a few bites though too. I think the fish might have been a little slow due to the weather coming in.

Most of the ice was around 5.5" with the thickest at 6".

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I took a trip to Long lake in New Brighton. Went down to the swimming beach. Open water out 100 yards.

The north end of the lake looked to have been froze over longer.

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Quote:

Skiinglady, how thick was the ice when you drilled that hole?


5 inches of good, clear ice yesterday.

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Went out on Peltier this morning. The ice is actually sinking a little from the small amount of snow we recieved. Caught some perchies and thats about it. Didn't mark many fish and wish I had my power auger to drill a bunch of holes. The human powered auger wears me out after a few holes even with 5". frown.gif There are still some thin spots so I didn't want to move too much.

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want to get out on a metro lake tomorrow afternoon but dont know if it will still be truely "safe" with the snow on top. I was thinking about peltier but am having second thoughts about that.. how far did you guys who went out on peltier go? i have never fished the lake so would have no idea where to go or anything like that...

Later,

Ryan

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Go out off of old mill road. You will see the wet looking areas and old holes. The gas station didn't have bait today but he said it should be there tomorrow. Let me know how you do. I am going out again probobly Tue. or Wed.

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there is open water on josephine not far from the landing and it looks like some in front of the beach. there was someone out in what looked like a wooden shack on the south side. i guess since wood floats, it's safe???? whoever that was out there was alot braver than me; i wouldn't take any chances on that lake for what's in it. hey, i love ice fishing as much as the next guy, but i can wait a week or two to make sure. its not like skipping the first week of deer hunting when you know there is a trophy buck ripping it up in your area. there are plenty of nice fish out there and missing a week or two is not going to affect the fish population one bit, especially on a trophy lake like Josephine.

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Headed out on Sunday from 3:00 pm. till 7:30 p.m. on Bald Eagle Lake. Fished close to the boat launch and just set some tip-ups out with shiners. One 19 inch walleye and a pike. Had about 5 inches of good clear ice with an inch of slush on top. I did see one guy out there on a four wheeler plowing a skating rink for his kids.....now that is ballsy! Nice day to be out though. Another week of cold weather and we should be able to walk pretty much anywhere, provided the geese aren't keeping areas open.

GoggleEye

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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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