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Snow and Ice conditions


ryrywilke

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Heading up Jan.2 and was kinda wondering what the ice and snow conditions were on the lake. I think that 8 of us are coming up with 2 half ton crew cab pickups and 2 20+ foot fish houses. Are we able to get on a be pretty mobile with that equipment? Are all accesses accessable? Are all lake roads open? Thickness of ice? Able to drive anywhere on the ice?

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Had 14 inches today with lots of trucks pulling wheel houses out. Saw a couple of diesels out there which seems like a little early for that. Roads are good out of West Wind but not sure about anywhere else.

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I guess I really dont know which resort we are goin out of. I can imagine what I hear on here from the fish reports, but usually we go out of Hillmans. But have also gone out of West Wind too and others on the south end

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Dumb question, but what constitutes a "smaller" fish house? Are we talking 20' and less or a certain weight? Thanks

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I guess we are bringing up a 24' with tandem axle and a 20' with tandem axle (ice castle). The 24' was built very light though and wont be loaded up with a four wheeler or anything just probably alot of beer. Is it easy getting around on the lake with a pickup?

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I have seen anywhere from 13 to 15.5 in. of ice of the main road. There are some 3/4 ton trucks with 20+ foot houses. Most of the larger houses are experincing minor flooding when the houses are left attached.

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Wondering what the snow cover on the lake is like? Will it be OK to get around with a pickup?

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There's still a good ammount of snow out there. I noticed as a plow was pushing out a new path, his chains went through a good layer of slush. Other than that, there are plowed roads forked off the main road. I'd avoid the deeper snow, but you're still fine chugging through the harder, thinner snow.

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For the most part you should be ok if you pick and chose where you go. Some of the drifts are deep enough and hard enough to hang up pick-ups. Little shovel work and you can normaly back out of them pretty easy.

Look out for slush and give the road banks/ tall drifts plenty of room.

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Thanks for the info, that should help before we get up there on Wed. afternoon. Any tips on where to try for some of those "Slabs"? Or just go anywhere away from other people, depth??

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Hey ryrywilke,

I'll be headin up there on Wednesday too. Not sure on the area yet, but I am tryin to figure if my 1 ton deisal will be fine with wheel house. Sounds like Jon and Kelly know whats going on, so I will probably go outa their area.

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Quote:

Sounds like Jon and Kelly know whats going on, so I will probably go outa their area.


Gonna cover some ground are ya? As of today we are spread out over four miles. wink.gif

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Jon-

was out there twice last year this time and did great. Hopefully same result this year. I guess reports from other fisherman help too.

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This time of the year can be crazy, about the time you start to wonder why a guy ever wasted a minute of his life looking for crappies they show up in masses, normaly caught by little old ladies or guys that got lost and fished while they where waiting for a pull.

Keeps a guy humble.

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Sounds like a bunch of us are coming up and am pretty sure we will probably go out of Hillmans, but there will be 3 crew cab pickups one pulling a 24' house, another pulling a 23' house and the last one I'm not really sure how big it is. Cold snap coming for a couple of days here but getting milder later on in the week, hopefully triggering some of those big slabs again. Watch out for our convoy should arrive around noon or so give or take an hour or so. Hopefully enough ice to handle all of us

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You should be fine, it may be more of a challenge to head away from the roads. Next time up I am going to bring the plow for the wheeler so we aren't right off the road.

Hillmans has a real nice road going out. Here are a few pictures drom this morning.

P1010308.jpg

P1010307.jpg

P1010304.jpg

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Nice house ya got there Somethingfishy,

How far out on the lake were you and did you catch em? It will be me dad's first trip to Red on Wends. and I don't want to completely dissapoint him.

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Do you have info on what the fishing is like at Lake Winnie. I will be up their next Saturday thru Wednesday. This is my 2nd time to lake winnie. All I remember is we stayed at a place on the southern tip of lake winnie. Can you give me any info or can you contact someone who has the lastest fishing/ice conditions at lake winnie.

Thanks

pauliepanfish

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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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