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Ice Report


JBMasterAngler

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Drove from st. cloud down to the cities this morning...fish and locke lakes were completely covered with skim ice. Most likely they'll open up today and refreeze tonight. Rice lake in maple grove was about 80% skimmed over, the morning sun was already melting away at the shoreline. Won't be long though until everything is solid!

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  • mrklean

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Went to Little Falls this afternoon to check out a new ATV trailer. Little Rock was iced over as far as I could see from Hwy 10. Bill

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I CAN HARDLY CONTAIN MYSELF!!!!! The family and I are leaving in a few weeks for a week of sun and fishing in Fl. cool.gif and I would love to get out on the ice before then. I hope the cold gets colder! Because as of today it(the ice) is not looking too good. I'm not a real big risk taker so I'm gonna need more than skim ice. 5" would be great. Got all the early ice gear ready to go. Including the PFD. So if everyone would just think about cold thoughts, really cold thoughts, that would be appreciated.

PS - On my way home from work, Achman in Avon was 90% skimmed over. grin.gif

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tippman: how do you think the fishing will be on little rock this winter? that was my main lake last winter.

anyone out there this fall?

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Well they say the algae bloom won't affect this winters fishing, and the color is back to normal. I don't fish out there too much myself, usually head west of St. Cloud or towards Annandale or Brainerd.

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Drove back to the cities today and fish and locke lakes were wide open, with the exception of a little bit of shoreline ice. Ponds were still frozen over, but not looking good with the sunny 50 degree temps we had today.

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From what i saw it looks like it should be cooling down here pretty soon. But what do i know im not a weather man and we live in minnesota are luck it could be 70 degrees tomorrow

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Pearl lake was about 1/3 froze as of Sunday took 3 steps and it started cracking so i left. Drove past Grand and it was still wide open but looking at the forecast they should be solid in a week or so.

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Keep the reports coming!!

I know there is a thread going in the ICE FISHING Forum, but I like where this is going. It is specific to our area and will be very helpful thread for some of us that will focus on early ice.

ICE, ICE, ICE baby tooo cold!

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Sounds like the wind last night really beat up some of the lakes that were looking close just yesterday morning. Be careful guys as thing will be starting over in some spots.

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Took a few steps on pleasant this morning. still very very thin and unsafe, however the open water from yesterday was gone. I plan to keep checking it daily to help ease the pain.

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There is still some open water on Horseshoe, out from the winter access.

However, a good 2/3 of the lake was locked up with ice.

Most of the chain including the Sauk River is mostly locked up with thin ice.

I also did see open water on Long, Browns and Eden Lakes today.

We should be building more ice every day now. smirk.gif

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I live on the lake and they were out fishing yesterday at 4:15 when I came home from work and there out again tonight. There walking out from the east side at the little park. The gate is still closed but there's room to park along the road.

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Was out today. Not spearing though. Angling. 4 inches on that lake. I normally would wait for 5", but it's my birthday cool.gif and I just couldn't resist the temptation to fish today. Got one 30" northern before the wind told me it was time to go. blush.gif I never did like sailing and it's even less fun in an ice house. Be safe, and pick-up your gabage. grin.gif

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Well happy birthday then!!! laugh.gif

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Already 4 inches!!! I cant believe how fast it got cold, im kinda mad i was home for thanksgiving got all my stuff ready but didnt think we would be getting ice for at least another few weeks, now all my gear is 160 miles away and im stuck waiting to go home again.

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Quote:

Took a few steps on pleasant this morning. still very very thin and unsafe, however the open water from yesterday was gone. I plan to keep checking it daily to help ease the pain.


3-4 inches on Pleasant this morning near the access. I pulled quite a few rocks off that people have tossed out there to test the ice, I really wish people wouldn't do that especially in front of the access.

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I did a little tour of the lakes around saint joe:

Big fish: 75% skimmed over but still open water

Long Lake(next to big fish) Open water except for shores and bays

Island Lake: Looked to be completly covered with ice, did not check the thickness

I also drove by kramer and it looked to be mostly covered in ice.

I think last nights wind opened 'em back up a bit, lets hope for a couple of calm cold nights.

This was around 1:00pm

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I would guess that Pearl is close to the ice I experienced at a nearby lake and I couldn't throw my HUGE chisel through. drilled a hole at and found about 3 good solid inches..Didn't venture out too far though. A buddy and I could jump with minor spiderwebbing standing next to each other...didn't fish, but fishing for sure there on Saturday....Good Luck to ya.....

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Thanks Borch. It really was a happy b-day. I couldn't think of any better way to spend it than fishing and with family. I have wonderful children who also can't wait 'til they can come out to the lake with dad. Hope to get them out there soon.

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Quote:

Anyone got an H-Chain ice report??
wink.gifwink.gif


My question too. I was gonna head over there tomorrow morning but since I'm not sure of the conditions looks like I'm going bowhunting. Gonna be a cold morning on stand.

By the way, nice to see more people posting in the St. Cloud forum lately cool.gif

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Has anyone checked sagatagan lake by St. Johns yet for ice thickness. I was wondering if there are any springs that I should know about since I have never ice fished it before. Does it get fished pretty hard in the winter? Thanks for all the ice reports.

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I spent four years fishing it most weekends, and there never was much pressure when I was there. Lots of small sunnies out there, but you can find some gigantic largies if you like weeding through lots of snakes to get them. You can also have a lot of fun jigging for the pike/bass with big rapalas or nils masters. There's nothing better than having a pike kamikaze a jigging spoon!

The water in the lake is super clear, so if you go out soon, be careful to be quiet and low-key if you run to a tip up. The fish will spook if they hear/see you clunking around.

Carl

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Sag was 50% open as of 2:30 thursday afternoon. That wind has been doing a good job of keeping the water moving over the main basin.

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  • Official Fishing Report Team - MN

Well here is a ice report for the Horseshoe chain. Ice thickness varys from open water to 3-4 inches.

Bolfing- Ice covered 1 fish house out

Becker-Totally ice covered with 2 collapsibles out there Looks the best out of the whole chain

Horseshoe- Ice covered with a big open spot out from the winter access. Someone fished mertans bay a few auger holes.

Long- Ice covered with not alot of open spots

Cedar Island- This lake looks the worst out of all of them alot of open water yet showing the narrows are froze but this lake needs some calm days to set up better.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

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