Walkable ice?

[Steve Foss]

I posted an Ely area ice report from today in this thread.

Good news!

[fishinfey8]

That is good news, thanks Foss. I'm just about to leave the cities for Duluth, and I will be checking the ice again this weekend and will post back what I find. Of course I will have another person and safety gear up the wazoo...

last weekend fish lake

NOTE: This was one of the thicker, better areas I found. It does NOT represent fish lakes ice as a whole.

[wagner3]

Report from hi banks people started walking out sat. 4to6in few walleye in narrows crappies & bluegills in pontoon bay no 4 wheelers yet will keep everyone updated

[BD110]

Thanks for the report Tim!!

I hope to see you guys one day this week. I'm trying to hold out so we can use our ATV's or Sleds.

Talk to you soon...

[Jarrid Houston]

Watched a house go through on Amnicon Saturday. Don't know what they were thinking trying to put out the permie yet...No one hurt thank goodness, but they are going to have a great time dealing with it. Other than that, herpa and I hit 3 bodies of water on my side of the fence (WI). Yellow River, Amnicon, Minnusing all had good ice. Fishing could of been better, but at least we caught a few (No eyes though). Hope to hear a Boulder report...

[Jack Stasney]

Hit Boulder this weekend. Walked out since it was my first time out this season. 8 inches of ice everywhere I checked, definetely some snowmobile traffic out of the landing . We went out by the dam. Some slushy spots near the shore though, ice was cracking if you got to close to some of them. Between the two of us we only got one decent hit in about 2.5hrs on Sunday morning. Was hoping to move around more, but that wind was cold and kept freezing my gear up.

[Jarrid Houston]

Indeed it was a blustery morning Sunday...

[reinhard1]

to me as many time i have fished boulder. in the open water i have my best luck with walleys during the day. of course if it's sunny a chop helps but during hard water i get more action just before sunset or cloudy days. well there are a lot of factors i'm sure. it was nice to get a report from my favorite lake in the duluth area. thank you and good luck.

[Brad F]

How was the walking on Boulder? I'm thinking of fishing there this weekend. Any need for snow shoes?

[fishinfey8]

Jw and I hit some local lakes this past weekend. On Island, we walked the shoreline out of South bay and in the channel where South bay connects to the main lake. We found anywhere from 3 - 5 in of good ice. Fished probably 3 hours without graphing a fish.

We also fished on fish lake both out in the narrows and over by the dam access. Out there we found 4 in. pretty consistently, but the dam is flowing fast, so stay away from it! Caught some crappies, northerns and perch, but still couldn't manage any eyes.

[reinhard1]

glad to see you had some luck. amazing, it seems you have less ice up there than down here. must be the snow cover. how much snow is on the ice? i am looking forward to comming up there. but probably not till jan. thanks for the pictures. good luck.

[gardn184]

anyone been out on the smaller lakes north of duluth, ie nichols or leora (elora) Thinking about heading up that way tomorrow morning for some spearing action, will post on the ice conditions when we return

[only ice]

Somone went through at elora, they were hauling a perm out with a wheeler. I have a place on Nichols but havent been out on the lake. They got alot of snow on both the lakes. I would walk, and check the ice a few times on your way out.

[fishinfey8]

Hey Northlander, you should let me know when we are good to go for sleds out on Island and we will have to give it a whirl. I know there was talk about having a get together, it would be nice if we could travel a ways...

[fishinfey8]

glad to see you had some luck. amazing, it seems you have less ice up there than down here. must be the snow cover. how much snow is on the ice? i am looking forward to comming up there. but probably not till jan. thanks for the pictures. good luck.

The ice is definitely thinner here than in most places. There was probably 6 in of snow on island, and it was soupy in places. Under that mess was thin ice, but you could find "trails" of good ice to get to the main lake. The back bays gathered the most snow, so it seems that the main lake has better ice. But, Island didn't freeze over until after thanksgiving so the further out from shore (on the main basin) the thinner the good, clear ice got.

If you come up and find yourself needing a partner on the ice let me know. I'm on Christmas break till the second week of January.

[PiedmontAngler]

Anyone check on Rice lake yet?

[BD110]

I've walked out on Rice lake one time last week. I found a good five inches of ice were I had walked out from the Miller road. There was slush to be found but not as bad as I thought it would be. Water was making it's way out of all the holes that I drilled but I haven't made it back to see how things may have set up after that. I was tempted to see if I would be able to get around on my 4-wheeler but thought it would be best to give it a few more days.

[Northlander]

Im guessing it will be after X-mas before sleds will be traveling to some of the spots I would like to hit. I havent seen anyone wlking out to the usual haunts up there yet.

[live4chrome]

I've walked out on Rice lake one time last week. I found a good five inches of ice were I had walked out from the Miller road. There was slush to be found but not as bad as I thought it would be. Water was making it's way out of all the holes that I drilled but I haven't made it back to see how things may have set up after that. I was tempted to see if I would be able to get around on my 4-wheeler but thought it would be best to give it a few more days.

I found some real thin spots on rice on moday. chisel went through in one hit. must have been the snow.

[fishinfey8]

Lets say first walkable ice in the fish lake narrows. I'm going to guess Dec. 2nd. Anybody got a guess? I will personally buy anyone who guesses correctly a beer (or beverage of choice), unless I guess right - then i'm going to buy myself 2.

[BD110]

I found some real thin spots on rice on moday. chisel went through in one hit. must have been the snow.

[live4chrome]

bd110, i went out from miller

[Surface Tension]

The way we had open holes on lakes that had ice for over a week and stayed open in spite of the cold temps I've been leery about checking those spots out. Not to mention the snows that hit when the open areas finally did freeze. Maybe this weekend I'll venture out and check.

[crabshack]

wow, I had no idea arctic armor floats! that definitely makes the extra $ spent well worth it if it could potentially save your life.

[Down Deep]

Looks like the big slush maker is on the way.

[Surface Tension]

Looks like the big slush maker is on the way.

Yeah just when you thought is was getting "safe".

Slush has pretty much froze everywhere. Snow on the lakes is 6" or less. That would have made travel pretty easy.

Two perms on Grand and I saw some limited ATV travel.

Grand did not freeze over at once so I have no idea of what the ice is like in the spots that froze later.

I've been cautious of those spots on ALL the lakes in this area. I was going to test those out this weekend but if we get a ton of snow. Well look for wet areas of areas that sag. If you go out you might want to stay out of the main body for now.

[Northlander]

Sounds like most of the snow will stay south of us but we could still get up to 8". I guess I wont be pulling my Otter out by hand anymore. I sure hope my snowmobile gets fixed soon.

[gardn184]

Was out on Leora(elora) and there was 6 inches of ice, 2 inches of clear ice, and 4 inches of frozen slush, not by any stretch good ice. Someone had tried to pull a permie out, they didn't make it, the house was half submerged and froze in. Be careful out there guys. No need to push it it's a long winter.

[PiedmontAngler]

Up on a small lake north of Two Harbors. There was a firm 8 inches in the middle. You could tell there had been slush that by yesterday was well frozen. Snow cover was anywhere from slight to 6 inches, blown by the wind. Managed to bag a few nice crappies to bring home for a dinner too.

[fishinfey8]

Thanks for the report Piedmont. I think we will be seeing wheelers and sleds by next weekend with the forecast. If -13 tonight doesn't lock up some slush, i'm not exactly sure what will.