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Ice fishing is coming


Horseshoe_Don

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Don are you over in that little bay where crazy Rick always hammers everything from pig 'eyes to buckets of slab craps to 32 inch slob channel cats?

No I am in the bay between the winter access and the meth hole.

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  • Horseshoe_Don

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Do you guys ever fish the big long hump straight out from the Winter access? or the smaller hump about 200 yards north and 50 yards west of it?

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Horseshoe frozen. Picture looking at meth hole in the distance around point(above bench).

Don

I caught my biggest walleye from the Chain right in front of your house a few years back. It was a 31" 9.75 lbs fish. Caught it in mid July of all times. In fact, I've fished your bank quiet a bit over the years. My parent's have a place on the other side of the point from you.

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I caught my biggest walleye from the Chain right in front of your house a few years back. It was a 31" 9.75 lbs fish. Caught it in mid July of all times. In fact, I've fished your bank quiet a bit over the years. My parent's have a place on the other side of the point from you.

Thats cool. I catch a lot of fish off my dock.

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I drove by pleasant today ant it was covered. Walked on shoe tonight and it is 1"+(I was only by shore).

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Went for a drive today and Grand lake is wide open, and Pearl lake is froze over and their like 2 miles apart.

I'd guess it's because Grand--while a bit smaller-- is considerably deeper than Pearl.

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just measured the ice on shoe this morning. 2" on shore and just over 1" in about 4 ft of water. Hoping to get out monday but thats up to mother nature.

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This is basically perfect timing. With the weather forecast I'm sure there will be folks out early to mid-week, and almost guaranteed to be plenty of ice a week from Sunday when I'm available. Heck, by then there could even be enough to drag the snowmobile out if we can gain like 3/4 inch to an inch per day the next week or so. Several nights of 0 or below in there, seems possible. Time will tell. Walk-able ice is almost a shoe-in (pun intended).

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I drove over to Pleasant Lake today to look at the ice conditions. I only went a few feet from shore. The ice was 1.25- 1.50 inches thick. No where near safe. Prob gonna need a another few weeks at least.

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I drove over to Pleasant Lake today to look at the ice conditions. I only went a few feet from shore. The ice was 1.25- 1.50 inches thick. No where near safe. Prob gonna need a another few weeks at least.

New ice sheets can easily put on between 1/2 inch and 1 inch of ice PER NIGHT when nighttime temps dip to (or below) 0. The cold doesn't have to penetrate though much ice to add more ice, so it adds ice fast. As it thickens, it will require longer stints at colder temps to add ice (which is what happens through Jan).

I'll bet that any lake that's covered by 1+ inch of ice at this point will be fishable by Sunday. Lakes that haven't yet capped will take longer of course.

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As aanderud mentioned, if a lake has already capped it will be "safe" rather quickly given the forecast. I personally won't venture out till about 5- 6 inches, but even that will pretty common come next weekend, if not midweek. Here are some approximate numbers concerning the subject. Please read the disclaimer in red.

full-27018-51217-ice_th1.jpg

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Good chart pushbutton

Wind and snow are the two other factors that slow good ice development.

High winds today and tomorrow and predicted temps near 40 by next Saturday, could change things rather quickly. Considering our normal temps this time of year are low 40's, we've had a great start. Hope it continues, but it's common to see skim, or thicker shore ice piled up on shorelines from strong winds this time of year, or just enough snow to flood, not sink the ice layer, then insulate ice from refreezing until below zero temps.

We will see what happens..........

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2" as of this morning on Shoe. Drove the wheelers on the shoreline to test my new ramp to the lake. with the bigger wheeler I did hear a few cracks. May try one of my safer area's as soon as tomorrow night but Tomorrows ise measurement will be the key.

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On the way home from seeing the parents this weekend, I decided to drive by Becker(Horseshoe Chain). I noticed a guy on the south side of the lake fishing....but I couldn't believe he had his quad with him too. I can't imagine there much more then 3-4" of ice on Becker.

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Becker looked to be locked up on Wed morning(from driving by on Hwy 23) so its had 4+ days of below freezing temps to make ice. Let's hope it's safe and we don't hear any reports of someone going thru.

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That "dude" is always out in the shallows on Becker, a shallow lake, crazy early. Suspect he/she /they live on the lake and get to see where, how, and for how long the ice has formed. Yes, too early for me, but probably not all that crazy.

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Maybe it's Arms. With the muscles he earns rowing up and down the river, he could flop back onto the ice no problem.

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  • Official Fishing Report Team - MN

I know the guy yes he does live on the lake and yes he usally is the first guy out there. As stated the lake was froze over for a few days so there could be fishable ice in spots but to park your ranger atv on the ice crazy Me ill wait another week or so for more comfortable ice conditions, it's a long winter and the fish aren't going anywhere!

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2" as of this morning on Shoe. Drove the wheelers on the shoreline to test my new ramp to the lake. with the bigger wheeler I did hear a few cracks. May try one of my safer area's as soon as tomorrow night but Tomorrows ise measurement will be the key.

I bet you're out there smokin em right now. I'm only a little jealous.

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Checked ice conditions on cedar island and Browns. They were around 4 inches by shore and were only 2-3 inches 20 ft off shore. Also checked rice and there is a solid 5 inches 20-30ft out. There is 3-4 inches 100 ft out. We noticed someone had a portable out 400 yds out from shore fishing on the deep ledge.

Should be good by this weekend

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(Today's Update on ice thickness)

- St Johns lakes are coming along a little bit Walked out to the deepest part of one lake @ 3.25" thickness.

- Pleasant lake 2"-2.5"

- Beaver lake 2"

(Towards the end of last wk,("Not updated")

-Little rock was starting to skim on the south side.West side was wide open.

-Kramer - wide open as far as I could see from the rod/gun access.

-Sag in St johns.Had two inches or so.Couldnt get out much more than 5' out.

-Watab long, let's just say it's got a ways to go.

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I am going to try shoe tonight for the first time this year. Have not measured this morning yet but I expect about 4".

Don

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  • Official Fishing Report Team - MN

Just a heads up cedar island has a fair amount of open water out through the bay out of the 71 access something to consider when ice gets walkable may be some thin ice in that area for a while yet. On a side note believe Horseshoe Don is on the ice waiting for his reports to come in saw his trap and wheeler out in his honey hole wink

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Anyone know of ice thickness on any of the spunks ? thinking about heading out there on Saturday. Just wondering if it will be safe or not.

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New title: Ice fishing is here.

Had a fun night. Was in 20ft of water and on 4.5" of clear ice. Rode the small wheeler out there carefully with no problems.

From 2 to 4pm the Crappies were biting and could have caught a lot if I had switched to a smaller jig but still got some.

From 4 to 5:30 The Wallys came in and they were hungry and aggressive. I was a little rusty with my hook sets but Kept enough for a nice meal. Lost 2 of every 3 on the way up. Was very active.

Only spotted a few cats on the sonar and had one bite but lost him on the way up.

Water clarity on the camera was 3-4 feet.

Be cautious, just because I have plenty of ice does not mean other bays do.

Great night

Don

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • mulefarm
      With the early ice out, how is the curlyleaf pondweed doing?
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
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