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Hey crew... just checking to see how the ice is or if it's gone. I heard lakes by Aitkin have no ice on them. Any info is appreciated. Thanks.

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I was up there sun afternoon mon and tues. here is my take. depends on the lake. some lakes had open water along the shorelines 20-30 yards out and the next one looked locked up yet. I went out on the lake our cabin is on and it had at least 10 inches of ice.

I drove 38 from marcel to rapids and same same some lake you cant get on the next one looked OK.!!!!

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How was the 10" of ice you went out on? Pretty solid or was it "soft"?

Thanks for the information!

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it was or seemed good. sure its changing daily! I used a chisel and seemed pretty solid for this time of year.

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smurfy's report surprises me. I live north of Rapids a little ways. Almost every lake you look at is inaccessible. The shoreline ice is gone, or completely unsafe, on dang-near every lake. Some small, bog-stained lakes are ice free already. Seven days ago I got on Bowstring and one smaller lake in the area. Bowstring's ice was very honeycombed, though still thick (2 ft). The smaller lake was okay at the time, but guaranteed it's shot now.

This week wasn't very warm but we lost ice nonetheless. Ice fishing is over here.

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Deet, our place is about 7-8 miles north of bowstring. keep in mind this was easter sunday. and yes I did walk out with a chisel and check. water did not start filling in the hole till I was over half way thru.

would I recommend going out further.......NO!

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I live northeast of Grand rapids and the smaller lakes are going fast. McKinney should be open tomorrow, and we have 60 degrees reported with sun tomorrow. I live on Hanson and it is eroding fast.

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Thanks for the additional updates. Is the ice gone now? Thinking about making a 5 hour drive to put the dock and boat in this coming weekend (4/18/2015). Thanks.

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