Ice

[Billy G]

Just to stir up the forum from its death I thought I'd throw up a new post. What's everybody's prediction of this season's Ice? I'm gunna guess good early ice and and just have hope that the ice stays at least good enough to ride wheeler on for the winter! As a snowmobiler I hope for a record amount of snow not seen in decades... might be better off tying to win off a lottery ticket though.

[BringAnExtension]

Hope you are right.  The past two hard water seasons were way too short.

[Mitch K]

I'll venture a guess and say 1st weekend of December we'll have a good 4" to walk on. 

Then it will continue to freeze to at least 12" before it gets snowed on 

[gimruis]

I'm going to predict that these warm winters with less snow are going to be occurring more frequently and that safe ice will be a thing of the past.  Open water fishing will be back sooner than you think next spring.

Billy G - go get that lottery ticket!

Edited October 24, 2017 by gimruis

[Billy G]

Haha I'll get right on that, some snow predicted tommrow night though, i think my theories might be coming true....

[Mitch K]

With this cold I wouldn't be surprised to see fishable ice by Thanksgiving.

 

[Jordan Manderfield]

It's possible, definitely up North. I'm pretty big into weather and the latest models have us creeping back into the 50s...maybe low 60s for highs come mid month. It can very well change though! As a whole I think we'll have a great winter compared to the last few...finally a La nina pattern. Also plenty of cold building in Canada. I say first week of December...and very soon for places in Nw MN.

[Knowknot]

It sure looks like everything is getting locked up around southern Minnesota. Could be earlier than planned..

[Jordan Manderfield]

It's all open...it's ready to go..But we won't see any big time cold for awhile..Still in better position then last year. I was open water fishing the first weekend of shotgun in a t-shirt last year. We'll be alright. 

[JIvers]

Looks like a stretch of warm weather for the next week or so. No safe ice in November for southern Minnesota this year.

Maybe safe ice for the weekend of December 9 in south central Minnesota if the temps are just a bit colder than currently predicted.

The weekend after that is looking good unless the predicted temps for December get warmer, or you get a bunch of snow up that way.

[JIvers]

Any updates? I think I'll be heading up that way next weekend.

[Billy G]

Alot of open water pockets on bigger lakes still, some people out on cannon on 3 inches about 60 yards or less from shore. 

[JIvers]

Thanks for the report--about what I figured, which is why I stayed down here in Iowa this weekend.

I am fairly optimistic about getting on the ice in southeast or south central Minnesota next weekend; whether I am on a lake around Faribault or Waseca, or one of my old backwater haunts on the Mississippi remains to be seen. Maybe Clear Lake, Iowa.

Whatever I do I will post my results.

[geliason]

Can't get on the lakes yet, but there are still fish in the river.

[gimruis]

23 hours ago, geliason said:

Can't get on the lakes yet, but there are still fish in the river.

There's no reason to go on the frozen lake when you are catching fish like that in the open water of a river.

[geliason]

Saw a bunch of houses on Union today. I didn’t know that lake had anything worth catching. Is it just an early ice lake?

[JIvers]

I may make it over to Elysian, Francis, or Tetonka this Saturday. Depends what I find on the Mississippi tomorrow afternoon.

From what I have heard the ice on the backwaters around Winona and La Crosse may actually be in better shape than that around Waseca and Faribault, which is kind of odd for early ice. Usually the south-central MN lakes freeze up just a bit quicker.

[Harpenter]

I'm 4-5 hours South, but my cousin texted me yesterday and said guys are walking out from the North side of French.  He said there's still open water on the South side though.

[troutman72]

use caution on the lakes in southern mn  there is a lot of lakes that have one or 2 spots of open water.  with that said where ive fished there has been a solid 5-6 inches as of yesterday  clear, cedar.cannon,elysian, circle.  i would use a spud bar to check if your going where people havent gone yet.

[Billy G]

Buddy saw 2 cars out on Roberts last night, a little brave among other words if you ask me! I bet there's some good ice being made now with these below zero days we've been having.

[pikeandchester]

I found a lot of 9” ice but am sitting on 7 1/2” now. Several vehicles on the ice including many 1/2 ton trucks. Way more brave than l am.

[Billy G]

Man people like to push their luck, or maby they just have lots of money laying around to get their cars and trucks out of the ice! What you reported for ice just goes to show like most people should be aware of is that if you have this much ice here and there it doesn't mean you have it everywhere

[Reeling n" Rockin]

What lake were you on there are some lakes like roberds nw corner point that geese kept open so that ice is a week or so behind the rest of the lake.

[geliason]

On Roberds yesterday. A good 8-10 of clear ice. Still not driving thickness for me. Lots of marks on the flasher. 16.5 FOW and ended up with a 4 lb white bass (biggest ever for me) and a 16" walleye right at sundown. 

[Natew48]

I've never caught one before. Are they good to eat? Good fighters? Never been on that lake before, any advice on some good spots to check out? My wife and son have never been ice fishing before and this winter I told them we would check out a bunch of new lakes and I wanna put them on some good spots.

[Natew48]

We were out on sabre last weekend and didn't catch anything.  I think we were just out at the wrong time cause quite a few people started showing up when we were about to leave. Must be a good late bite there.

[geliason]

I have not eaten white bass. I hear if you filet them but leave the belly meat off they are pretty good. I've found Roberts better on early ice for walleye, same with French. Better luck with crappies after that. Best idea is to go the the DNR website lake finder and download the lake maps.  Look for breaks, inside curves and points. Mark what you think will be good spots, then for 10. Bucks you can get the Navionics app for phone or iPad. 

[Natew48]

Thanks for the advice. I bought a southern mn lake map book from fleet farm a couple of months ago and flagged a bunch of lakes and was marking spots I wanted to try. I'm definitely gonna try those lakes you mentioned. I don't really care if I catch fish but I want them to. I want them to have as much fun fishing as I always have, even if you're not catching anything.