Otter tail ice up predictions

[rookie-8]

Okay, let's have a little fun. Lets see some predictions for first complete ice cover on Ottertail.

I am going say the night of Nov. 25th.

And 4 wheelers on the ice by the 29th,

am I too anxious???

[Gissert]

Four days from freeze up to wheelers?

If the wind blows, all bets are off. The early ice was pretty uneven last year.

I hope you are right, however.

[Jarrod32]

Looking at the forecast, I would think that some of the smaller lakes should be frozen over by Thanksgiving. The temps look good for the next week and a half or so, but the wind and snow isn't favorable at all. It'll probably be the 1st of December before Otter Tail is frozen over...and that may be good. Better to get a solid layer of good ice instead of a wind-blown, snow covered layer of 'bad' ice.

[Guest]

At the rate it's going, and the somewhat cold weather on the way.... for OT, December 6th freeze up.

[Guest]

I'll go ahead and say OT will be all froze up by Dec. 8th. And then my 8X16 will be out between Xmas and new years.

[rookie-8]

oooh ya! Single digits and strong wind. This will suck the heat out of the lakes, soon as the wind dies down, she will be making ice. Won't be long now.

[bigfishin21]

What are the ice conditions like up there? Have you seen anyone out on any of the smaller lake up there? Does battle lake have ice on the shoreline? Is Marion Lake froze over yet? Thanks for the help...

[Guest]

I haven't seen anyone ice fish yet. Last week's warm weather opened a lot of small lakes up, and now they are frozen over again. Some small lakes held the ice, but now they have inches of snow on top. Could slow down ice production. I'll be venturing out next weekend, hopefully the ice will be thicker.

West Battle is wide open. Some ice where it's 1-2 feet of water

Marion, unknown.

Grand Dad, your Long Lake was completely ice covered last Thursday.

[Gissert]

Thanks, CD.

Did you see that Shoremaster is gonna have a protable sale at the Armory in Fergus on Friday? If the prices are right, I might just have to get myself a new shack. My Otter is getting tired....

I'll try and have the wife check the north side of S. Turtle tonight, but she usually gets home after dark. I think her vending route took her to Perham today, so I'll ask her how Ottertail and Rush looked tonight.

[This message has been edited by Gissert (edited 11-24-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Gissert (edited 11-24-2003).]

[jcbh]

Norway was still mainly open this morning, it wont be when it calms down.

[boatsot]

hey gisset the shoremaster sale will be at the plant in ff

[Guest]

thanks can't wait to ice fish!

[Gissert]

CD -

Did you get a look at S. Turtle this morning?

I forgot to go take a look for ice before I left for the cities today.

[Guest]

How about Norway or West Lost any ice?

[Guest]

The winds were crazy yesterday. It opened or kept the water open. The lakes should be real close to freezing up if the winds die off.

For the first time, I forgot to look at S. Turtle this morning in my travels. I'll give you a report tomorrow, Gissert.

West Lost was ice covered last Thursday when I drove by. It looked pretty solid(?). The river was barely trickling and hardly any water flowing into the lake.

I'll check Norway.

[Gissert]

Boatsot -

Thanks! I saw that when I checked my flier last night. Dunno what I was thinking...

CD- Wifey got home too late to check the ice on S-Turtle. She drove right past it twice on 210 and gapped looking at the ice. You can see our place from there now that the leaves are gone, so she was looking at the house. She did say there was a ring of ice on the east end of Ottertail, and it went out 100 feet or so. She did not look at Rush.

[Guest]

Norway Lake was almost completely iced over, but there were several splotches of open holes yesterday late afternoon. The ice looked bad from the landing, as if Sunday's wind pushed a lot of ice around.

South Turtle looked iced over, with some spotty open spots too. Appeared to be decent ice.

West Battle Lake froze completely yesterday late afternoon-last night!! Looks like decent ice in the middle, just hope the wind doesn't take it like last year.

This might be another "black hole" year. Some very small lakes/pothole ponds have open water holes as of this morning, yet West Battle froze solid. Doesn't make much sense to me, but be VERY careful if any of you venture out. Last week's warmth and strong winds on Sunday really messed things up on some lakes!

[jcbh]

Norway was completely frozen this morning, but like it was mentioned, doesn't look like the best ice.

[Guest]

I talked to Shoremaster and they told me about their sale on Friday at the plant. They claim they will have good sale prices, but I bought an Otter Lodge. Can't wait to try it out....this weekend!!!

[Jigging Bob]

Hey CD and Gissert, I really am thankful that you guys get the reports on South Turtle and the other lakes in the area. I never get the time to get out there. I will be out doing some winterizing this weekend though (hopefully). Depends on how far I get on my Ice house.

This cold weather has thrown me and my fishing buds into a frenzy. Really have to get that baby done so I can start Jigging for Da tirty pounder doncha ya know

[gilliweed]

Does anyone know what the ice situation is on Ottertail?

[currdogg5]

Ottertail ice is very unpredictable right now. I have been on the ice out there every day since wednesday afternoon. 4 inches in some spots with 2 inches in another. Yesterday i was out fishing the first break in front of the Pelican bay acess when two people started walking out. As they got within about 75 yards of us the man fell through the ice. He was only in for maybe 20 seconds and climbed out, but a very scary sight to see. I think he fell through at a spot where 3 cracks met, cause the ice we were on was clear and very stable. So be careful if you venture out on the big lake. TC

[bucktail]

currdogg
lets hit up OT friday night. hopefully we can get houses out this weekend.

[Chuckster]

Was out on Pelican Lake near Ashby on Saturday afternoon and did quite well on crappies. we ended up with 28 as we threw a few back. Ice conditions were decent as there was a good five inches of solid clear ice.

p.s. Wishin I had a vexilar as fish depths varied through the day

[Brett Meyer]

Hey chuckster, how deep were you fishing, and on what part of the lake, I have been meaning to get out there but have been too busy the last week or so.
Were there a lot of guys out there?

Thanks

[Chuckster]

Well since the ice was not very good on the rest of the lake, we fished the narrows on the west end. The narrows usually do not get any deeper than 10 ft so generally anywhere in the area should work. The only problem was deciding where since there were probly 50 people fishing that day. When I finally did get set up we were in 8 ft with most of the crappies being suspeneded two feet off the bottom.

[Gissert]

CD -

You interested in gettin' out on some ice Saturday afternoon?

[Guest]

Gissert,
A friend is coming up to help me do some sheetrock work on my garage and we will definitely be fishing over the weekend. I don't know where we'll go....depends on what we feel like catching.
What would you want to fish for? I'd love to get on OT on a spot I have, but likely a long hike. You can email me too chunord@yahoodotcom

I was on West Battle last evening and iced my 1st eye thru the ice! 8" of ice where I was, but the middle of the lake had open spots on Sunday from all that wind, but it's all frozen now. Luckily the temps have been in the teens at night which helps, but we need colder.

[This message has been edited by CD (edited 12-02-2003).]

[rap]

looking for ice conditions on OT? might head out to the pelican bay area sunday if the ice sounds good enuf to walk out on?? also any info on bait shops around there would be great! thanks for any info

[Ray Esboldt]

rap,

I was out there yesterday off the Hwy. 78 access. There was about 4 to 5 inches of ice. Caught a fair number of walleyes, but they were pretty small.

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Ray Esboldt
www.marcumtech.com