driving small trucks?

[troutman72]

are they letting small trucks on the ice at any resorts yet? or is the ice not thick enough yet? thinking about heading up tomarrowif i can drive on the ice.

[minnesotatuff]

i was wondering the same thing? i have a f150 w/topper. a couple guys i know are going up also. they have a 4 wheeler and have invited me, but i wont pull my house behind a snowmobile or 4 wheeler. if i can drive, im set! in my younger years i walked 3/4 to a mile out from cedar creek access, but now i walk with either a cane or brace for longer walks... my pickup is the way to go. so im teater tottering about tomorrow. ive ordered a H2Oc w/navionics chip that hasnt come yet also...

regards,

minnesotatuff

[half2fish]

i know of a resort on the south end of the lake that are allowing smaller truck go out but they also have a road plaowed out a little ways. i have gone out of there 3 times this year. been driving my f150. not sure of any other resorts that are letting people out.

[minnesotatuff]

thanks half2fish,

youre a cool dude. im not familiar with the isle corner. never been there in the winter and the closest ive made it in the summer is probably hawkbill and graveyard. if i had the new gps w/contours i ordered last tuesday, i would go tomorrow... i called liberty beach today, they said they might be letting people drive on next week sometime. a lot of my icefishing has been from there on out to 5 mile depending on when. ive heard there is a lot of structure on the isle end of the lake, so there must be some fantastic places...

best regards,

minnesotatuff

[seekingwalleye]

was out on the west side of the lake today about 2 miles out.. we had 12 inches of ice and I seen a 4 door pick up bookin across the lake coming from the middle more doing about 30-40 mph.. nuts.. who ever they are

[BDR]

South end near Isle. Seen a truck today with it's front end down. Water up to the engine. Be very careful out there.

[Rainydaze]

Yikes!

That doesn't sound good. I'm going crazy waiting to get the sleeper out. Normally I like to put it on the north side flats. Hope the Pressure ridges are manageable. Looks like another week of cold weather.

[troutman72]

i drove up yesterday and strted out in cove bay drove out there was a foot of ice there and lots of little perch. left there and drove up to barnicall and tried out there i went in to the resort to see if they were driving out ? the lady behinde the bar say yep there pulling fish houses out. i think wow i get to drive out. i bought a road pass and off i went. here in southern MN i drive on 10 to 12 inches (i have a s10) as i drove on the ice i see only2 trucks the resort plow trucks. i cross the bridge and head out they have a road plowed to the right about 200 yard off shore i drove down that. the ice was cracking but thats a good thing. i get out to a spot i had picked on the gps. stoped and started to fish a good 10 to 12 inches where i was 250 to 300yard off shore. fished there for a while catching little perch.

im thinking of driving out the road they are plowing out in the lake. im just ready to pack it up and give it a try. along comes one of the plow trucks he stops and asked( how the heck did you get out here) i said i bought a road pass from the lady at the bar. he says were not alowing people out here. at this point im a little nervous i thought i heard the lady wrong and was making the new owner PO at me. i got all my gear packed up and was walking back to the truck wen he yells i can stay out as long as im already there. at this point i did stay where i was i drilled a few more holes and tried around but nothing but little ones. after he talked to me i decided not to try out farther.

i never felt in danger because i would normally drive on that much ice without thinking about it on the lakes i know at home but not on the big pond too many cracks or chances of this early.

i moved to rocky reef than and fished in 12 to 15 feet of water nad got 6 perch that were nice and an 16 inch eye all in the last half hour of light than nothing. i left at 5:30 it was a good 20 min pull back to the truck. there was a foot of ice there too.

hope to get up there on wed if i can. i will be fishing rock reef for sure. the perch were 9 to 11 inches

maybe ill get to drive out again.

[minnesotatuff]

nice report troutman, thanks. one good thing, if they were out there with plow trucks... 12 inches is definately enough to drive a full size pickup & more. the hazards are the pressure ridges. the resort owners know where they are and in what kind of condition. staying away from the ridges on 12" of ice is plenty for me...ill be heading up next saturday. after the cool down there should be plenty of ice for driving anywhere.

regards,

minnesotatuff

[dangnear]

drove down westside yesterday there were full size trucks driving out in 3 or 4 different areas

[RonZ]

Yesterday we seen a small pick-up drive out to 3 mile rock bar. He must of come out of liberty or somewhere just north of big point. We were out on 9 mile and just south of 3 mile. 10" of ice everywhere.

[Glockwinger]

We went up on Saturday the 17th and pulled the sleeper into Cove bay where we had 14 or so inches. Lots of perch in the 8-9" range...11 feet of water. Had my 5 year old son along so he was loving the action. Then one of our guys went out on a 4 wheeler and started drilling holes and checking ice out towards the big water. Well, they got to the crack and found a consistant 12" so they decided to pull the house out. We pulled the sleeper out into 19' where it was still a full 12". We drove out our 1/2 ton extended cab truck with no problems. Caught more perch 9 - 11" and one 17" walleye. Had to leave by noon to come back to work tonight Scary thing is that they guy pulling us out onto the lake went across the crack at a different spot later in the day and broke through! He drove out of it, but after measuring, that spot was only about 5" or so at the crack. That is why you should NEVER venture off a marked/plowed road unless you have personally checked the condition of the ice every 10 yards or so. Between the bunch of us who go up there, I have been going up the least at 10 years, some of them 20. We always check the ice ourselves before houses get pulled. I won't make it back up until New Years, and then plan to spend about 5 days in the sleeper.

[Riverratpete]

Fished out of Liberty on Sat..have a road plowed for quite a ways out...looks to be almost out to 1 mile reef, they were pulling houses out to the first break also. some small trucks out and of course ATV's (me and a buddy walked). Looked to be 12 inches of good clear cocktail ice out there, none of the usual roughness. Fishing itself sucked, fished from 19 - 25 ft could see them on the vex but couldn't get them to bite.

[norma]

If anyone went out at the public launch at My Mar you would have noticed that to the left about 50 yards out some messed up ice. That was me Saturday Dec 16th where my 4-wheeler went through. Ice was 10 inches thick, I just got alongside a crack that was hidden under some snow and the rest is history. BTW if you are one of the strangers that came by and helped me dig it out, THANK YOU!

Also I was only a few feet off a well worn track that wheelers had been using. The Ice was hard as well, my bad luck to hit a cracked spot. Like the DNR says, no ice is safe.