We’re losing ice quickly on the pond… My friends up at Fishers just checked the same area where they found 33″ of ice last week it is now down to only 19″ 
Last week I was guessing our odds of being ice free were 50/50 at best, but after the warm weekend and rain predicted this week we may be back on schedule to be ice free by opener…
I don’t think so
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I don’t think so
You still coming up either way??
28″ near Hennepin Island on Sunday.
1/2 mile out from shore up on the north end it was up to the power head of the auger yesterday. Solid all the way through. Shorelines are getting very weak and soft though. Might be loose enough to move by the end of this week–maybe.
I think so
You guys are bumming me out… Where they drilled was also a half mile out and was up to the auger last week and I was expecting it to not have gone down much at all so when I heard it had lost 14″ I was pretty excited. They even did multiple holes because they could hardly believe it themselves.
Pretty heavy thunderstorm came through overnight and surely aged the ice. 10 days gone? I ain’t bettin’ on it but I could be wrong and hope I am.
yesterday, 4/29, cove bay just started to pull away from shore on the north side of the bay. there is open spots out on the reef off of the point. the rule of thumb here on the south end is, mille lacs goes out 10 days after lake onamia. lake onamia is still ice covered.
our crew is setting alternate plans to head over to South Dakota. Going to oficially open the shack the last week of May. Got a bunch of fresh maple syrup to go get.
Interesting…I wonder what would explain such widely varying ice thicknesses. Why would the ice in one area melt 14” when other ice didn’t melt nearly as much?
Maybe the ice wasn’t an even thickness before it started melting? Drilling over a very large spear hole? 
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Interesting…I wonder what would explain such widely varying ice thicknesses. Why would the ice in one area melt 14” when other ice didn’t melt nearly as much?
Maybe the ice wasn’t an even thickness before it started melting? Drilling over a very large spear hole?
In this case I would think it is probably related to snow cover. It could also be caused by differences in depth & bottom composition, proximitly to current, etc; however, since I know exactly where these holes were drilled I doubt either of those would have been a factor.
sheesh! 
What about 18th? ANy chance ice will be off then? I am planning on pool 4 on opening weekend but was hoping for mille lacs the second weekend.
sure am hoping ice is cleared on winni for memorial week. Finally get a whole May to fish and this is what I get. 
No doubt, it will be off by the 18th.
The shorelines are now loose enough for the sheet to move in the next few days. Once it starts moving, it will be a week or so after that.
We had a huge west wind yesterday and the ice sheet did not move. Not quite ready yet but close to moving. The next big wind will get it moving–slowly but surely. Every wind switch will then add to the open water…
Very few 60+ degree days in the 10 day forecast. Should make for an interesting opener.
Going to be real interesting if the lake is open enough for boat but still ice out there. Can you imagine a big sheet of ice getting blown to one shore or another on opening weekend.
I may just be me hoping but I am not giving up on it just yet I still give it about a 35 %-40% chance of being open.
I have nothing to base it on but I think the melt is on more than folks think it is…. 
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Going to be real interesting if the lake is open enough for boat but still ice out there. Can you imagine a big sheet of ice getting blown to one shore or another on opening weekend.
That’s what I see happening. Not unlike the first weekend in 1950 when resorts hauled rental boats to the open (upwind) side of the lake. Only to have it shift back later on….and kinda like the netters saw 3-4 years ago. The big sheet can swing back and forth with every wind switch for several days before it finally gets busted up one last time. I think it is about 3-4 days away from starting to shift around.
Should make for some fun web cam action over the next few days then. Thanks for keeping us up to date.
Assuming only a portion of the lake is open, I’m worried how congregated the boats will get. I suppose a certain # will just stay home.
I wonder if i can borrow Wally’s Argo??? 
I think the next heavy south wind we get will move the ice for the first time. (it’s tight on the south shore so the heavy north winds we have now can’t move it) The ice on the northern shores is loose and slushy the first 50 feet from shore or more. A big on shore south wind will shove it north for sure. That will open the southern shores a few yards. Then every good wind change will move it easily as both ends will have play. Once that happens…it will go faster. No big wind and it can sit there for many days. So the next warm/storm front will change things fast. Looks like the long range wind forecast is for that to happen around the 7th or 8th of May. 2-3 wind switches after that first move and it will go fast. How many days will that all take? Ice out might not happen, per the long range forecast, ( if it is right) until the 12th-15th. Based on the forecast and the ice I see, and 50 plus years of watching this shake out, I would be amazed it’s gone by the 11th. I would not be surprised to see the up wind side of the lake open a half mile from shore on the opener though–very fishable on the 11th.
And that all said…I might be totaly wrong on all counts.LOL
Long range forecast, if right, calls for a cold front to come in right before the opener. That usually means gusty NW winds.
With a storm front coming through mid week (before Opener), the question is, will there be enough open water down south and east/and the north edge of the ice sheet weak enough, for the cold front wind to open a half mile or more of water on the up wind north and west side? Or maybe even open the whole thing up?
Or will the forecast change between now and then?
It usually goes out with a cold front wind as that form of wind is the strongest and longest lasting. But then again, if there is a half mile of open water on the north end, a big south wind could crash it in on the north shore and bust it all up too. In ’65 I think, the house on what is now known as Doc’s Resort on the north end ( back then is was Kamp Diffrent), was leveled in the middle of the night by that same ice out scenario–I have pics of me and my dad standing in the tree tops on ice the next day.
Who knows! LOL
FYI–the small lakes in the area are all ice yet and most are even tight to shore as of today. That said, most of those lakes are at least a week ahead of Mille Lacs in the ice out dept. Just sayin’…
Thanks for the update Steve. I saw some pictures in Malmo Bay that Gene Miller posted and there’s definitely some open water there now. I think I’m with you now though that with the current forecast we’ll need a minor miracle to be ice free by the 11th.
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Thanks for the update Steve. I saw some pictures in Malmo Bay that Gene Miller posted and there’s definitely some open water there now. I think I’m with you now though that with the current forecast we’ll need a minor miracle to be ice free by the 11th.
I was on the west side of mille lacs yesterday and the ice was running 22″ – 28″ thick everywhere we punched. It was getting a little soft along the shorelines in some areas but the main ice sheet was still hanging in there.
Looks to be a good south wind on Tuesday. That should finally give the ice sheet a good shove and open water along the south shore, crunching into the north shore in the process. By Thursday, the wind kicks pretty good ino the north which should pile it up down south–leaving a 1/4 mile or more open on the northern/northwestern shores. That could be the setting for the 11th. I doubt the north wind can take it all out this time ’round. I could be way off but I would not be surprised that “official ice out ” is in the 14th 15th of May range. It most likely will take at least two or three more weather fronts to blow it out–starting with this Tuesday. So I think there will be some fishable water by Saturday–upwind side.
So when was the last time there was ice on Mille lacs for opener. Have heard of it coming off the lake the evening before. Dont ever remember it still having ice during.
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So when was the last time there was ice on Mille lacs for opener. Have heard of it coming off the lake the evening before. Dont ever remember it still having ice during.
According to my dad it was 1950. They were still able to fish but only in the bays.
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So when was the last time there was ice on Mille lacs for opener. Have heard of it coming off the lake the evening before. Dont ever remember it still having ice during.
According to my dad it was 1950. They were still able to fish but only in the bays.
Yes, 1950–May 15th Opener. The western 3/4 of the lake had ice on it and was fishable in the northern/eastern stretches. It opened, for the most part, by the 17th that year ( according to articles in the Mille Lacs Messeneger from that week.)
Here’s a pic from last night on the NE corner of Mille Lacs.
To give people a better idea of the big picture however, here is the most recent Satellite image from yesterday… Up until yesterday morning I had heard they were still ice fishing Southern bays.
The best case scenerio this weekend for anyone hoping to hit Mille Lacs would still be hoping for enough open water between shore and ice on the upwind side of the lake.
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