Karen~
You are correct I just had a meeting with my insurance company yesterday for guide insurance and they said that in my contract I am covered out on the ice, I specifically asked, You mean if I crash on the ice? They said yes AND if you go thru the ice… 
Still wont catch me driving out on the ice with my truck, that is why man created ATV’s… 
Karen
I talked to Kevin this morning. Your apology is excepted. I do the best job for my patrons, just as do you. I am a lot more leary about the ice than most of you. Remember back in 1990 when the ice took off from shore with 19 people on it. I was in the business for 2 weeks when that happened out of my resort. If it had not been for me and my boat, some of them would not be here now. That is why I use a lot more caution than most.
Have a great and safe season out there. I know it is tuff, believe me I do!
Thanks
Rock
This was from last weekend on the SE corner. We counted over 30+ vehicles parked around watching them bring the truck up. 3/4 ton’s with wheel houses were very common this weekend. I’ll stick to the four wheelers.
It was in 25+ feet of water.
Here’s one shot of the vehicles watching.
This past weekend was a prime example of what I was warning about last week. I used the word “ripe” for major problems when it gets cold and the ice gets thicker.
I doubt this past weekend’s icecapades will be unique in the future.
Times have changed drasticly in the past 36 months and even more so in the past 12. Never has there been as much random traveling on the lake as has been the case the past two winters. The effects of handheld, chip loaded navigation are seen in the pictures like the ones above. Throw in the open winters we seem to get more often and it is inevitable that too many of the cracks due to cold contracting ice weather, will be found by the full size vehicle travel.
The cracks are NOT unique to this year. No less than now, we crossed those same type of small, LIVE cracks, during coldsnaps, in the late sixties with the old Bobcat Evinrude and the big Johnson Ski Horse sled, on those pioneering days to the flats. No trucks in sight back then within view of “The Fishhouse Flat”.
As I said, the colder it is, the thicker the ice is, “main lake travel” is gonna be a problem in this modern day GPS/Wheelhouse aided age.
Take a look at those ice blocks they cut out of the area surrounding that SUV. 16-18″ thick? Thick enough , right?Can you see the crack? At even 15 miles per hour? It doesn’t look like there is a big ice ridge in site so I suspect this was NOT done at the MAIN crack that surrounds the entire shoreline of the lake. It most likely happened by a crack that was “live” for a short time. Maybe less than 2″ wide. They open in a heartbeat, are “wet” for an hour or two in subzero weather, then heal up. A few gusts of snow blowing wind later and they disappear. A trap is set!
I think the resort access, truck/car ice travel related activity should be confined to what we know as in-shore fishing areas. At least then the ice conditions, maybe a mile or two at the most form shore, can be better managed–if there is such a thing. Add 10 miles to that area and you ask for trouble…no matter who or what you are and do.
Maybe the Lake of the Woods model is best. Cart everyone out to the fishing grounds and get them back in when it gets dark.
I dunno. Just my opinion. Right or wrong. But I doubt the next few weekends–and snow free winters in the future–will be less hazardous. Luckily, no one needed a body bag.
GPS’s, Wheelhouses…I don’t like the icy by-products they create on Mille Lacs. By sled or ATV–fine! Look at the picture again. The ice blocks. No visible crack, right?
Steve Fellegy
218-678-3103
I’m an insurance agent and this topic seems to come up every year. If you have comprehensive coverage on your auto/truck and you happen to drop it into the lake, your insurance not only covers damage to you auto, it covers the cost of recovering it from the bottom of the lake and also any fines related to the incident as well.
is that from ALL insurance company’s? that is great info to hear because I never knew that it was true, Thanks 
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