Ice on Tonka….and snow

we had ice covering portions of most of the larger bays and all of the smaller ones are 100% covered. A week ago the ice was 3-4″ thick and people were fishing on it (not me). I expect the warmer weather reduced some of that but somewhat surprisingly the ice didnt turn to open water. Now today, with this snowfall and the ensuing cold weather, i expect we will have crap ice in the metro for most of the year. Ive been walking around looking out the window, cursing the weather and Mrs. Crappie just keeps rolling her eyes

Definitely gonna be more snow here than they forecast too. Last night they said 2 inches by me and there’s already that much on the ground. Might be 6 or 7 by this afternoon.

We are also still in an extreme drought so every rain drop or snowflake that falls is beneficial in the long run. Sucks for making ice this winter though.

gimruis wrote:

We are also still in an extreme drought so every rain drop or snowflake that falls is beneficial in the long run.

Yeah ive been repeating that to myself today as the positive takeaway

Worrying is like a rocking chair, gives you something to do but doesn’t get you anywhere. There will be a long winter of ice fishing on Minnetonka.

crappie55369 wrote:

Yeah ive been repeating that to myself today as the positive takeaway

Tonka was down, what 18, 20 inches before it froze up?

Wasnt there some knucklehead using his boat to break up the ice on Tonka just like yesterday?

Looks bad now but ‘most of the year’ is a little much IMO-very cold weather will come, this snow will compact, blow away & melt some. The timing on the snow is terrible for setting up early ice but people will be driving out there in a month.

On the bright side, there will be fewer drunks and litterbugs trashing up one of the most violated lakes in the state. I’m not saying all ice fishermen are bad guys, I used to be one, and not all the trash is from fishermen. But the bad ones give all the rest a bad reputation.

I can guarantee it’s worse in the summer.

Back to topic at hand. Prettty windy and cold today. Guessing some is getting blown off. It may not be as bad as you think.

Ripjiggen wrote:

I can guarantee it’s worse in the summer.

100% and its not due to fishermen.

Any one know how Wayzata Bay is looking after these colder nights?

Thanks

tonyholland00 wrote:

Any one know how Wayzata Bay is looking after these colder nights?

Thanks

Not completely froze yet. I think the whole lake should be locked up by Wednesday. Lots of ducks and eagles on wayzata bay today.

Any one able to share reports on ice thickness? I assume people aren’t driving onto the ice yet, but are there locations [especially any in the south metro] where someone can walk out to fish?

The main lake of Minnetonka finally iced over yesterday.
Wayzata bay locked up the day before.

Guys out on all most of the smaller bays, Big John on YouTube has posted some videos already of him out.

Is the ice pretty much gone out there on Tonka?

Ny wrote:

Is the ice pretty much gone out there on Tonka?

No, not yet.

Ny wrote:

Is the ice pretty much gone out there on Tonka?

It’s mostly gone on the west end. Cooks had a small amount on shore but its just ice pushed there. The middle is wide open. Would guess ice out might be declared today or within a few. I was recently told for ice out to be declared the DNR just needs to be able to drive from Halstead to grays through all the channels unobstructed.

Does anyone know when the docks go in at Greys Bay? Is that the DNR that does that?

uglymutt wrote:

Does anyone know when the docks go in at Greys Bay? Is that the DNR that does that?

It’s in. Launched there on Saturday.