Ice Out 2019, What Say You?

buckybadger wrote:

That’s too bad.

The later the ice goes out, the more of a hassle the netting is and the less the harvest. I was hoping it’d go the night before opener.

Funny you bring that up.

Mille Lacs Messenger (the official judge) on Mille Lacs ice out has not ruled it out yet, being there is still a pile of ice now in Isle Bay and the south end. I wonder if/when they’ll try driving a boat from Isle to Garrison.

Nevertheless, tribal netting has already commenced. I see it now right out the window…

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Gotta assume the official date will be late yesterday or early today.

-J.

I drove by Isle Bay yesterday, no way were any boats going to be going out of there. I giving it a few more days, by the end of the week should be good.

North east side looked pretty good, only a little ice near shore and in the harbor.

I can’t find a single piece of ice on the lake cams…. It has to be called out by now

Hot off the press:

https://www.messagemedia.co/millelacs/outdoors/ice-out-on-mille-lacs/article_c8b8af1a-6a91-11e9-9eb4-5b7de802e027.html

Posted: Monday, April 29, 2019 10:16 am| Updated: 10:23 am, Mon Apr 29, 2019.

by Andre LaSalle [email protected] | 0 comments

During the evening hours of Sunday, April 28, the remaining ice on Mille Lacs Lake dissipated, and ice out 2019 was officially on the books.

“It was definitely gone before midnight,” Tina Chapman, co-owner of Chapman’s Mille Lacs Resort and Guide Service, said. “When I got up (on the morning of Monday, April 29), we checked all of the local web cams, and it was gone.”

Steve Fellegy, who has been monitoring Mille Lacs ice outs for over 40 years, said he believes ice out occurred sometime between late afternoon and early evening.

Because satellite imagery was obscured by cloud cover, the Messenger relied heavily on the expertise of both Tina and Tim Chapman, Steve Fellegy and Erik Jacobson in monitoring the final ice encore on the big lake.

Compared to years past

Coming off the heels of the second latest ice out since records have been kept (May 11, 2018), this year’s ice out is later than average, but only by a few days.

Since the Messenger began keeping records, the average ice out date for Mille Lacs Lake has been April 23. Ice outs occurred with minimal variability throughout the 1980s and 90s, but since 2000 (an early ice out occurring on April 2), ice out dates have become much less consistent.

The past ten years have fluctuated greatly, with 2012 taking the record for earliest ice out (March 26), immediately followed by the latest on record, May 16, 2013.

Without departing from the local lore mentioned by Bob Statz in the April 24 edition of the Messenger, ice out on Mille Lacs followed suit and occurred one week to the day after ice out on Whitefish Lake.

Now that the big lake is free and clear, it’s time to start thinking about fishing opener, Saturday, May 11. As a reminder, one walleye between 21-23 inches or over 28 inches can be kept during the short catch-and-release season that begins on opener and runs through Friday, May 31. Make sure to frequently check local regulations. A fishing license is required to fish Mille Lacs Lake.

Bass Pundit wrote:

I’m going with April 28th.

Nailed it!

-J.

sticker wrote:

I can’t find a single piece of ice on the lake cams…. It has to be called out by now

Wow, that seems crazy with as much ice as it seemed to have yesterday.