It’s not quite April yet, but who thinks we might have a problem with ice before opener on Mille? Talking to a few guys that were fishing in the area last weekend it sounds like there is still a ton of ice with quite a bit of snow on top of it yet. Add to that the snow they are getting up there today and we might have another late ice out.
I was on Mille Lacs yesterday and I can tell you there will be ice for quite some time yet. Lots of ice (extensions required), still a good amount of snow on the ice and very little to no slush to speak of.
It really depends if we get rain. little rain I don’t see ice completely off by opener.
Sticker, I was thinking the same as you.
We open east of Detroit Lakes. There is still lots of snow and thick ice up that way.
I’m actually headed up to the Park Rapids area tomorrow for my last ice trip of the year. So I’ll get a better feel of the amount of ice still up that way.
Temperatures are so variable at this time of year that it’s too early to tell. We could get another 18″ of snow between now and then, or a dozen days of 70 degrees or warmer with southerly winds.
I’d wager that ice will be “out” but barely by opener. Whatever the average ice out date is, add about 10-14 days would be my complete guess.
I’m not ready to say we have to worry about ice for opener just yet. But I’m thinking we will be able to ice fish for at least 2 more weeks after Easter for sure. Possibly even 3. Then again we’ve all seen this before. We get some warmer days with a decent wind and it can all go away rather quickly. Throw in some warm rain and even quicker. I remember 3 or 4 years ago. We drove full sized pickups across Rush lake on a Sunday. By the following Thursday my buddy could not get over the open water to fish. As much as I look forward to Near ice out ice fishing, I’d be fine if it went out fast this year. I’m more than ready for open water season.
Hopefully it goes out the week of opener again. Just be careful of any lingering ice flows…
I am worried about Vermilion! If there is global warming, it hasn’t hit Tower MN yet. Three times in the last ten years alone haven’t been ice free on the opener.
I was up at the cabin in Outing this past weekend talking to a septic guy, he said this has been one of the worst years for septics freezing up. He said they had about 3 weeks in a row when night temps dipped below -25.
Ice on my lake is rock solid and clear.
p.s. I got on a school of 13″ crappies for the first time!!! I’d like to punch holes at least one more time up there.
13-incher.jpg
We were up at bowstring and there’s still 40”+ of ice with snow on top. Fish just weren’t in their typical late ice spots. Don’t foresee it being open water for a long time
Ya’ll should be dancing for a late ice out. Netting doesn’t work near as well when the ice covers the lake.
Thought I could get threw w/o politics-Nope
Thought I could get threw w/o politics-Nope
Politics??? Did someone mention Trump? 
I was on Mille Lacs yesterday and I can tell you there will be ice for quite some time yet. Lots of ice (extensions required), still a good amount of snow on the ice and very little to no slush to speak of.
At the risk of straying off topic…this report does make me wonder. The walleye winter season begins December 1st. Most all years that is almost precisely a month prior to when the resorts and other ice fishing providers are able to begin opening ice roads and pulling their rental houses out and their private house customers also. The season closes last weekend of February.
The ice fishing businesses have 2 months to make hay. Hypothetically speaking, if the walleye season started on January 1st and extended to the end of March (ice conditions permitting) they (the resorts/businesses) would gain an additional month of revenue and us as anglers would benefit from the month of March on the back end, when obviously this year as well as many others offers much better ice conditions than December.
Biologically, I wouldn’t think this would have any impact on spawning walleyes as they will not begin their lovemaking until ice out…typically sometime April or early May.
As far as any additional harvest, that is already handcuffed in the mandated quota “agreement” ??
After yet another gut punch to the Mille Lacs area commerce hopes, this could be a way the DNR could throw them some biscuits without trampling the treaty agreement.
Im guessing many resorts are happy to pull houses when they do. Waiting longer is just flirting with expensive disaster. Case in point last year unseasonably warm early spring. Yes people could use common sense on those years but many dont have the ability.
Im guessing many resorts are happy to pull houses when they do. Waiting longer is just flirting with expensive disaster. Case in point last year unseasonably warm early spring. Yes people could use common sense on those years but many dont have the ability.
Last year was an anomaly. Some could still have houses out now this year, albeit closer in. There’s still almost 3 feet of ice and it’s not breaking apart yet.
Hearing from a number of them this year (resort ice fishing operations), there was a sadness. Several even spoke of plowing and maintaining their road system out there (and some still have), but lack of perch and tullibee fishing interest is no longer worthwhile.
I don’t know, but my guess is that if some still could…some still would.
After today there isn’t one day in the next 9 where it will thaw one bit and more snow next week. I’ll bet a case of beer right now the lake won’t be open by May 12th!! 
Way to early to tell at this point, but the long-range forecast doesn’t give much reason for optimism and it looks like this area getting the brunt of the snow on Fri-Sat. 
I got back this afternoon from ice fishing the Park Rapids area.
The lake I was on had approx. 22″ of ice. They are expecting more snow thru Saturday along with cold temps which will slow down any melt that was going on. Not worried yet, just think the ice will be off later than normal.
Oh, the crappy fishing was very good also.
While I was listening to the Twins Opening Day on the radio today, people were pulling Ice Castles with 3/4-ton Chevys on 35″ of ice on Lake Osakis. Meanwhile, there are single-digit temps in the forecast. This is going to be impossible to predict.
I’m predicting no ice out on Mille Lacs this year. It’s going to be the start of a new ice age due to climate change.
I am throwing out my prediction now that ice out on Mille will be May 17th and that may be aggressively soon. 5 degrees at my house this morning
Talking to somebody up on Lake of the Woods on the minnesota side, they are reporting +55″ for ice lol. That isn’t going anywhere soon.
It is looking like the ice will not be off of many lakes in central to northern Minnesota for the opener. We had 6F this morning and the forecast for the upcoming week remains on the cold side. Ice on central MN lakes is very thick. When I’ve been on the ice in the last two weeks, Ion Auger is within 1/2-1 inch of not breaking through. Have not put on the extension yet but close to needing it. Plenty of ice on the lakes but many of the accesses are getting beat up as the ice thaws in the shallow areas. Recent snows have made the lakes have a layer slush under the snow, on top of the ice. Unless things really warm up soon, I think many lakes will have ice well into May. The wild card is if we get significant rains, especially warm ones.
Live on the Mississippi River between Little Falls and Brainerd and this has not opened yet…unusually late. We are usually open by mid March, sometimes late Feb.
Bad news for boaters: Ice-outs on Minnesota lakes are behind schedule this year.
No lakes have yet recorded ice-out in what is turning into an unusually late season.
By Kelly Smith Star Tribune
April 6, 2018 — 9:14pm
In yet another sign of winter’s persistent grip on Minnesota, no lakes in the state have reported ice-out one week into April.
The usual lake meltdown is behind schedule, signaling the state may be on pace to set some records this year for latest ice-outs. Usually, by this week and next week, southern Minnesota and metro area lakes have open water, according to the state Department of Natural Resources, which tracks median ice-outs.
But not this year.
“Mother Nature has put the brakes on spring,” said Pete Boulay, a climatologist with the DNR. “We’re making ice instead of melting it.”
Ice-out, one of the Land of 10,000 Lakes’ much-anticipated signs of spring, marks the nearing of the boating season. On Lake Minnetonka, restaurants and organizations even hold annual contests to predict the milestone.
But this year, winter hasn’t let up, with below-freezing temperatures and snow, making April the eighth snowiest on record in the state instead of ushering in the usual 50-degree temps.
A thin ice sign marks the area under the bridge separating Gray’s Bay and Wayzata Bay. ] (Aaron Lavinsky | StarTribune) Over the course of a particu
A thin ice sign marks the area under the bridge separating Gray’s Bay and Wayzata Bay. ] (Aaron Lavinsky | StarTribune) Over the course of a particularly Minnesotan 24 hours, three vehicles have gone through the ice on Lake Minnetonka. Authorities are warning drivers off of the thin ice, which has become tempting during this week’s freeze. We’ll be taking a look at how this year compares to other years in terms of ice safety (and accidents), and what draws drivers to make this treacherous trek in the first place.
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“We have a shot at getting some records for late ice-out,” Boulay said.
In 2013 — when it snowed in the Twin Cities on May 1 — the state had one of the latest ice-out seasons, with lakes starting to report it on April 6. This year missed that mark on Friday.
Budd Lake, a small lake near the Iowa border, is usually one of the first lakes in Minnesota to record ice-out, reporting it last year on March 21. In 2013, ice-out on the lake was April 12 and the latest ice-out ever recorded for the lake was April 15, 2008.
Boulay said it’s difficult to predict whether this year could set a record on Budd Lake and on other Minnesota lakes. Recent sunshine is helping to melt ice but more snow in the forecast could slow the process. Other long-standing records are going to be difficult to break, he added.
“It all depends on the weather,” he said. “Every time we have another snowstorm, it kicks us back another day.”
Last year, metro lakes, such as Harriet, Calhoun and Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis, all set records for earliest ice-out dates after an unusually warm winter, followed by rain and high winds.
There’s no universal method for determining ice-out (recorded at dnr.state.mn.us/ice_out). Decades ago, for instance, residents would put a car on a lake and mark ice-out by the date when it fell through. Now, on Lake Minnetonka, Hennepin County deputies and the Freshwater Society declare ice-out when a boat can navigate through all its channels and bays without being stopped by ice floes — not when the lake is completely ice-free.
The lake marked ice-out last year on March 27, but the median date is April 14. As of Friday, the massive lake still had a thick ice cover with little open water. The record for latest ice-out: May 5, 1857. The state came close to hitting that mark in 2013, when ice out was on May 2.
“It’s hard to beat,” Steve Woods of the Freshwater Society said of the record. “But we’re going to be flirting with it.”
Twitter: @kellystrib
Lake Calhoun? Never heard of it. 
-J.
We were up on the North side of Mille Lacs this past weekend. There is a ton of snow on shore and even still on the lake. We had to shovel out trails to get to my place, well over our knees in some places.
Woke up to single degree temps both mornings. And they are forecasting another blast of snow and cold this coming weekend….
I think one of the resorts up there on Mille Lacs plowed a road “just cause” over the past weekend. We need some high temps and winds to get this ice out before opener.
So much for being able to take advantage of the opening weekend night-fishing this year before the ban! I was really looking forward to that.
So much for being able to take advantage of the opening weekend night-fishing this year before the ban! I was really looking forward to that.
Walleye: From May 12 through November 30, 2018, catch-and-release only. All walleye must be immediately released.
Night Closure: From 10 p.m. on May 14 through 11:59 p.m. on November 30. May 14 – June 1, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., no one may fish for any species or possess any fishing tackle on the lake. June 2 – November 30, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., fishing tackle may be possessed but not used except: a) muskellunge and northern pike may be targeted with artificial lures longer than 8″ or suckers longer than 8″. No other lures or baits may be in possession if night fishing for northern pike or muskellunge. No possession or targeting of species other than muskellunge or northern pike; and b) bowfishing for rough fish is allowed, but no possession of angling equipment, and only rough fish may be in possession.
Yep, that rule allows for night fishing on May 12 and May 13 – opening weekend. Not likely to happen this year…. 
-J.
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