L.O.W. Ice depth? Snow depth?, shiners?

Guys just curious
Coming up with wheel house 1st weekend march (probably Morris point area)
I know it’s been pretty cold up there (Is(1) 12” extension enough, have a 24v strike light
or should I have more than that on auger to start with)?
Also curious on snow depth as to ability to move around with pickup and reset (I don’t think you guys are suppose to get snow like southern 2/3rd state Monday/Tuesday)?
Have a 4 wheeler I could bring in toy hauler with a plow it’s kinda a pain to unload every time if not really needed. Just didn’t know if necessary.
It’s been a few years since been up to LOW , I’m guessing live river shiners unavailable but does some bait shops have frozen ones yet?
Thanks in advance for any info.

I have not been there this year so can’t comment on ice depth or snow. However shinners are already thin if not gone from what I have seen.

Buddy is up there now. Says there is almost 40 inches of ice and TONS of water on top. He camped in his Otter Hub and it was a mess.

Went out of Zippel Bay last week. Didn’t measure but I’m guessing about 30” of ice. I barely broke through inside wheel house with 12” extension on 40volt. The snow is hard on top and when you break through crust is 12-24” deep. Walleyes we’re slow according to guys we talked to who fished deep. Me and the boy set up in 12 FOW and fished northerns during the day on tip ups and switched over to walleyes in the evening-overnight. Caught probably 15 walleyes in 3 days but all were keeper size or slot fish. Biggest 24.5”. Only kept 5 for dinner one night, but somehow the zipper on the livewell bag got unzipped and we lost two including a 17” sauger. Caught 3-4 pike each day. Smallest was 34”, biggest 40”. We brought our own bait, but Timberline in black duck had emerald shiners I seen. Most our walleyes came on small suckers and fatheads. I had down some dandy goldens but they were mostly ignored.

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The snow is 24″+ deep with deeper drifts in spots. Ice thickness varies but 30″+ is the norm. Im thinking that its going to get real messy up there once the warm weather comes in a few weeks.

Thanks for reply’s guys
I’ll post how we did when return
Nice fish drifter looks like had fun

using a resort road i wouldnt even bother messing with the wheeler since they should all have spots plowed out for houses. 12″ extension is a must if your drilling in a house. off road driving in a truck is impossible on the lake with all the snow and drifts. we normally use freds bait in deer river, outdoors again in baudette or log cabin bait in baudette next to alot of the resorts. i would just call ahead on your way up starting at the closest bait shop and see if they have what you want

Thanks coltrain – one less tang to bring on our pilgrimage