Winona Area Ice Conditions?

I am getting up to SE Minnesota for the three-day weekend, and I plan on hitting the ice hard to make up for lost time.

I am going to be fishing Bartlett Lake, AKA the airport lake, in Winona during the morning hours. What I would like to know is if anyone is driving cars or trucks out on the ice there. A couple of buddies of mine are going with me, and they own ATVs. I don’t mind dragging my gear out on foot, but they are lazy. If we can just drive out it would save the trouble of hooking, loading, and un-hooking the 4-wheeler and trailer.

And, is anyone walking out on the ice below the locks and dams? It has been a few years since I had a chance to hook walleye or sauger through the ice on the main channel…

Lock and dams are fine was out there last weekend

They are driving all over Bartlett. Action is still pretty good on sunfish but are a lot smaller on average than a week ago. Lot of people fishing on ice below Winona dam. Good luck.

Thanks for the reports–I will let you know how I do.

Was out at the airport backwaters for most of the day, and did pretty well on sunnies. Lots of fish, with some decent ones mixed in. We also got one crappie. Tip-ups were very slow today, with just one hit ( a real hammer handle) on our two rigs. We saw just one small bass caught on other tip-ups. Due to time constraints, we did not hit the tailwater area, but I plan on hitting that up tomorrow…