Where's the ice?

Looking to make a run somewhere with fishable ice on Saturday. Anyone know which regions were not as effected by the snow or had enough ice to not get sunk?

Its ugly. If you go far enough North to get to better ice, you run into where they got more snowfall. I know as of last weekend there was not much fishing going on in central Minnesota around the little Falls / Motley area. That area got between 7-12″ of new heavy snow. This snow on top of rather thin ice is going to mess up ice fishing plans for awhile. Either the snow will slow the ice from freezing or the weight of it will cause lots of slush under it – Both not good. The good news there were some lakes that were still mostly open prior to the snow so hopefully with a few cold and calm nights they will get a chance to fully ice over and not be effected by the snow. Good luck on your search and be safe out there !!!

Insulated under a foot of snow.

I don’t know anyone fishing around here. I know someone who was out cautiously scouting on Sunday with a chisel and said in areas with (barely) walkable ice, there was tons of slush as well.

Brad Hawthorne posted today on FB that he was finding 2″ of ice under a foot of snow about 100 yards out from Red Door Resort on Mille Lacs. There was a foot of ice and no snow this time last year up there.

Gotta find another hobby for a couple weeks, or join the hoard on Upper Red.

There’s ice and then there’s “good” ice…..such as this

So for all the ninnies worrying about ice fishing, I suggest you finish that knitting project and maybe pour an adult beverage into the glass with the “good” ice and relax.

There’s plenty of ice on lakes up north and west of Grand Rapids. I fished up that way the weekend of Nov. 9th and the four lakes we fished between Winni and Northome had 8-10″ solid clear ice. Surely more today? The snow models show a decent accumulation gap west of GR, south of Bemidj.

______________ wrote:

There’s plenty of ice on lakes up north and west of Grand Rapids. I fished up that way the weekend of Nov. 9th and the four lakes we fished between Winni and Northome had 8-10″ solid clear ice. Surely more today? The snow models show a decent accumulation gap west of GR, south of Bemidj.

I fished lakes around here shortly after Nov.9th that had 4-5″ of solid ice. Last week some of those same lakes were wide open. There were lakes in the Brainerd area they were fishing 2 weeks ago that they cant get out on now. I’m sure it may be much different as far north as Winni.

______________ wrote:

There’s plenty of ice on lakes up north and west of Grand Rapids. I fished up that way the weekend of Nov. 9th and the four lakes we fished between Winni and Northome had 8-10″ solid clear ice. Surely more today? The snow models show a decent accumulation gap west of GR, south of Bemidj.

Can confirm these ice conditions before the snow – a friend was at his in-laws in the Balsam area northeast of GR and had 9″-10″ of clear ice all over the two lakes he fished on 11/24. Good luck and let us know where you go.

Take a look at the Minocqua Area Ice Report-2019 thread. Sounds like things are in good shape up there

Tomahawk area has ice, seen two guys out on Lake Nokomis this afternoon, lots of snow here though, I’m betting they are fishing Lake Alice too, but I haven’t been over that way to see.

Tomahawk area has almost two feet of snow…so does the minocqua area. If ice fishing in a foot of slush and an additonal foot of snow is your jam, head on over to either of these areas! Wooohooo!

I’ll be on ice (and a bunch of snow) in Isle Bay on Mille Lacs this weekend. 7-8 inches of good (or at least was good) ice and 8-9 of snow. Should be really fun to get around in…..But I’ll be fishing. Sounds like most lakes in the metro were open for all that snow which is good. Now we just need to pray no more big systems come in.

Shallow metro lakes (where skim ice fell through) by end of next week might be the fastest for local fishermen if we’re lucky–otherwise, you could pay for an outstate license. The Brainerd Lakes area is brutal right now… A few buddies also mentioned Upper Red was really sloppy, but it still might be your best bet in MN.

We need some resorts on here posting fishing reports once a week.

iTinker wrote:

…otherwise, you could pay for an outstate license.

iTinker wrote:

The Brainerd Lakes area is brutal right now…

Not surprised but not what I wanted to hear. This my only free weekend until January. Now it looks like a pass when a couple weeks back I was all excited. Did see on the Grandview lake came that Gull has ice as of Monday. Not sure how long until that will be fishable though.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

So for all the ninnies worrying about ice fishing, I suggest you finish that knitting project and maybe pour an adult beverage into the glass with the “good” ice and relax.

Well played Tom.

It does look like a cold snap coming next week so maybe that will help. Although with so much snow on top of crappy ice to begin with, even a cold snap might not help much since snow is such a good insulator.

Looks to be setting up pretty nice for the metro lakes. Most lakes were open through the big snowfall last weekend and are now on the verge of freezing. Big cold snap coming next week should lock all those lakes up. Just hoping that the snow will hold off for awhile.

Conditions are poor almost everywhere right now but things are looking up. These sunny days this week are helping a lot. It doesn’t take much to melt down the snow pack on the lakes. Forecast is for colder weather coming. Give it a week and things will be looking a lot better.

I’m curious about shallow/backwater areas near Mississippi in SE MN. Anyone been out lately? Guessing not great…but figured it can’t hurt to ask. I would just ask Tom directly, but appears he’s busy checking ice in his glass. Heh, heh.

shockers wrote:

I’m curious about shallow/backwater areas near Mississippi in SE MN. Anyone been out lately? Guessing not great…but figured it can’t hurt to ask. I would just ask Tom directly, but appears he’s busy checking ice in his glass. Heh, heh.

Almost everywhere I checked after the snow was wide open. I’m sure it’s iced over again, but who knows if it’s thick enough. Most lakes in the Mankato area iced and opened back up 2-3 times during this goofy weather we’ve gotten.

shockers wrote:

I’m curious about shallow/backwater areas near Mississippi in SE MN. Anyone been out lately? Guessing not great…but figured it can’t hurt to ask. I would just ask Tom directly, but appears he’s busy checking ice in his glass. Heh, heh.

I have been checking the backwaters of the Mississippi in Southeast Mn and they just got a fresh sheet of ice on that 12F night and that’s it. Everything was open before the snowstorm. If i was to go look right now my guess would be 1/2″ or wide open water with these sunny windy days.

shockers wrote:

I’m curious about shallow/backwater areas near Mississippi in SE MN. Anyone been out lately? Guessing not great…but figured it can’t hurt to ask. I would just ask Tom directly, but appears he’s busy checking ice in his glass. Heh, heh.

well we all know that’s the only type of ice Tom actually likes!!

Forecast is saying 4-8″ of snow Sun-Mon…

grubson wrote:

Conditions are poor almost everywhere right now but things are looking up. These sunny days this week are helping a lot. It doesn’t take much to melt down the snow pack on the lakes. Forecast is for colder weather coming. Give it a week and things will be looking a lot better.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>iTinker wrote:</div>
…otherwise, you could pay for an outstate license.

As in ice fish outside the state.

patk wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>iTinker wrote:</div>
The Brainerd Lakes area is brutal right now…

Not surprised but not what I wanted to hear. This my only free weekend until January. Now it looks like a pass when a couple weeks back I was all excited. Did see on the Grandview lake came that Gull has ice as of Monday. Not sure how long until that will be fishable though.

Bays on Gull might be okay, but extremely slushy and could be sketchy. Gull froze Mon, but I would wait till the end of next week. According to WalleyeDan, some guy put his hard house out on Round already. Some lakes up there might be toast for early bite…

Pepin is still open and there are places in Lake City to cast from shore that will produce both crappies and walleyes. I’m thinking of running down either Friday morning or Saturday morning and try these baits I just made this afternoon.

These are called a “Fat Fork” and come out of a Do-It cnc mold at 4 inches. They have a hook slot n the under side for the bass guys but they’ll ride a lighter jig just fine as long as the jig has a slightly larger hook. The 2 3/4″ lil brother to this has been out for a couple years now and has angered quite a few waldos in that time so this big bait should really pi$$’m off. lol

I made up 42 of these today for finishing with the air brush and getting some eyes on them. But that’s another thread.

No idea on the back waters nor how much snow the river areas got but it does sound like if anyone wants to do some “warm” fishing” they’d better get it done before Sunday afternoon.

As of now, the backwater areas on Pool 4 are a no-go and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. They had opened back up just in-time for that 8″ heavy, wet snowfall. The weekend of December 14th is looking pretty darn good with the forecast. I’d expect everyone and their grandmother to be venturing out to the community spots by then on a fairly steady ~4-5″ sheet of ice. I will probably try to poke around a few backwater spots during the week next week to check ice and hopefully run into some jumbo perch before the masses start heading out.

It’s amazing how excited many were about a record early start to the ice fishing season at the start of November. In reality, this will end up being a later than average start to the local ice season for Pool 4. I’d wager the average season for me over the past ~20 years has started right around December 1st.

Head north and west Detroit Lakes to Bemidji area smaller lakes have decent ice. Personally I’ll be waiting a while yet due to personal preference for very safe ice and also schedule.

Safe ice last week when I was up in the Adirondacks I’d you wanna make the trip. Should have brought my gear with me

What is the snow cover like from Detroit lakes down towards big stone?