Not a parent but a grandparent. Have a grandson plays high school varsity and his younger brother and sister are blind and play for the Minnesota Wild Blind Hockey. The younger grandson is partially sighted so he plays defense and the granddaughter is totally blind so she is the goalie. My son is the head coach. They will be beginning their forth season next month. They are trying to get more interest so they can have an adult team and a youth team. Right now the players are from 9 years old to 50 something.

Check it out.http://www.mnwildblindhockey.com

That happened a week ago on the 14th. Don’t know what the guy was thinking. He was plowing snow to make an area for an ice rink. People had barely started walking out at that time.

fishingallday wrote:

Does anyone know if Osakis is froze over yet?

I posted a report down in the Lake Osakis thread.

Lake pretty much locked up I think two nights ago. Haven’t seen anyone out yet in the Buck Point, Battle Point, Schultz’s Bay or Moon Bar area yet. Still to early I think. Haven’t been over to Manthey”s Bay so don’t know if anyone is venturing out there yet. That area usually locks up early. Usually there are a couple of spear houses out early in the Town Bay, Peterson’s Bay, Two mile area but didn’t see any out there yesterday. More often than not there is a ice heavy early in the season that stretches from Battle Point, kind of WSW across to the rushes on the west side of the lake. It pop by Battle Point yesterday morning but only went about a quarter of the way across. Looked healed up this morning.

January is usually good for driving on. There is the ocassional warm early winter where it might be a little iffy but that doesn’t happen very often. They are predicting a warmer winter.

Yep, 24 inches everywhere I have been. Not much for snow either so it is easy to move around.

bigbeard wrote:

I’ll be hitting the ice for the first time this year on Saturday. Any luck last Friday Tim? Plan is to hit Fletch early and on the ice before sun-up. Can’t wait!

I guess you got me on this one. Where or what is Fletch?

Darrin Bonnema wrote:

Hi Tim- Just wondering how the ice conditions currently look? I am thinking about driving up this weekend, and just wondering if I should plan on bringing the wheeler or not? Thanks for any input.

Depends on where you go with your atv. Some of the areas just locked back up last night. Manthey’s Bay is probably ok as well as the area between Battle Point and Buck Point and Schultz’s Bay. If you come on at Battle Point, head straight out from the access. Don’t venture out towards the point itself. Both sides of the point were open water up until last night. Saw a small flock of Trumpeter Swans swimming in the water on the north side. What ever you do, check the ice thickness yourself. These high winds that we have been having are doing some strange things out there.

Finally got some time to get out this afternoon. Fished the Schultz’s Bay area out to about half way to Battle Point. Had six inches everywhere I went. Stayed away from any of the areas that were recent lock ups. But don’t take my word for it. If you go out any place, check for yourself as you go. Saw a couple spear houses out, a couple other portables, and one atv.

The open spots that I could see were here and there. I didn’t take all the side roads so I couldn’t check every nook and cranny but I did hit some high spots where I could get a good view of the lake. The south end by town had open water a couple hundred yards out from the access that ran east to about Idlewild resort and north as far as two mile, maybe farther. The area around Miller Point and south was open as far as I could see. Couldn’t tell if it went far enough south to connect with the open water from town. There were several other small areas scattered around on the main lake. There was a small area of open water on the south side of Battle Point with an open area that extended WSW from there almost to the other side. The area that was open before east and west of Holiday resort was still open. With the light winds and cool temps we are having today I would expect a lot of that open water to lock back up again.

Saw one portable about 100 feet out from the Manthey’s Bay access around noon today. Saw two people go out on the north side of Battle Point Saturday late afternoon. They didn’t go out very far. Still scattered spots of open water here and there on the lake. This wind isn’t allowing some areas to lock up.

Latest ice observation from this morning. This is for the north end of the lake only. Didn’t get south of Moon Bar so don’t know what it looks like south of there. There is a stretch of open water out near the middle west of Battle Point that is a couple hundred yards long. The area from the north side of Coonhoven Bay over to Coon Point and east to about Lindberg Point is all open water. The 145th access to Manthey’s Bay was open yesterday for about five feet out from shore but had a thin crust of ice this morning but I don’t think it will last the day.

It pretty much locked up a week ago. It has been holding up fairly well with the weather we have been having. The warm air, rain, and high winds have been hard on it. A lot of freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw going on. Not good enough for me to go out yet. Had about a foot of open water along my shore yesterday. Sounds like next week is going to be cold and should start to thicken it up. Haven’t seen anyone out yet.

Osakis gained some ice last night when it was relatively calm. Lost some of it today. Expect to lose some more tomorrow with 46 degrees and windy.

I’m getting this uneasy ‘Brewster 2.0’ feeling.

The ice we had is disappearing fast today. The SE wind is wiping it out. I had ice out for about 150 feet this morning. There is about 30 feet left now. Supposed to be 40 degrees tomorrow with maybe some sprinkles. Don’t think I’ll be walking out by Thanksgiving weekend.

Don’t know for sure because I have everything pulled out of the water but I would guess mid to upper 30’s. Haven’t seen any shore ice yet. I did notice today that the pond at Head of the Lakes resort that comes off of Little Osakis was iced over.

Don’t know how it will be this winter but the bite has been good for about 2-3 years running now. I’m talking pretty much year round. I can’t believe it has held up so well. Keep expecting it to stop but hasn’t yet.

No matter what they do there is no stopping it. My opinion is they should make it mandatory that every lake 10 acres or larger in the state gets invested with all invasives currently known to be in this state. Whenever a new invasive is found in a lake, the rest of the lakes get the same invasive. Maybe that would stop the whining that goes on on almost every fishing forum. Your not going to stop them from spreading so just get it over with. The sooner they get spread around the sooner people can change their fishing skills and adapt to the new norm.

I renewed my boat registration a couple months ago and it came with the stickers that go on the boat. You are supposed to read it and then sign it and keep it with your copy of the boat registration that comes with the stickers.

I just added the co-pilot to my older 24v Powerdrive, not the V2. It is my understanding that it will work with either the 12 or 24 volt system. What is important is that the plug on the co-pilot matches the plug on your Powerdrive. Mine was the older one with the flatter rectangular shaped plug. I think the ones for the V2 are round.

I was there in about 1970. Probably a lot has changed since then.

Here is an interesting read on the subject.
http://www.echopress.com/content/you-asked%E2%80%88why-do-locals-call-alexandria-alek

NateR wrote:

Hi Tim

Look forward to hearing what this weekends little snow storm did for the ice. Thanks for the reports.

There was about 3-4 inches of snow on the lake. With the wind we had Wednesday most of it blew off. There are some areas where there is little to no snow and others where it has drifted a little. Starting to see more activity. More people walking out with portables. Saw three small skid houses go out today. One by snowmobile, one by atv, and one by utv. May be a lot of snow on the ice by Saturday afternoon.

Took a drive around the lake today. The only open water I saw was in the middle out from Holiday Resort. Rest of the lake was covered with ice. When I got home I went out to check the ice thickness in front of my place. Went out about 5 feet from shore and chopped a hole with the spud bar. Measured 2 inches of ice with my measuring stick. Went out to about 15 feet from shore, chopped another hole and measured just a hair under 2 inches. Went out another 5 feet and brushed away the snow with my boot as I had done with the other holes. Hit the ice with the spud bar and all I could hear was cracking going off in every direction. Retreated to the shore. Going to give it a couple of days and check again. Hope we don’t get that snow for Saturday night and Sunday.

Had to head in to Alex today around noon so I took a little side trip to Manthey’s Bay because that is typically the first area that has walkable ice. Stood at the 145th Ave access. To the right was all open water, straight out was ice for maybe 30 feet and then open water and that extended to the left into Manthey’s Bay for a ways. The rest of the Bay looked frozen over from what I could see from there. Nothing anywhere on the lake looks like it would be walkable yet. Lots of ice on the lake and still making more. The winds have been keeping small pockets of water open scattered through out the ice that has formed so the ice thickness is going to be very inconsistent for a while. The winds have started to die down so with calmer winds I would think the lake might lock up in the next day or two. Just so the snow stays away for Saturday.

Must have added another 1/2 inch on top of the ice from the snow we got today. Need the snow and wind to leave the state for a week.

I was hoping with these temps that Osakis would lock up by next weekend but looking at the predicted winds I don’t think that is going to happen. Some of the protected bays may become walkable though.

big_g wrote:

Love that vinyl coat story !!! Who here can remember Zayre’s Shopper City ???

I do. There was one in Brooklyn Center on 63rd Ave. N. and Osseo Rd.(Brooklyn Blvd to the young) Went there often with my parents or by myself. They had grocery, cloths, appliances, electronics, sporting goods, and just about everything else. Kmart came along and put them out of business around the mid 60’s I think.

I would use soldersleeves, the ones that are self sealing to keep any moisture out. Used them a lot when I worked.