Today I made may way out to Popes Reef and found 5-6″ of ice in most spots. But still quite a few areas of 4″ to 4-1/2″.   Until I see more ice it will be walking only this weekend.  (Just two days ago there was open water on the NW 1/3 of Mille Lacs).  If by chance we would get a strong south/southeast wind there still could be ice moving around out on the main lake so it is far from OK in my opinion. The bays have better ice and are in better shape, but the main lake ice is fair from stable yet. The weather is supposed to get a little warmer each day  for awhile so I do not expect to see any great increase of ice depth until it gets much colder.

This year’s ice in most areas that we go to is very clear ice, When you have a sunny day it acts like a magnifying glass and the freezing process slows alot, (especially when it’s not really cold outside.) The last couple nights we have had single digit lows, which is good, so slowly we will get more ice. It is also very brittle and makes alot of noise when traveling and drilling on it.

Tomorrow I will be working out towards Gull Reef and South of Spider island checking ice.  I will recheck spots for ice depth that we check today and see how much we actually made and let you know.

Keep a Tight Line!    Be Safe!

Eddy