Yesterday was a windy one on the lake. In the morning they were gusting 30-40 mph at times and it was good that the snow had settled and had a crust on it from the previous nights rain.The bite was a little slower from what reports I heard. Probably because of the high pressure moving in with the cold, but fishermen still had pretty good luck.

The temperature swings is definitely making the ice react.  After being “warm” over the last few days, the cold and wind was causing the “brittleness” of the smooth clear ice to show.  Almost everywhere there was cracking on the roads. It was healing almost as fast, but in some places around the lake it was causing some problems. Currently we have about 16-18 inches on the roads and we will be checking them tomorrow morning after one more cold night.

We are allowing 1/2 tons with wheelhouses out and more than likely 3/4 tons with wheelhouses out tomorrow.  I’m holding off on 1 ton trucks and wheelhouse until I see more ice.  Too much heavy traffic, (especially when they drive too fast, and most do because they don’t care about others) on the ice road can weaken it to the point of breaking. This year on the ice, (and most years), bigger is not better, and in my opinion this wheelhouse craze has gotten completely out of hand.  I know ice can support a lot of weight, and I’ve seen a lot of things out there in my 45 years on it. We have had custom built wheelhouses out of here for over 30 years, long before “Ice Castles” were even a thought.  Plain and simple, repetitive travel on a roads with many rigs, if the ice is not thick enough to support it, will break it if the temperature is not right for refreezing it. That’s why I limit what we do out of my place.

Keep a Tight Line!    Eddy