I spent all day yesterday on the ice, pulling the ice drag behind the Honda ATV establishing what will end up being our roads through the roughest ice to Pope’s Reef, Gull Reef, Spider-Island, and the NE side of North Twin Island. Using the bigger drag and pull with the Jeep would have been nice.  But with only 4-1/2″ to 6″ of ice, I was pushing it with what I was using. As you can see from the pictures attached, even if I had opened it for walking access, only anglers would have had a difficult time. Now it will be much easier when we open.

.  Click on to enlarge

Today and  tomorrow are supposed to stay warm so there will be no ice being mad out there. Monday the winds switch NW and it turns cold for awhile.  My plans is to open up Tuesday morning for ATV’s, and walking portable fishermen.  (No SxS yet.)  There is a lot of ice out farther that is only 3″-4″ thick in spots. So we have a long way to go yet. Although if does stay cold it could happen pretty fast.

Keep a Tight Line!

Eddy

Today we went out on the ice after the wind dropped and checked ice depths. After the first hundred yards it went from 7″-8″ in rough ice, to anywhere between 4″-6″ depending on drilling with clear ice and dishpan ice.  We traveled west of Spider north of outer Twin Island, NE of Spider island on what will be the Tullibee Road, NE of Gull reef on what will be the Graveyard Road, and NE to Popes Reef on what will be the Pope’s Road.

Looking at the Modis Satellite imagery today it looks like the majority of the lake is ice covered to some point. There is a very distinct line where the wave action of yesterday created an area of rough ice. and from there on who knows what it’s going to be until we get out there. That will be awhile with the weather forecast for the next couple days.

With the warm weather headed our way the next few days I decided that we will remain closed for this weekend. South winds can change ice conditions in a heartbeat on the main lake where we are and with 4-6″ out there it’s not worth the gamble.  Fish the bays if you want to come up. I am going to keep establishing what will be our eventually be our roads with ATV’s and our ice drag. With predicted rain on Sunday and maybe some snow Monday, I am going to get the rough stuff smoothed out now before it gets wet and freezes. After it cools down next week we will plan on getting started.   Keep and eye on the report.

Keep a Tight Line!

Eddy

Yesterday, we checked the ice and found 4-5 inches out about 100 yards from shore.  The main lake ice is less than the ice in the bays. We finished and watered down the road approach. Today, the NW wind has already begun blowing and gusting to the 40’s.  So, we will not be checking more until it’s over tomorrow.

1st picture: access.   2nd picture: Whitecap NW of Hennepin Island (3 miles out for us). Click images to enlarge.

This year, we have rough dishpan-style ice almost everywhere, and walking will be difficult until I establish some trails to areas. Currently, there is not enough ice for ATVs or snowmobiles, but there should be after a couple of cold nights. We will check ice depths tomorrow and decide for the weekend whether to open the access. I am hoping we will have some clear skies to see the MODIS satellite view of the lake tomorrow.

Keep a Tight Line!

Eddy