This morning when we checked ice depths we gain about another inch.  So now we are ranging from 9.5″ in the thinner areas to almost 11″ average on the rest.  Rougher ice areas are thicker but it doesn’t mean too much if there is thinner ice between them to shore, I think our inch a day ice making is going to slow down with the temps not as cold as they have been, but we will check again in the morning.

It was my first day out in the Land Cruiser and established roads to Popes, North side of Popes, south of Spider island and got thru the rougher ice headed to the Graveyard and Ray’s Reef.  I’m going to head that direction tomorrow. You can look at the lake map portion of the website to see.  We also put out two of our first 8’x12′ basic rentals and will get some more smaller ones out tomorrow.  I’m going to wait until later this week to get more out depending on how much ice we get overnight.

For now it will remain SxS’s, portables, ATV’s, snowmobiles.  If you have a wheelhouse under sixteen feet and a SxS you can take them out to areas where we have established roads too. We have plenty of parking room for rigs with or without wheelhouses.  Rentals we will shuttle to and from for now and if you have a mode of transportation to get into shore, (just in case) would be nice.  There are anglers in them tonight, and we have openings for this week and weekend if your interested. Call the office in the morning,  hours are 7:00 am to 5 pm, Sunday thru Thursday. 7:00 am to 7 pm, Friday and Saturday.  (320-676-8740)

Better late than never…

Eddy

This morning I went out and checked ice depths.  Our thinnest ice went from  6″ on Friday to about 8.5″.  Almost the same with our thicker ice. It went from and average of  7″-9″ on Friday to  9″- 10.5 ” this morning.  So we are making some headway on the main lake ice where we go. Not having much snow out there is really helping.  But we still have aways to go before there will be any driving of cars, trucks or SUV’s.

My plan is to get some of our smaller rentals out over the next couple days and for the weekend.  SxS’s , ATV’s, snowmobile traffic with portables will be the way to go for now.  Rentals we will shuttle and recommend they also bring something to get into shore if necessary after hours.

We will see what the temps do to help the ice over the next few days before we get really going.  By the sounds of it weather forecasts we only have this week to make some as next week temps could be in the 30’s.  Let’s hope they are wrong..

Eddy

The portable fishermen that braved the wind and cold Friday and Saturday had pretty good action.  Most stayed in close because of the weather and advisement of our office.  Overnight Saturday the winds picked up a little more, but because we didn’t get the snow they had forecasted earlier there was minimal drifting and what was out there blew towards shore.

Tomorrow we will be going out and checking ice depths in the areas we have staked trails to and I’m hoping there is enough ice for me to go out with the Jeep and start establishing roads thru the rougher areas.  With the last 48-72 hours of temps we have had I’m expecting to see a couple more inches everywhere than before the weekend.  Prior to the weekend we had ice depths ranging from 6″ to as much as 10″ in some of the rougher areas.  Sounds like we have until next Sunday to make the ice as after that it’s supposed to warm up again…

Sorry there was no report Saturday as my daughter and I went to Albert Lea for a cousin of mines funeral.  (Roy Olson).  Many of our permanent customers knew him from all the years he came up and rode along with me on the lake on weekends, and had a house which his son and daughters still have here.  And by now most of you know that Richard Gadbois, (Dickie) died last Friday after his vehicle went down while going out to check ice. (FYI, it was not a truck like the news media mentioned, but a small mini 4×4 Tracker.) It’s been a couple sad days, but time to move on and get going.

I’ll update the report tomorrow when I get off the ice,

Eddy