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

In the last couple of hours the wind has switched and started coming in from the NW.  So the cold is coming. Tonight and tomorrow the NOAA weather forecast calls for less than an inch of snow and NNW winds 15-20mph with gusts to 25mph.  So there will be visibility problems on the ice.  Saturday night thru Monday night it’s the winds are going to continue at 20-30 mph and it will be cold.  Good for making ice, but not necessarily good for portable fishermen.

If you do plan on coming up and going out be well prepared for the weather and have the proper safety gear with you. And it’s always best to go with a buddy.  Our ice depths average 7-9 inches and the thinnest spots that were 4-5″ are now 7″.  For us it will be strictly portable fishing, walking , small ATV’s, (no side by sides), and snowmobiles. We will continue with that policy thru the weekend.  As the cold temps penetrate the ice there will also be considerable cracking as the ice shrinks with the cold and extra caution will be needed.

Be Safe!

Eddy

Today we “officially” opened for portable traffic for walking, small ATV’s and snowmobiles. A few anglers went out and I have received a few pictures of  C/R Walleyes.  So there was a morning bite for some.

We checked more ice, marked where our road will be to what we call the East Bar, (3 miles out) for us. Checked our thin ice spots that we had flooded and they built a inch and a half more ice where our staked trails that cross it.  So our thinnest ice areas are approaching 6″ and on the average the rest we have found ranges from 7″-9″ and more in the rough ice areas.  The colder weather coming will definitely help alot out there.  I’m just hoping it will make enough ice to get going over the next 7-10 days before it starts warming back up.

We will keep things as they are over the weekend with the colder weather and wind coming the next few days. It might pretty gnarly out there Saturday with the strong gusty winds predicted by the NOAA.  If you come up, be prepared for it. As the colder weather gets to the ice there will be alot of cracks showing up so be aware of that also.  We have plenty of parking for rigs and wheelhouse campers available, The only charge will be the access fee.

Eddy

1/12/24 – 7:25 am  Weather forecast is changing again. last evening we were in 3″ to 6″ swath now this morning it looks like an inch or two.   Good News!    Still going to be windy starting Friday afternoon thru Saturday night, but not as strong as earlier predicted.