We received 4-5″ of snow overnight, and this morning at daybreak, the wind is starting to switch NW. By 9-10 am, it is going to be blowing enough to where the drifting will start.  If you are out of our place in a rental, permanent, or a wheelhouse customer of ours and want to get in while it’s easy, I would suggest doing it now!  If it becomes a whiteout, which it might, it could be more difficult to get off the lake due to visibility problems and drifting off the main roads.

11:00 a.m.  The winds have picked up some, but there has been minimal drifting. By mid-afternoon, winds will be in the 25mph range, so we’ll see what happens then. It seems like there was a little bit of sleet overnight with the snow, and it is holding back some of the drifting. We have been out and working on the main roads to the halfway point so fishermen can easily get in.

Many mixed reports as fishermen were checking out.   Some slot Walleyes and a few over but none over 26″  many had small Perch and Walleye action and those with cameras were seeing nice size Walleye. But all seemed pretty happy anyways.

Eddy

The bite yesterday changed slightly from before the snow.  Mid-day slot and over-slot walleyes were caught in 16-24 feet of water.  Perch action remained steady, but mostly smalls. The early dusk bite was good on the shallow drop-offs and deeper rock transitions, but it was quiet overnight. The overnight bite on the Gravel seemed better, but many smalls were also reported there.

Ice conditions are fine. We expect 2-4 inches of snow overnight and 10-20 mph winds gusting to 30 in the overnight and morning, so it will be a whiteout at times. Those leaving will be glad they marked a trail on their GPS to make it easier to get in on the roads. If they didn’t, they might want to do it today before dark.

We had a few reserved spots on the wheelhouse list that were no-shows, so we will be changing some prices for those who reserve spots in the future. This will appear on the website and in the report on Monday. It will be worth checking out.

4:00pm.   We are offficially in a winter weather advisory.  We are to be receiving 2″-4″ of snow and overnight the wind is supposed to switch to the N-NW @10-20 mph with gusts to 30 mph. There could be condsiderable drifting around the houses and it is important to park your wheelhouse so tongue and truck will be downwind facing the SE.  Those that don’t position their house and truck that way will wish they did come morning. Because if they don’t, they will be shoveling to get themselves out.  We are going around to rentals informing them on parking out of the wind also.  2-4 inches of snow isn’t much but can really make some drifts around houses. We will be out escorting rentals off as necessary Sunday, but wheelhouses will be on their own until the wind dies sometime Sunday evening.

Eddy

Yesterday afternoon, we received about an inch of snow, with very little wind covering the ice. It will be interesting to see how it might have changed the bite. Saturday evening, we will be getting some more, and it will be nice to have some snow for banking finally and to somewhat insulate the ice from the temperature changes.

For the weekend, after flooding and freezing the rough spots on our Gravel Bar Roads and checking ice depths on it, we gained an inch in the last couple of days. We have the shortest distance to travel to the Gravel Bars from our access and no bridges. Single axle wheelhouses, 1/2 ton trucks, and 21ft tandems pulled by a 1/2 truck can go out to the gravel bars.  Anything bigger stays inside our first two miles, where we have 19-21″ of ice.

Looking forward to a good weekend.

Eddy