Yesterday, I spent the entire day on the ice, checking ice thickness and pulling the disc on the ice roads to smooth out the rough areas before today’s snow and wind. Roads are established to Pope’s Reef, Ray’s Reef, and the Graveyard up the east side, and the NW side is headed out to the east side of the Tullibee Hole.  The Tullibee Road is established from shore to the Banana Reef, past the NW side of Gull and NE Spider Reef, and up the NE corner headed towards the Tullibee Hole.  The Tundra Road is headed west south of the Banana to the east side of the Tundra.  So we should have some smooth roads this year despite the areas of rougher ice.

Ice thickness ranges from 14″ in the first 150 yards from shore to 12″-13″ within the first mile and 11″-12″ as far as 2 miles. A wide band of extremely rough ice comes down from Big Point, encircling Hennepin Island, and heads SW across the NW side of the Banana Reef, the Tundra’s NW tip, and west from there.  Some are going to find out where that rough ice is; it is almost unfishable due to the layer upon layer of  3″-4″ sheet ice and slush pushed underneath from the wind.

I talked to some anglers who were out overnight Monday and Tuesday. One guy in one of the rentals had a slow bite, but two houses SW of Spider in 12′-13′ did well. Especially during the overnight, walleye were nice-sized and over the slot. The daytime activity was filled with Perch and small Walleye. From what I’ve seen so far this season, the shallower water is the best.

Today we are staying off the ice and letting the snow and wind do it’s thing. We will have smaller rentals available for the weekend, basic and deluxe. Vehicles with a curb weight under 5000 lbs can drive out to some areas.  But until I see a consistent 14″ of ice in our areas where I have established roads (mentioned above), we will not pull larger houses or let wheelhouses out behind a truck.  With anywhere from 11″-13″, it would be taking a chance I will not let my customers take.  A couple more days and cold weather over the weekend should make a big difference.  I think the “pull” will start sometime next week.

Keep a Tight Line!

Eddy