December 26th, 2021

Christmas Day some fishermen showed up and went out. Reports were few last evening when they came off the ice. Generally, that meant it was quiet for most. I did receive a few reports and a couple pictures of “keepers”.  It seems like with this harvest slot of 21-23″ these days the 24-28″ Walleyes are far and few between compared to what we seen just 3-4 years ago.

Ice depth still remains in the 9-11 inch range in most areas.  with the snow expected over the next couple days with high winds we are going to sit back and wait. (Below I attached the NOAA forecast.) In fact today I am going to pull in my two small rentals just to get them off the ice. There is no sense to leave them out and have them sit there collect drifts and flood. Just better to wait and start over.  If the snow would have missed us we could have been driving by New Years, but now that is up how much snow we actually get and if the cold weather after can get to the ice.

Tonight
Snow, mainly after 7pm. The snow could be heavy at times. Patchy blowing snow between 7pm and 4am. Steady temperature around 24. Breezy, with an east wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible.
Monday
Snow likely, possibly mixed with freezing rain, becoming all snow after 8am, then gradually ending. Patchy blowing snow between 11am and 5pm. Mostly cloudy, with a temperature falling to around 9 by 5pm. Wind chill values as low as -10. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 10 to 15 mph becoming west southwest 20 to 25 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
Monday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around -6. Wind chill values as low as -14. West wind 10 to 15 mph becoming light and variable after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.
Tuesday
A 50 percent chance of snow after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 15. East northeast wind around 5 mph. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.
Tuesday Night
Snow likely, mainly before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around -4. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west northwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.

 

Over the years I’ve seen this happen many times with this amount of ice.  Right now we have enough ice to hold a foot of snow, but not really enough to get out there with heavier trucks safely and plow,  9-11 inches of ice is borderline for that, (although I’ve have done it in the past and it is not enjoyable at all).   Alot depends on how much wind we get as to what it’s going to look like after. Maybe we will have enough wind to blow most of it off the lake, but with the amounts and temperatures forecasted I doubt it. One thing that might be a benefit from this is the areas where we have the rougher ice will trap snow more and they might flood and when frozen will make it easier to get thru them.

After the snow we will remain ATV, Snowmobile, Side by sides and Portables.  Obviously Snowmobiles will be the way to go.  We will have plenty of room for wheelhouse camping on shore and parking as well. Depending on what it looks like after it just might be that way for awhile.  We will just have to wait it out and see what it looks like. Lets hope the forecast is wrong and we get less

Eddy