Well here we go, our first day opening the access. This year will be the 65th year Lyback’s Ice Fishing has been on the ice, and 45 years for myself at the helm, and 32 years for my wife Cindy. If we have good weather and good ice we will have almost a 12 week season this year.

Yesterday after doing some more Ice checking and talking to the Sheriff’s Dept, There is quite a bit of unstable and very thin Ice out there about 1 1/2 to 3 miles out from our access. Some spots as little as 2-3 inches. A lot of rough unstable ice with pocket of thin ice west from the Banana Reef towards the Tundra, and numerous cracks from “shifting” ice out by the Banana Reef headed toward Hennipen Island and up towards Big Point with little or no ice on them at all and they are wide….  Don’t go out from anywhere if you do not know what the ice conditions are first.  The next couple days with the colder weather coming , it will disguise the cracks in the smooth ice areas, and you won’t see it until you are on it, and by then it will be too late.  I almost lost my Dad to that situation many years ago, so I know what I’m talking about. Check with a resort in the area you want to go to before going out.  They’ve been out there and they know..

For those reasons we will be advising anglers to stay in close where we have checked ice, staked trails to areas we know that have consistent ice depths of 8 inches,  There is definitely no reason for anyone to venture out 1-2 miles when we have so many good fishing areas in close to start anyways.

We will be letting walking and small ATV anglers go out, (No side by sides) for the next few days. We have plenty of room for parking and or camping with your wheelhouse overnight and portabling  for a couple days if you wish.  Access fee’s will stay the same as always. Bring your cleats too, as when you get out there a ways this year the ice gets pretty smooth, which is a “big” change for us over the last couple years.

Be Safe and Keep a Tight Line!!

Eddy