Today ice started forming along the shore, (check out the webcam).  The unusual cold weather  we are having this early is starting things out way earlier than normal.  With the warm water and extremely cold temps there was actually “lake effect” snow up to 30 miles southeast of the lake today.  Something that doesn’t happen very often here.  But there is warmer weather coming in the future so I’m thinking it will be awhile yet.  I’m sure there will be some walking anglers on the ice this weekend in the bays. As most of them will have 3-5 inches of ice, (but far from being safe ice to travel on to far.  Keep in mind the new season will not start until December 1st.  Which means no keeping Walleyes yet…

We are plugging along getting things ready.  Houses are almost done and trucks are still a couple weeks away from there.. The small ones will be first and then the rest as we go.

Last Thursday I lost a good friend that started working the ice with his Dad about the same time as I did with mine.  Jerry Brandt.  May God Bless his soul and bless his family thru their loss. Even though we were about 5 miles apart on the south end of this lake, we both ran the same type of “Ice Fishing only” businesses on Mille Lacs.  We would always stay in touch throughout the season and see what was going on with the ice and the fishing.  Both of our times started after the “SuperBowl Blizzard” in 1975. At that time both of our Dad’s were aging and that storm was pretty much enough for them.

That storm was the only one in my memory that when it happened, it was the end of ice fishing for that year for everyone, and the rest of the year was spent just trying to get houses off the lake.  The whole lake flooded out leaving houses froze in to the floors.  I and a friend of mine spent two weeks just getting houses out of the ice and after two more weeks we were able to go out and pull them in over the top of two layered ice.  There were resorts with log skidders going out to pull them, One guy went to New York and bought a Army “Weasel” to pull them in on big sleds. Fortunately there were not too many “Big” houses like we know now or I don’t know what they would have done.

Now is the time for customers to get up here and check out their houses before we actually get going.  Nothing worse like last minute fixes…

Keep a Tight Line!!     I will always be  looking to the west for your “blue light” on your truck Jerry…   Eddy