I went out for another Lake Waconia ice check today. For this report I’ll speak in generalities instead of specific locations, because of the variances of ice we’ve been finding all season. To be as basic as possible, I am still finding LOTS of areas of heavy snowpack that has ice measuring around 5 inches under it. Those heavy snow spots flood water up when you drill a hole. While there has definitely been improvement since our last report regarding slushy areas, I am still finding them. That’s the bad news. As for good news, we are finding lots of combination ice (mixed frozen slush with clear ice) that has been measuring around 8 to 11 inches. The key thing to continue to remember is that while it’s certainly nice to find lots of thicker ice, you WILL find areas mixed in with the snow that has ice measuring 5 inches under it. That is why we continue to preach checking ice yourself if you are looking to go to specific locations. If you do your due diligence and do a dry run, it might be possible to bring small fish houses out to certain spots with an ATV or Snowmobile.
As for the fishing, we have been hearing some good panfish reports. Sunfish have been biting well in Waconia Bay in the weeds around 10 to 13 feet of water. Perch have been active as usual, but we are starting to see some decent keepers mixed in. Crappies in the late afternoon/evening are biting decent as well. The deeper water of Wagener’s Bay and over toward Pillsbury Reef has been producing a nice mixed bag of panfish as well, with crappies starting to suspend off the bottom. Walleyes have been hit or miss, but there have been some successful keepers caught in the 16 to 20 inch range out front of our marina and outside the weeds of Waconia Bay.
Hopefully this weekend’s extreme cold continues to improve our ice. It’s been a slow, long frustrating process for all of us who want to enjoy the lake. We’ll continue to be here for your fishing needs if you’re heading out this weekend from 8 am to 5:30pm, and next week Monday thru Friday from 9:30am – 5:30pm. Happy Fishing!
