Here’s our latest update post-snow storm. We had between 8 to 10 inches of snow fall on Tuesday, which wasn’t ideal, considering our ice is still variable. Expect plenty of large drifts scattered randomly around the lake. We expect to see slushy areas in locations with lesser ice, which could pose problems for getting stuck with equipment. We drilled a lot of holes and continued to find ice ranging from 7.5 inches up to 17 inches. The area called “under the wires” (between the island and Lakeview Terrace) has the most variability with several small spots of 7.5 to 8 inches near thicker ice. The good news is, the areas of lesser ice (in the 7.5 to 8 inch range) have gotten smaller in the last week, which is encouraging.
We began plowing a road today (Thursday 2/4) to Waconia Bay and out to Cemetery Reef, as those areas had more ice. For now, that is as far as we are comfortable plowing from our marina with our heavy diesel plow truck. We will be paying attention to the roads we plowed today, to see how the weight of the surrounding snow will affect them, as there is potential for water to come up and slush them up in spots. If all goes well, and there is some improvement to the ice further out in the near future, we hope to continue the road out to Center Reef. Many anglers continue to fish in Wagener’s Bay and by Pillsbury Reef. We are still suggesting using caution over there as well. We hope to eventually have a road plowed to there from our marina, but that won’t be for some time as we incrementally get out further plowing as conditions improve. As always, drive at your own risk.
