In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 12/31/19

Check out our latest ice update video below to see the change in conditions from a couple of days ago. We were out on our Side by Side today to Waconia Bay, the walleye hole between the marinas, Cemetery Reef, Under the Wires, Center Reef, Pillsbury Reef and back into Wagener’s Bay. We did a lot of drilling and noticed that things have improved more quickly than expected. We thought we would find worse conditions considering the amount of water on the ice 2 days ago and the 3 to 4 inches of blowing snow that quickly came yesterday before it got too cold.

While there are plenty of spots with little-to-no snow, there are drifts scattered everywhere with as much as 4 to 8 inches of snow on the ice. That snow will continue to hamper ice growth, so increases under those areas will take more time. Some of those drifts are flooding and creating slush, and some are not flooding as they may be on thicker ice, or haven’t had holes drilled through them or cracks running through them.

We were only able to find one spot today with as little as 5 inches of ice, but a lot of the lesser ice found was in the 6.5 to 7 inch range, so that is an improvement! That doesn’t mean there aren’t more spots with 5 inches, but they aren’t as common. The top end ice found was as much as 13 inches. It won’t be unusual to find ice in the 9 to 12 inch range, but still be wary of the lesser ice that may be near when considering bringing anything heavy onto the ice. As always, check ahead of yourself.

To best summarize, we are thankful things look as good as they do considering the recent unusual weather. We are still only allowing Snowmobiles, ATV’s and Side by Sides on through our access today 12/31/19. If using an ATV or Side by Side, we highly recommend you have chains. With another night of cold weather as we enter the New Year, we hope to update you tomorrow with better news in hopes that some of the slush areas that concern us start to heal up even more overnight.

We will see you on the ice! Happy New Year!

We will be open tomorrow, New Year's Eve from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. We hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

We will be open tomorrow, New Year's Eve from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. We hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report 12/29/19

If you have a permanent fish house on Lake Waconia (or other area lakes), we strongly advise you to check on it today and move it off the ice. Any open holes under or around your house have or will become drain holes for the rain we received last night and those holes will get larger, putting your fish house in danger. Winds are expected to pick up creating more moving water which will erode the ice under your house faster making the situation worse. Keep in mind, just because there may not be open holes under your house, doesn’t mean that wind or flowing water won’t create one to become problematic. Don’t bring your house to shoreline ice, as it can be in as much danger there as out on the lake. Don’t wait for the cool down to do something.

For those of you looking to go fishing today and set up portables, be sure to have good waterproof boots and ice cleats on!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report 12/26/19

We hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas! We just came off the ice on Lake Waconia. The ice is a little “damp” on top but not bad. Ice thickness has remained virtually the same since our last update. Snow on the Lake has diminished greatly. Some slush and water can be found under old diminished snow drifts. 5 ½ to 6 inches of ice under the deeper slushy drifts (or where drifts were that melted) can still be found.  In the outskirts of remaining drifts or where there were smaller old drifts, we were finding 6 to 9 inches of ice. The thickest ice we are finding is still about 12 inches (in areas where there was never snow).

Let’s all hope we avoid the snow event predicted for this weekend. Rain would be just fine; it would knock down the remaining drifts and help get the ice thicker when the cold weather comes. If we skate by this weekend without the white stuff, we can look forward to some of the thinner areas catching up when colder temps arrive.

We are still letting ATV’s, Side by Sides and Snowmobiles through our access. Very small skid houses less than 1500 pounds will be allowed through as long as you have an ATV or Side by Side ready to pull it out to the spot right away. Please do not leave them on the ice in front of the marina. Very small lightweight wheel houses less than 1500 pounds (most are too heavy) and lightweight trailers will also still allowed to be pulled behind ATV’s and Side by Sides.

We still have not put our rental fish houses on the lake yet because of varying ice thickness and this upcoming potential weather event.  Please continue check ahead of yourself before going anywhere off the beaten path.

Merry Christmas! We are open until 3:30 pm Christmas Eve, and will be closed Christmas Day!

We are open until 3:30 pm today in case you need any last minute Christmas gifts. We will be closed on Christmas Day. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 12/20/19

We went out on Lake Waconia today, 12/20 to get a checkup on current ice conditions. We checked Waconia Bay, Under the Wires, Center Reef, Pillsbury Reef and Wagener’s Bay.

Where there is no or minimal snow, ice thickness continues to improve. Where any significant snow is at, ice growth remains minimal. Today we were finding 4 1/2 inches to 6 inches of ice in the deeper drifts. Moderate drifts had 6 to 8 inches of ice under them. 10 to 12 inches of ice was easy to find where there was minimal to no snow.

As of now, we are letting ATV’s, Side by Sides and Snowmobiles through our access. Starting Saturday 12/21, very small skid houses less than 1500 pounds will be allowed through as long as you have an ATV or Side by Side ready to pull it out to the spot right away. Please do not leave them on the ice in front of the marina. Very small lightweight wheel houses less than 1500 pounds (most are too heavy) and lightweight trailers will also be allowed to be pulled behind ATV’s and Side by Sides.

We still have not put our rental fish houses on the lake yet because of varying ice thickness. As always, please check ahead of yourself before going anywhere off the beaten path.

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report 12/18/19

We headed out on Lake Waconia today to get a current ice report. The snow on the lake is still holding back consistent ice growth. Shockingly, in deeper snow drifts 5 to 5 1/2” of ice is still too common. In the moderate drifts ice thicknesses are in the 6 to 7” range. Where there is no or minimal snow We are finding 9 to 10” or sometimes more. We are seeing some liquid slush in areas that have deeper snow that had a crack run through it flooding the area. There is no freeboard in the areas with thinner ice, so water will come up above the ice in those spots.

We will not be putting our rental houses out this weekend because of the variable ice. We will update you when we will be able to do so!

Thanks, and see you on the ice!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report 12/14/19

We did a quick Ice check this afternoon to see how much things have changed since Thursday. In the deeper snow the least we found was 4 1/2" of ice. Moderate snow drifts have  6 to 7" of ice. In the areas we have checked where there is no or minimal snow, the ice is around 9".

We will allow ATV and Side by Side traffic through our access starting Tomorrow (Sunday 12/15/19).

 We are not allowing permanent houses through our landing yet.

As always please check ahead of yourself when venturing off the beaten path!

See you on the ice!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 12/12/19

We went out for our first ice walk today, 12/12/19. What we found did not surprise us. We’ve been given some great cold weather this week, but the snowfall we got before the cold did impact the variability of ice thicknesses in all areas checked. The first part of the walk began in Waconia Bay and continued past “Under the Wires”, out to Center Reef, west to Pillsbury Reef and south to the deep hole of Wagener’s Bay ending at the Wagener’s Bay access. The second part of our walk was to the “walleye hole” between the marinas and the south side of Cemetery Reef. What we found was ice as little as 4 inches and up to 8 inches. Where the snow was deeper, ice was usually 4 to 5 inches thick. Where the snow was not quite as deep we had between 5 to 6 inches of ice. Where the wind had swept the ice free and clear of snow, there was 8 inches of ice. The ice itself is in excellent shape. However, when you drill into the ice anywhere there was more than minimal snow, water instantly comes up the hole (no freeboard). Where there is 8 inches of ice, there is some freeboard and water does not come up the hole.

It’s certainly exciting that we are seeing thicknesses like this! As usual, we always caution to do thorough checking yourself if you intend to go out with anything heavy. We do our best to get accurate info for you, but we cannot cover everything! If coming out, we are only allowing walking through our access at this time. With continued cold coming this weekend, we will update when we will allow ATV’s, etc… in the future.

Don’t forget, we open for the season tomorrow at 9:30 am! Stop in to say hi, load up on bait or pick up your Winter Season Access Pass for $30.

We look forward to seeing you!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia - Opening for the Season on Friday, 12/13 at 9:30 am!

We are excited to open for the season this Friday, December 13th at 9:30 am. Early season hours will be Saturday and Sunday from 8 am to 5:30 pm and Monday thru Friday from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm.

We were hoping to avoid the blowing snow that fell last Sunday into Monday. Our first ice walk will be on Thursday and we expect to give you an update before we open on Friday. When we venture out after the current extreme cold, we expect to find varied ice thicknesses because of the drifted snow.

We look forward to seeing you soon!