We went out for another ice check this morning, 1/10/21, looking to see if conditions improved with the colder temps at the end of last week. Waconia Bay and Wagener’s Bay now have 10-15 inches of ice, with most of it being in the 12-15 inch range. Keep in mind that the top few inches is still the hardened “slush”, so it is not as strong as clear black ice. We continued our check out to Center Reef, where we found 6-8 inches of ice with some hardened slush on top. This area was wet with slush several days ago, so we were happy to find it had frozen and hardened. The walleye hump in front of the marina had as little as 5 inches on it, with the majority of it being 6-7. The ice stayed similar out to Cemetery Reef, where it ranged from 6-8 inches. Keep in mind; we haven’t done any extended ice checks out to other areas of the lake such as Anderson’s, Keg’s, or North Reef. As always, use caution and check ahead of yourself if you are venturing to any areas with less traffic. The forecast for early in the week looks to be mild, so we won’t be updating ice conditions until later in the week when we hope the cold weather comes. We remain patient and won’t be allowing cars or trucks from our access until the ice thickens up more.
The bite has been less active than normal to start our ice fishing season on Lake Waconia. Hopefully things pick up with the change in weather. Most anglers are staying on the thicker ice on Wagener’s Bay or Waconia Bay. Sunfish have bit during the day in as little as 8 feet of water, with some biting a little deeper out to 14 feet. Crappies have been a little more hit or miss so far, but action can be had in similar depths as the sunfish, but later in the afternoon or early evening. Some have tried the deeper hole of Wagener’s Bay too and had some success with crappies too, but the bite hasn’t been as strong as normal. Walleyes have been picking up in the evening hours as well, with nothing too deep. This week would be a good week to set up some tip-ups with sucker minnow for northern pike with the milder temps earlier in the week.
We’ll see you on the ice!
