In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 12/28/22 - Bait Shop Opens and Fish House Rentals AVAILABLE Starting 12/29

We look forward to seeing you when we open for the season tomorrow morning at 9 am! We were on the ice today snow blowing in Waconia Bay widening and lengthening our path that we started yesterday, so it should make things easier to get to your spot. There are still areas with scattered heavy drifts, but the warmer weather today settled some of the snow a bit. If setting up a portable or wheelhouse, please set up off the path. As we mentioned in our last report, you'll want chains on your ATV if you plan to haul anything with it. We will be allowing snowmobiles and ATVs with Single-Axle Wheelhouses through our access. It will be bumpy and wet right away at the access as we are dealing with some ice heaving, but the access is still in good shape.

We placed 3 of our 5 rental houses on the ice today! If you are looking to rent, we have our 2 Ice Castle fish houses (#2 & #3) and one of our 7x14 fish houses (#5) available starting tomorrow afternoon. Call (952) 442-2096 to reserve your date to get on the ice!

Here's a list of our rental rates and policies... https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UxHHzr7rX6HPs-n7OV1YW_Eilp940Wi5/view?usp=sharing

We'll see you on the ice!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 12/27/22 - Bait Shop Opens Thursday 12/29!

 

Happy Tuesday! First things first, we will be opening our bait shop and lake access this Thursday, 12/29 at 9am. Hours will be 9 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday and from 8 am to 5 pm Saturday and Sunday.

We have been out on the ice a good amount the past 2 days both checking thickness and maintaining our access to prep for the season. As expected, there is a lot of snow and heavy drifting on the lake. When checking ice thickness yesterday, we took our Polaris Ranger side-by-side out to cover area faster. We went from our access to the walleye hump/hole between the marinas, out to Center Reef, Pillsbury Reef and into Wagener’s Bay up to the Wagener’s Bay access. We found ice ranging from 9 inches to 15 inches. 11 to 12 inches was most common, with 10 inches and 13 inches being next most common. 14 to 15 inches was less common, with 9 inches being the least common. Keep in mind, these thicknesses are roughly 80% solid ice with 20% of it frozen slush on top. Any of these thicknesses can be found on any of the areas we checked. The thickness varies that much. Also, we briefly went to the marked area off the NW side of Coney Island that was affected by ducks and swans using it. We found as little as 5 inches of ice there. We did not look for any more springs from our last report due to all of the snow, so pay extra attention for anything unusual. At the bottom of this report will be coordinates to the most common springs we know about. We don’t know where all of the springs are, so let us know and mark them if you see something.

Because of the heavy snow in some areas there were pockets of slush underneath some of the deep drifts. We saw slush in front of the Wagener’s Bay access yesterday. Today, at our access, we have been moving snow that had slush on part of it. If you drove by at all, you may have seen Ben in the plow truck moving that snow and slush away from our frontage to firm up the area. We had thoroughly checked the ice and felt comfortable to use the plow truck on our frontage. Jimmy was out further in his subcompact tractor with front snow blower creating a path into the Waconia Bay that we will eventually widen with the plow truck for a road. We are not advocating car and truck usage yet, as there is so much variance in ice thickness on the lake and the extreme snow load on the ice after the blizzard.

When we open up the shop and access on Thursday, we will be allowing ATVs and Snowmobiles for now with Single-axle Fish Houses. Please do not leave your fish house on our plowed frontage. Chains on your ATV are a must if you are towing anything. Be prepared with shovels or other equipment to deal with the snow. Plan your route before just pulling it out there. It won’t be easy going. Having a friend with a second machine is a good idea if possible. We don’t provide fish house towing service.

Keep in mind our access rate if driving ATV’s or Snowmobiles is $5 per day on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays and $3 per day Monday through Thursday. If parking and walking out through our access, it is $2 every day. A Winter Season Pass is $35. As always, we can never guarantee ice. If you use our access it is at your own risk. We do our best to report thicknesses to you but can’t cover it all, so we always advise you to do your own ice checking before going out, especially when hauling a fish house.

Here are coordinates of common springs we have found in the past. This does not mean we have found them this winter and they likely are NOT marked…

E. of Cemetery Reef: 44° 51.586’ N 93° 46.474’ W

W. of Anderson’s Reef: 44° 51.673’ N 93° 46.263’ W

S. of Reinke’s Reef: 44° 52.660’ N 93° 46.246’ W

N. of Red’s Reef: 44° 52.460’ N 93° 46.230’ W

Between Keg’s & NW Side of Island: 44° 51.987’ N 93° 47.241’ W

S. of North Reef: 44° 52.351’ N 93° 47.113’ W

SE Side of Keg’s Reef: 44° 52.136’ N 93° 46.939’ W

S. of Red’s Reef: 44° 52.044’ N 93° 46.346’ W

East of Island: 44° 51.651’ N 93° 46.567’ W

East of Island: 44° 51.639’ N 93° 46.567’ W

Between Wagener’s Bay Access and Rock Dock: 44° 51.608’ N 93° 48.159’ W

West Side of Deep Hole in Wagener’s Bay: 44° 51.788 N 93° 48.396 W

Northwest Side of Deep Hole in Wagener’s Bay: 44° 52.002’ N 93° 48.525’ W

Between Keg’s & NW Side of Island: 44° 51.940’ N 93° 47.225’ W

N. of NE Side of Island: 44° 51.832’ N 93° 47.146’ W

SW of North Reef: 44° 52.334’ N 93° 47.298’ W

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 12/19/22

Happy Monday! We’ll start with bait shop news first before getting into the ice report. Despite the positive ice news below, the bait shop and access will remain closed at this time as we await the extreme winter weather later this week. Measureable snow is likely on Wednesday and Wednesday night. There are predictions for high winds of 30 mph+ potentially gusting over 50 mph on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with brutally cold wind chills and blizzard-like conditions. We will update our shop and access opening date later in the week once we know how things shake out with the weather.

Now on to the ice report! We took a long walk to several areas of Lake Waconia today,12/19/22. We are very happy with how the slush from last week firmed up nicely. It not only added immediate thickness and strength to the ice, but also freeboard (the thickness of ice that is above the water level). Last week when you drilled a hole, water flowed out and flooded the area of ice around you. Now, with positive freeboard there generally is up to ¼ inch of ice above the water in your hole.

We walked from Waconia Bay, to “under the wires” (between the island and Lakeview Terrace) and out to Center Reef near Pillsbury. We did not cover Pillsbury Reef or into Wagener’s Bay. We also went to the walleye hump/hole between the marinas, Cemetery Reef and east on the way to Anderson’s. We stopped and marked 2 of the notorious springs that we have found every year lately. One was very active and bubbling (shown in the video), the other was thinly iced over, but problematic if not marked. We used lath board and flagging tape to mark around them, so they should be visible. Both of those springs are between Cemetery Reef and Anderson’s Reef. We expect to find several more springs in common places from the past, so continue to pay attention. For clarity’s sake, we did not make it to Anderson’s Reef, or north to Reds Reef. We then tracked back west on the south side of Coney Island and checked out the pressure ridge that extended from the southwest side of the island into Waconia Bay. That area has improved greatly from 2 weeks ago. It’s still something to potentially avoid with anything heavy in the near future. We also marked an area on the NW side of Coney Island with lath board and flagging tape that is still open water with ducks and swans using it that also has thin ice around it that is about a 50 x 100 foot affected area.

As for ice thickness where we checked, we typically found a range between 7.5 to 12 inches, with a lot of it 8.5 to 10 inches. Very little of the ice is clear perfect ice. Typically about ¾ of the thickness was solid clear ice with the top ¼ of it being frozen slush. Where we ended checking in locations that transitioned from older ice to newer ice, we found less ice in the 4 to 8 inch range and didn’t continue further. Those expansive areas are on the main lake east of Center Reef, behind the island and north of Cemetery and Anderson’s Reefs.

Keep in mind, we can’t cover everything. With the snow cover and variation of freezing times, we highly suggest doing your own ice checks before heading out. We know many of you will see our reported numbers and think it’s go-time to start bringing fish houses out on the ice. We continue to preach patience! We are holding off on bringing any of our rental fish houses out. If permanent houses are brought on the ice with the weather coming up, heavy drifting likely will occur, making things difficult to get around and adding lots of weight from the snow around your fish house which could flood your area.

We’ll update when we know more. Stay warm!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 12/16/22

 

First and foremost, we will remain closed this weekend as we are looking forward to the negative temperatures next week that we expect will improve Lake Waconia’s ice. We walked out to Waconia Bay today to get a sense for the conditions after the rain and snow event this week. As expected, it’s quite wet out there and tough sledding. Pretty much everywhere you go there will be a layer of water under heavy snow. Some areas are more saturated depending on the thickness of the ice below it. We are keeping our access closed to limit rutting and so it’s allowed to freeze as evenly as possible in the upcoming cold.

We also found a surprise spring in a location we have not found spring activity before. It was a couple hundred yards directly north of the marina near where our sailboat moorings are located. We marked it with lath board and flagging tape (Coordinates are 44° 51.242’ N, 93° 47.134’ W). Because of low water, this is expected to be an active spring year on the lake again, and to see an open hole bubbling in an unusual location is frustrating. It’s another reason we are being extra cautious this winter. With the blanket of snow on top of the wetness, we urge you to not make assumptions about ice thicknesses, especially after the most recent mild stretch.

Having said all of that, we drilled several dozen holes in Waconia Bay and in front of the marina that we found as little as 3.5 inches and up to 9 inches. A lot of it was 5.5 to 7.5 inches. Again, our goal today was to assess the wetness and usability for the weekend. While it’s usable with thicknesses we’d usually be thrilled to see, you’d definitely want to be prepared to be fishing in a puddle if you go out. The weight of the water on the ice is noticeable. Every hole we drilled water would immediately flood the area. When chiseling, it made a different sound than we are used to hearing and truthfully, we feel it’s the stress on the ice from the weight that is making it sound unusual.

We will announce our store opening hours and provide our next ice update early in the week after a couple of days of extreme cold. We expect the negative temps to really help solidify things out there adding strength and thickness to the ice.

In the meantime, we always suggest doing plenty of checking yourself if you’re venturing out. With the variability of freezing dates across the lake, active springs, stressed ice due to water weight and overall difficulty moving around on the ice, patience may be a good virtue to have for the short term. It’s the route we’ve decided to take.

Stay safe and we look forward to better days on the ice ahead!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 12/7/22

Happy winter! Due to the varying ice thicknesses on Lake Waconia that we are reporting below, along with predicted mild temps, and a potential rainy, snowy and windy start to next week, we will remain closed at this time. This will be the only ice report we’ll make until later next week.

The ice at the beginning of this winter will be some of the most varied we’ve seen in many years due large areas of the lake freezing at different times along with the mild weather last week and the high winds when it got colder and tried to freeze up. While much of the lake is now frozen over, there remain scattered small areas of open water across the lake. It is definitely not a year to make assumptions about ice thickness.

Ben and Avery took the marina’s first ice walk today, December 7, 2022. They checked in Waconia Bay and to the east by the “Walleye Hole” or “Hump” that is between the 2 marinas. Some of the thicker ice was out from the perimeter shoreline that has been there since late November measuring 6 to 8 inches. Within some of those perimeter locations, they still found some ice as little as 3 to 4 inches with drifted snow. Once they got further out, they did find ice in the 5 to 7 inch range, but within those same areas were plenty of holes drilled that measured 2 to 3.5 inches too. There is a pressure ridge on the north side of Waconia Bay that extends to the island and should be avoided right now. There are uneven areas of snow drifted all over too which will hold back some ice growth due to the snow’s insulating factor. Unfortunately, due to the fresh layer of snow Wednesday morning, you can no longer see the obvious visible differences in the ice. That makes it extremely important to check ahead of yourself with a chisel if you decide to head out.

It might get tempting to go snowmobiling or ATVing, because there may be ice thicknesses that can support it in certain locations, but it’s definitely not a good idea to go across the lake unless you’ve taken plenty of time to measure thicknesses on your path. In general, we recommend avoiding using them at this time.

Be safe out there. We hope to report better news later next week!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia - 9/18/22 - Bait shop is closed for the summer season

Our Bait Shop is now closed and we are done renting pontoons and fishing boats for the season. We hope you had a great summer on Lake Waconia and thank you for your business!
Those of you with season boat access passes may continue to launch through the end of September.

We will open this winter some time in December for ice fishing and announce those hours at a later date. Regarding Fish house rental, we begin taking reservations when we open in December.

Have a great fall!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia - 8/7/22 - Store hours change starting 8/8/22

We begin shortening our summer hours starting tomorrow, 8/8/22. For the next couple of weeks we are open Sunday thru Friday from 8:30 am to 8 pm. Saturdays we are open from 7:30 am to 8 pm. Gas service will end each night at 7:15 pm. Hours will continue to change as we get later into August. Enjoy your week! We'll see you at the lake.

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia 4th of July Hours and Information!

Happy Independence Day holiday weekend! We will be open Saturday the 2nd, Sunday the 3rd and Monday the 4th at 7 am. We will remain open on the 4th until the end of the Waconia Lion's Club Lake Waconia Fireworks show that begins at 10 pm.

Speaking of the fireworks show, we are happy to help sponsor the event for another year and thankful for the work the volunteers do to put on such a great show! It will be held at the Lake Waconia Regional Park on the southeast side of the lake. Those of you who would like to watch from the marina, you are welcome to join us by our shoreline access or deck (not on the docks). Please park on the street and walk down. Our parking lot will be only available to slip and buoy members. We hope you enjoy the show and have a safe and happy holiday!

https://waconia.destinationwaconia.org/events/details/4th-of-july-fireworks-9995

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Fishing Report - 5/26/22 - New Store Hours!

New summer hours begin this Friday! We will now be open 8 am to 8:30 pm Sunday through Friday and 7 am to 8:30 pm on Saturday. Gas pump service will be available until 7:45 pm each night.

Also starting Friday, our Pontoons and Fishing Boats will be available for rent! For more info, check out our rental page at https://intownemarina.com/pontoon-%26-boat-rental

Those of you looking to launch your boat at our access, we still have Everyday Summer Season Passes available for a limited time! Those cost $329 + Tax. We allow launching on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays ONLY for those with an Everyday Summer Season Pass. We do allow daily usage of our access for those launching on non-holiday Mondays through Thursdays for $8 per day. A Monday through Thursday Season Pass is $90 + Tax.

With the cooler spring air temps of late, the water temperature has fluctuated and dropped from the mid-60’s last week to the upper 50’s as of this writing. We expect a big jump over the next several days with much nicer, warmer weather coming! We are thankful for that.

The lake hasn’t had a lot of fishing pressure from anglers of late, but those who have been out have had some success! Bass have been biting very well in the shallows. This Saturday the 28th is officially the Bass Opener, so now you can keep your possession limit if you’d like. Crappies have still been biting well in 8 to 12 feet of water. Waconia Bay is a good starting point, along with the north side of Coney Island and the north shore weedlines. Speaking of the north shore weedlines, walleyes are worth targeting there after dark along with locations on the east side of the lake like the Clay Banks and by the beach. On the west side of the lake, areas like Harm’s Point and out from the Rock Dock can produce them too. Northern pike have been active as well in many locations, so don’t be surprised to latch on to one of those. We need the water temps to warm up for the sunfish to get more active into their spawn pattern.

We hope you have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Report - Fishing Opener 2022!

Happy Fishing Opener Eve! We will be open tonight (5/13) until 1 am for all your bait and tackle needs. We open back up Saturday morning at 5 am! Our gas pump service will begin Saturday after 10 am.

We have a good mix of nice size fatheads as well as shiners if you’re looking to live minnow fish. With the cold spring, leech size has been stunted so far, so we have limited quantities of large leeches, with most being regular/medium size. We sell night crawlers by the dozen packed in paper. For those going for the pike we have a good mix of sucker minnows available. If you’re panfishing, we have plenty of crappies, wax worms and angle worms in stock.

If you’re going out overnight for walleyes, try fishing areas like Harm’s Point, the Rock Dock and Peterson’s Creek (we call it the Carp Trap). With the rain the past several days, it should be flowing good and hopefully the bite will be on! Water temps are in the mid-to-upper 50’s, so it should still be a good early season bite with plenty of opportunity to catch them in less than 10 feet of water.

We look forward to seeing you!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia - Bait Shop will be open for the season starting this Friday 5/13 at 9 am!

Finally some warmth! Fishing Opener is almost here! The bait shop will be open for the season this Friday, May 13th at 9 am! We will be open until 1 am for the Fishing Opener. We open back up Saturday morning from 5 am to 7 pm. Sunday we are here from 8 am to 7 pm. Hours during the week are Noon to 7 pm.

2022 Summer Season Launch Passes will be available to the general public starting this Friday! Go to InTowneMarina.com to find out more information, availability and special pre-sale for last year’s Summer Season Pass holders…

Pontoon and Boat & Motor rentals will begin in late May. Reservations can be made once we are open on Friday, May 13th.

See you soon!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Update - Bait Shop opens with limited hours and Boat Launch Access use begins Friday, May 13th!

Happy Spring! The bait shop and boat launch access will be open for the season on Friday, May 13th! We will announce shop hours as we get closer to that date. While Mother Nature has not been kind so far this spring, we look forward to warmer weather and opening for the 2022 fishing & boating season.

2022 Summer Season Launch Passes will be available soon! Click https://intownemarina.com/ to find out more information and about a special pre-sale for last year's Summer Season Pass holders to purchase their 2022 pass.

Pontoon and Boat & Motor rentals will begin in late May. Reservations can be made once we are open on Friday, May 13th.

We'll see you soon!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia - 3/6/22 - Closed for the winter season.

We are now closed for the Winter Season! Our access will remain temporarily open for a limited time depending on conditions. We will not be plowing any more lake roads. As always, drive at your own risk.

Thank you for another great winter on Lake Waconia!

We will update you with potential spring opening hours once the ice is off the lake and we have begun installation of our dock system. See you soon!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 3/4/22 - Our Fish House Rental season is over for the winter. Bait shop closes soon.

We are removing our rental fish houses from the ice today and will be done renting for the season. Thank you to the many families and anglers that rented from us on Lake Waconia this winter! With rain predicted for Saturday and temperatures staying above freezing until early Sunday morning, we decided to get them off the ice before the weekend.

We will be open this weekend but closed for the winter season at the end of the day Sunday, March 6th. If possible, we will keep our access open for use after we are closed but may block it if conditions at the access worsen. We will not be plowing lake roads after March 6th.

Keep in mind, fish houses must be removed from the ice Monday, March 7th, 2022. After the 7th, shelters may remain on the ice between midnight and one hour before sunrise only when occupied or attended. Please do your part to keep the lake clean and remove any blocks or trash around your house. It is greatly appreciated!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Report - 2/26/22

We've had some people confused about end of season ice fishing dates. Sunday, February 27th is the last day of Gamefish season. However, permanent fish houses can stay on the ice until Monday March 7th.

Our bait shop will be open through next weekend and will close for the season at end of Sunday March 6th.

Currently we are out of sucker and shiner minnow for the season. We still have crappies and fatheads, along with plenty of wax worms and larva.

We hope everyone is enjoying this nicer weekend weather!

We'll see you on the ice!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice & Snow Plowing Report: CLOSED Tuesday 2/22/22 due to predicted blizzard-like conditions

With the predicted blizzard-like conditions tomorrow we will be CLOSED Tuesday, 2/22/22. The access will remain open, but not plowed, so make sure to drive a capable vehicle and be prepared if venturing out. Once the snow is done and the winds diminish, we will begin opening our roads up again hopefully Wednesday morning.

Several people have moved houses off the lake because of the predicted snow event. If your plan is to bring your house closer to shore near the marina, we ask that you keep it on the other side of the snow banks and not on our currently plowed areas, or consider taking it home for the short-term. Coming out of the recent warm-up, things have firmed up nicely and the ice remains in excellent shape.

Stay warm and we’ll see you soon!

New Roads and Lake Waconia Ice Update 1/28/22

 New Roads and Lake Waconia Ice Update 1/28/22

We spent part of Thursday plowing some new lake roads. We have added a road past the Walleye hump and out to Cemetery Reef. Ice on that road measured from 14 to 18 inches with 16 inches being a common thickness.

Out near Center Reef where the main road forks we extended the east road out to North Reef. As you approach North Reef on the south side of the road you will see a spring marked with lath and flagging tape. The spring is well off the path,  just keep a lookout for it if off roading. Ice measured 14 to 17 inches on that newer stretch of road.

Off the roads in common snow areas the ice is usually between 14 and 18 inches thick. In the deepest drifts 13 inches of ice is rare but can be found- thicker ice will be just outside the drift. Almost 2 feet of ice can be found where there is no or very limited snow. Ice on the established main road measured between 19 and 22 inches yesterday where we checked.

We are allowing up to 1 ton trucks with up to 26’ Tandem wheel houses. If venturing out on your own always check ahead of yourself especially with the big rigs.

See you on the ice

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice and Spring Update 1/20/22

 The cold weather is back and it’s doing its job. Avery headed out this morning to get us all another ice thickness update. Avery checked our plowed frontage and the main lake road that heads out to Center Reef and then Wagener’s Bay. In his checking on the road he found between 16 and 19 inches of ice. When he got off the road he would look for deep snow to find our current reported minimums.  Today in a very deep drift near “Under the Wires” (between the island and the peninsula) he found a very small area of 11.5 inches of ice. Immediately surrounding that drift in common snow he found 14 inches of ice. In areas that had minimal drifting and just common undisturbed  snow around Pilsbury and Center reef he was finding 13 to 15 inches of ice. Spots he checked that had very little to no snow around Pillsbury and Center Reef had 15 to 20 inches of ice.

If you are leaving the marina on our main road  and take a right at the large fork as you approach Center Reef and continue past most of the group on that reef you will notice a path that people have been following to the South side of Keg’s Reef. Avery did some ice checking along that path and out on Kegs.  On the packed area of the trail he was finding 16 to 17 inches of ice. There is not a lot of drifting or spots that blew clean on that part of the lake. In the common snow areas found around Kegs Avery was measuring 13 to 15 inches of ice. 12” was the least ice he found out there and that was one small spot.

More Springs to report. A couple days ago an angler found and reported 2 smaller but notable springs North and West of the deep hole in Wagener’s Bay. The coordinates for these springs are 44° 52.002’ N     93° 48.525’ W  These springs are marked with smaller sticks and flagging tape. 

Starting Friday 1/21/22  we will now start letting some Tandem axle Houses on our access. 24’ houses and up to 26’ lighter weight houses will be allowed. Please no huge rigs. If you are in a one ton diesel please don’t push it and show up with a 26’ or bigger house.

See you on the ice

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report and Spring Update - 1/17/2022

 Spring Update (West side of the Deep Hole in Wagener’s Bay)! Earlier this morning an angler put his truck tire in a pretty significant spring that was not marked at the time. He was in four wheel drive and his momentum got him out fine. He called us after he marked it with a 2x6. Later in the morning we went out to mark it better with lath board and flagging tape. Before today this spring was unknown to us. Please do what this gentleman did and mark spots like this if you find them! Certainly feel free to share the info with us so we can get the word out!

The coordinates of the spring are-      44° 51.788 N       93° 48.396 W

We drilled several holes today to get a current ice thickness update. The least ice We could find today in a deep snow drift was 12 inches. Many of the holes We drilled in the deep snow were around 13 to 14 inches of ice. We measured thickness on our road in several areas today too. Ice on the Main plowed road measured between 14 and 18 inches, with 15 to 16 inches being common . In the Center reef area on a side road we measured as little as 13 inches, but most of the ice on that road was 14 to 16 inches. The thickest spot I found today was on a spot near Harm’s point that had no snow and the Ice measured 19.5 inches!

Overall things are coming along very nicely in the Ice department on Waconia. We will be opening our access to tandem axle houses sometime later this week. Even as we gain ice thickness remember to check ahead of yourself when venturing off the beaten paths.

ICE & DICE IS BACK! Bring your Lake Waconia catch into the bait shop to qualify for a chance to win a prize and share your story! Checkout InTowneMarina.com for more info.

Remember we have ALL 5 of our Fish House Rentals available! Our 8 hole Ice Castles have TVs if you want to watch the Big Game! We drill the holes, the heat is on and ready for you to fish! They are currently located around 10 to 13 feet of water for good daytime sunfish and evening crappies! If you’d like to make a reservation, please call (952) 442-2096.

We’ll see you on the ice.

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 1/13/2022 - Access is OPEN for use to cars and trucks with single-axle houses

We have opened our access to cars and trucks up to 1-ton that can haul up to a single-axle fish house (commercial use of our access is not allowed). Sorry, no tandem or larger fish-houses allowed behind cars or trucks this weekend. We will announce later when will allow those. We will be monitoring the snow situation for Friday and will begin to plow a road from our access once the snow ends and the wind allows for us to plow safely.

We now have ALL 5 of our Fish House Rentals available! 2 of them are our Ice Castles that are 8 holers and two are 6-hole houses and one is a 5-hole house. We drill the holes, the heat is on and ready for you too fish! They are currently located around 10 to 13 feet of water for good daytime sunfish and evening crappies! If you’d like to make a reservation, please call (952) 442-2096.

We’ll see you on the ice.

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 1/10/22 - Access open for cars and 1/2 ton trucks starting Tuesday 1/11/22

Ice Update - Today 1/10/22 we were finding between 10” and 16” of ice. I was concentrating on seeing how much ice we gained in the deeper snow drifts. Common ice in the deeper drifts is 11 inches. The least I found today was 10 inches of ice. I am having to work pretty hard to find 10 inches of ice and those spots are shrinking! Surrounding ice near those drifted areas was 11 to 16 inches today.

On Tuesday 1/11/22 We are opening our access to driving! We will be allowing cars and up to ½ ton trucks through our access. We will be allowing single axle wheel houses behind trucks LATER in the week. We currently have a road that ends north of Waconia Bay (12” to 13” of ice on that plowed road). We will continue that road out towards Center Reef and Pillsbury Reef tomorrow ( the ice where that road will be was between 10.5 and 16” where I checked today).

As always, we can never guarantee ice. If you use our access it is drive at your own risk. We do our best to report thicknesses to you but can’t cover it all, so we always advise you to do your own ice checking before going out, especially with a truck and fish house.

Our access rate if driving vehicles, ATV’s or Snowmobiles is $5 per day on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays and $3 per day Monday through Thursday. If parking and walking out through our access, it is $2 every day.

Our Fish House Rental season is underway! We’ve got 3 rentals on the ice. 2 of them are our Ice Castles that are 8 holers and one is our 6-hole houses. We drill the holes, the heat is on and ready for you too fish! They are currently located around 10 feet of water for good daytime sunfish and evening crappies! If you’d like to make a reservation, please call (952) 442-2096.

We will see you on the ice!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 1/7/2022 - Access remains CLOSED for cars and trucks at this time

Mother Nature has done her part bringing bitter cold to help ice growth on Lake Waconia. However, we were still surprised how the existing snow on most of the lake has kept things from progressing how we had hoped and getting us the numbers we want where we checked (Waconia Bay, “under the wires” between the island and peninsula, Center & Pillsbury Reefs and Wagener’s Bay). The thinnest ice we were finding under heavy drifts was 9.25 inches, with 10 inches being common. Overall, much of the ice where we have checked in common snow thicknesses is between 10.5 to 12 inches of ice. You can find 13 to 16 inches of ice in scattered locations where there is no snow. Unfortunately we are finding enough of the 9.5 to 10 inch ice that we are NOT comfortable opening up our access to cars or trucks at this time.

We want nothing more than to open our access for cars and trucks, but need to let the ice get a little thicker before we do so. In order for some of that to happen, you may see us plowing our frontage, but that doesn’t mean our access is ready for continuous traffic. We’ll update as soon as we know more. As for now, we are still allowing 4-wheelers and side-by-sides with single-axle fish houses to be pulled with those machines.

We will be open this weekend from 8 am to 5 pm and 9 am to 5 pm during the week.

We'll see you on the ice!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report 1/3/22

 Monday January 3rd, 2022

Here is another quick ice update video.

We are still NOT allowing Cars and Trucks on our access yet. ATVs and side by sides are allowed, along with single axle wheel houses.

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report 1/1/22

 Here is a quick video ice report for the start of 2022.  

We are NOT allowing Cars and Trucks on our access yet. ATVs and side by sides are allowed, along with single axle wheel houses.

Happy New Year!