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
