In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 2/26/24 - Our Bait Shop and Access are now CLOSED for the winter season...

Our bait shop and access are now closed for the winter season. While the ice is currently usable in many locations, the shallower water in the bays have weak ice due to warm weather and sunshine. Also, on top of shallow reefs like parts of Center and Pillsbury Reefs, expect weak ice due to the solar effect (since there is no snow to reflect the sun). The local warden updated us that someone on foot broke through the ice in shallow water late yesterday deep in Waconia Bay and thankfully got out fine. With freezing weather coming for 2 days starting tomorrow, things will improve only temporarily. However, with sunshine all week and record temperatures coming by the weekend, ice conditions will be drastically different soon.

We appreciate everyone who supported us during this short, unusual winter!

Thank You,

The Mase Family

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 2/23/24

Avery took a quick walk on our frontage today, Friday, 2/23/24 to see what the past two days of sunny, warm weather has done to the ice. The main difference from our report on Monday is that 99% of the snow is gone on the lake. The ice itself hasn’t lost any thickness. You can refer to our last report for previous measurements. It got cold enough last night to freeze the melted snow, so conditions are firm, but very slippery today.

We will continue to allow ATV’s and Side-by-Sides through our access, but with portables only. Sorry no skid or wheel houses. We may decide shut the access down to walking only as temps warm up this weekend. We’ll let you know if that happens.

As a reminder, this Sunday 2/25/24 will be our last day open for this winter season. The gamefish season also closes at the end of day Sunday. If you’re looking to get your 2024 fishing license, our machine is still down, so you’ll have to get that elsewhere. Your 2023 license is still valid through 2/29/24.

We’ll see you on the ice!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Update - 2/19/24 - Bait shop is opening back up on Wednesday 2/21/24 at 10 am...

Today, 2/19/24, Avery walked out from the marina and as far out as Center Reef to check on Lake Waconia’s ice situation. Things have noticeably improved, perhaps for the final time of the 2023/24 winter season. The change from our last report to now is clear. Thanks to the cold/driving weekend winds, the water/slush we talked about under the snow has mostly frozen, making walking very easy with good traction. Avery found thicknesses as little as 6 inches, but as much as 11. Most of the hundreds of holes he drilled were between 8 to 9 inches of ice. Keep in mind, this ice isn’t as strong as early season fresh ice, but the current condition of the ice is better quality now than a week or two ago.

With today’s good news, we will be opening our bait shop again starting Wednesday, 2/21/24 and will be open through Sunday, 2/25/24. Hours Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are 10 am to 5 pm. Saturday and Sunday we’ll be here from 9 am to 5 pm. Keep in mind, Gamefish season ends after Sunday, 2/25/24.

Our access is open now for use. ATV’s and Side-by-sides will be allowed, but with portables only. Sorry, no permanent houses. After this weekend, we will likely be closed for the remainder of the season, as the forecast doesn’t look kind for good ice in the future.

One more note: Our license terminal is down, so we won't have fishing licenses available to purchase.

We’ll see you on the ice!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia - Bait Shop and Access remains closed

 

This morning 2/16/2024 Avery did an ice check on our immediate frontage, over to the walleye hole and just into Waconia Bay.  With the recent snow the ice conditions have not improved. Finding thicknesses of 4 to 10 inches of ice, with the weight of the snow stressing on the diminished ice there is water coming up in most areas making walking somewhat difficult in slushy stretches.  During the warm spell before the snow there were many areas where drain holes or old fishing holes never froze. Those spots are creating flooded areas, some of those areas are VERY flooded with several inches of water under the snow.

Due to these conditions our bait shop will remain closed for the foreseeable future.  Our access will stay closed for all use until the ice and lake situation improves. We will do another check early next week and post access and lake condition updates then.

 

This winter will most certainly be a winter we will never forget.

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia - Bait Shop and Access is temporarily closed

Our bait shop will remain closed through at least Thursday, February 15th. Our access will also be closed as conditions have impacted our frontage and we need to see it improve before opening it back up. We will update late next week when we know more.

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia - We remain temporarily closed through at least Friday

We remain temporarily closed through Friday, February 9th due to the warmer weather. We will update possible weekend hours some time on Friday depending on ice conditions.

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia - This weekend's hours update and closed from 2/5/24 to 2/7/24

Reminder- On Saturday 2/3, we will be open from 1 pm to 5 pm. On Sunday 2/4 we will be open from 10 am to 5 pm. Currently, we are only allowing walking with portables through our access. Sorry no Side-by-sides, ATV’s or snowmobiles.

Due to weather and ice conditions, our bait shop will be closed Monday 2/5 thru Wednesday 2/7. If conditions allow decent lake usage, we will post bait shop hours mid-week for Thursday 2/8 thru that weekend.

Thanks,

The Mases

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 1/31/24 - Access is now limited to walking with portables only...

As of now, our access is closed until future notice to everything but walking with portables. There is minimal activity on the lake, as all wheelhouses have been removed. Today, the few anglers coming out have been walking out to go fishing.

We did a quick check on the ice today, 1/31/24. Ben and Avery walked around our frontage and out to Waconia Bay. As you can imagine, the quality of the ice is diminishing. The ice is starting to honeycomb where water has saturated through “rotting” ice. Because of that, there is little-to-no freeboard now (meaning the ice has lost some of its buoyancy and when you drill a hole, there is no gap between the top of the water and the top of the ice).

We have lost a minimum of 1 inch to as much as 2 inches of thickness from our measurements since last Friday’s report. The thinnest area we found before is now down to 4.5 inches (marked with flagging tape between the marinas) with the thickest being 12.5 inches. Much of the ice we drilled was 9 to 11 inches of crappy ice.

The Mase and marina family was saddened with the passing of a very good friend this past week. The marina has shortened hours this Saturday 2/3/24. We will be open from 1 pm to 5 pm so we can attend his funeral in the morning.

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 1/26/24

This has been an interesting stretch of weather. This week there hasn’t been a major change to the ice from our last report other than diminishing snow and increased wetness. Today, 1/26/24, Ben checked conditions in Waconia Bay, the walleye hole/hump between the marinas, “under the wires”, the south side of Center Reef, Pillsbury Reef and all the way down to the south side of Wagener’s Bay. Shockingly we still can find as little as 5.5 inches in a few areas where old snow drifts existed. Typically the thinner ice we are finding is between 6 to 8 inches. Much of the ice we measured that had minimal to no snow is between 10 to 14 inches of ice. The top layer is softening and the first ½ inch or so can be kicked off with your boot. Where there are depressions or thinner ice, there is standing water (some of which is 3-4 inches deep), but you can definitely set up a portable on higher ice and avoid standing water. Our access remains open for Side-by-Sides, ATVs and Snowmobiles. We are keeping the entry to our access wide enough to pull a narrow utility trailer, but not larger trailers. Sorry, no wheelhouses are allowed through our access at this time.

With warmer weather predicted next week, we’ll update with any changes. We’ll see you on the ice!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 1/20/24

We did a quick ice check today, 1/20/24. While the extreme cold has continued to help increase ice thicknesses, we are still finding as little as 6 to 7 inches of ice under snow drifts across the lake. While those spots are less common, they can be found scattered everywhere. As for the areas that are not as heavily drifted or where there is no snow at all, we have found a range of 8 to 13 inches. We know many of you are antsy and there are some deciding to bring wheelhouses out, but because of the lesser ice we continue to find, we are still using caution. Currently, we are only allowing Side-by-Sides, ATVs and Snowmobiles to use the access with portables. We are sorry, but no wheelhouses are allowed for now. As things progress and those lesser ice areas get thicker, we will update what we will allow for access use.

We’ll see you on the ice!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 1/18/24 - Side-by-Sides, 4-Wheelers and Snowmobiles are allowed to use our access...

Avery was on the ice today, 1/18/24 to get another update. Since our last report on Monday, ice conditions have continued to improve with the deep freeze this week. He once again checked more in Waconia Bay as well as out from the Wagener’s Bay access, to Pillsbury Reef, into the deep hole and back to the Wagener’s access

Ice thicknesses still vary everywhere you go. It is common to find 8 to 11 inches of ice where there is little-to-no snow. You can still somewhat easily find 5-to-8 inches of ice under snow drifts. The heavier the snow drifts, generally the lesser the ice. You may also find occasional ice that is up to 12 inches that has frozen slush included as part of the thickness. It’s easy to get excited when the ice thickness numbers get into the double digits, but we are still exercising caution as there is enough of the 5-to-7 inch ice scattered everywhere. While checking, he stopped and marked an active spring heading west from the Wagener’s access (44 degrees 51.644’ N, 93 degrees 48.121’ W).

With the ice thicknesses we found, we are opening up our access for Side-by-Sides, 4-wheelers and snowmobile use. We are not allowing wheel houses or cargo trailers at this time. Also, we are not allowing parking on our ice frontage. Due to limited parking here, if you are unloading your machine, you may have to park your vehicle and trailer on the street as long as it’s not there after midnight. As a reminder, due to the late start, our Winter Season Access Pass is discounted to $25 this season. Otherwise, daily fees are $2 to walk on each day. The daily rate for ATV’s, snowmobiles and cars/trucks (when allowed) is $3 Monday through Thursday and $5 per day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

We’ll see you on the ice!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Report - 1/15/24 - We OPEN at 10 am Tuesday 1/16/24! Significant ice growth the past few days!

Thanks to the deep freeze and much less snow than predicted, there was significant ice growth the past several days. For that reason, we will be open at 10 am tomorrow, Tuesday 1/16! Through Friday, we will be here from 10 am to 5 pm. We’ll update our weekend hours later in the week.

Today, Monday 1/15, we took our first major ice walk of the winter. Avery started in front of the marina out to the walleye hole/hump that is between the marinas, then headed to Waconia Bay and out towards Center Reef. After a break, he went out from the Wagener’s Bay Access past Harm’s Point towards Center Reef, then back to Pillsbury Reef and into the deep hole of the Wagener’s Bay before heading back to the access.

Ice thicknesses vary everywhere you go depending on where snow drifted or where the wind blew the ice clear of snow. To easily sum it up, that means we found as little as 3 to 4 inches under heavy snow drifts and as much as 8 inches where it was clear of snow. There were some areas with as much as 9 inches of ice found, but that was where snow got saturated near a crack and refroze creating slush ice.

Overall, a common ice measurement today was 5 to 7 inches. However, with as little as 3 to 4 inches (3 inches being quite rare) of ice still scattered on the lake, we won’t be recommending anything but walking at this time. Hopefully the continued cold nighttime temps help those minimum thicknesses grow so we can update soon that we will allow ATV usage through our access! Speaking of our access, due to the late start, our Winter Season Pass (which is good for walking from our access and when we are able to allow it, ATV, Snowmobile and car/truck use) is discounted to $25 this season. Otherwise, daily fees are $2 to walk on each day. Once we are comfortable opening the access up to them, the daily rate for ATV’s, snowmobiles and cars/trucks is $3 Monday through Thursday and $5 per day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice Update - 1/11/24 - We remain closed at this time while we wait for better ice conditions

Happy New Year everyone! What a crazy start to winter! Due to current conditions, we remain closed at this time. Per naturalist Jim Gilbert who has kept Lake Waconia’s ice-in and ice-out records for decades, the ice-in date on Lake Waconia smashed records this winter and is officially 1/4/2024. That date is 11 days later than the previous record which was set on 12/24/2020. Wow!

We have been patiently waiting to provide positive news about the ice, but that wait has been excruciatingly long. Ben and Avery did a brief ice check today, 1/11/24 in front of the marina. Once they got past the thicker shoreline ice, about 50 yards out, the first hole Ben drilled was just over 2 inches thick. Aside from a few other holes drilled that were around 2.5 inches, they didn’t go beyond that as we have no interest in walking on ice that thin for long stretches. At the moment there is over an inch of snow coverage that is holding us back from ice growth. Where we did drill holes today, water was coming up and flooding the area. The same thing is happening where numerous cracks have occurred across the lake.

Unfortunately, there are predictions for Friday night into Saturday of another 3 to 5 inches of snow including wind before we get the extreme cold temps later this weekend. Any added snow will greatly diminish ice growth even with the arctic temperatures we will get for several days along with inconsistencies in the ice due to snow drifts that are likely to happen. Some areas may blow clean and grow faster, while other drifted spots will grow minimally. Also, there is at least one spot of open water near Center Reef being kept open by geese, swans and other birds that we will have to pay attention to as we eventually get into the season.

Let’s hope the predicted snow doesn’t happen and the extreme sub-zero temps can help build the ice at a faster rate. We will be checking next week at some point and update when we know more and hopefully can provide store opening hours soon.