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.