It’s wet out there! In just over 24 hours conditions have significantly changed on Lake Waconia! Many of the houses that were on the lake have left. The snow has melted and is now water on top of the ice. The ice is still 20 plus inches and not honeycombed or deteriorating yet. Around many of the remaining houses significant water is pooling up. If the water doesn't drain through the ice before Thursday and Friday, things could get serious when the predicted winds come. When your house is sitting there during an extended warm period the ice under the weight of your fish house can sag. As water accumulates it sags worse. When it sags enough that all the freeboard is gone (positive freeboard is when the ice is floating above the lake’s water level) water starts running down your holes (or makes its own holes). When we get high wind mixed with warm temps and water draining through the ice under or near your fish house there can be serious problems.
One winter in the mid-to-late 1980’s (1986?) and one in the Early 2000’s (2002?) This happened
and MANY permanent houses went through the ice during these similar extreme weather events. It’s important to point out that many fish houses are heavier nowadays than during those previous times.
We also want to point out another factor that contributed to some of the first houses that went through the ice. Height of the house off the ice. Fish houses that were on wheels that were left cranked UP or houses that were blocked super high or wheel houses that couldn’t crank down like a camper seemed to go through FIRST! The houses high off the ice let the wind and water swirl under them opening up holes worse than the houses closer to the ice. Ice thickness doesn’t matter as much when heavy swirling occurs under houses. We recommend NOT leaving your house out there cranked UP!
Our access is holding up well but can only take so much traffic during this long warm stretch. If you have a tandem fish house and wish to use our access to remove it from the ice, it’s important to do that sooner than later as we will likely be limiting use of the access as each day goes by. We will more than likely NOT be allowing houses to enter onto the ice this weekend, but will update that news as we know more.
