Opening at 11 am today due to weather 2/27/23

 Due to the freezing rain we will be opening the bait shop today Monday, 2/27 at 11 am.

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice & Access Update - 2/24/23 - Access is open!

Our access is open again and a road is plowed from the marina to Center Reef and towards Pillsbury Reef (where we had it plowed before, but narrower). Getting off the road through the banks will be the most difficult part. Ben has plowed some off-shoots to help with that, but they are limited. Keep in mind, there are frozen snow banks from before that you’ll have to navigate through all over where roads and paths were in the past, so expect some speed bumps. Once you get off the road, the snow is soft and therefore easy enough to drive through with a capable 4WD or AWD vehicle. Be prepared with the necessary items if you get stuck. Bring a shovel, tow strap, sand (yes, it is still very slippery under the snow). If you’re bringing a permanent fish house out to the lake, it would be a good idea to check things out with just your truck first. Keep in mind we are a pay access, and our fees are for access use only. We are not a tow service.

We are done renting fish houses for the 2022/23 season. We appreciate all of you that rented with us!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia - 2/21/23 - Shop is closed through Thursday 2/23/23 due to Winter Storm...

We are closing the bait shop at 3 pm today (2/21/23) and will remain closed on Wednesday 2/22/23 and Thursday 2/23/23. Friday 2/24/23 will likely be a later opening time and we'll update that as we see what this winter storm brings. The access will remain open at this time, but we will NOT be plowing our parking lot, or on the lake until after the storm is done (probably some time Friday). Stay safe!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Important Message - 2/20/23

FYI, with this week’s forecast continuing to show a large amount of snowfall with heavy, gusty winds, we have decided to pull our rental fish houses off the lake starting today, and possibly for the season depending on what happens with the lake after this winter storm.

For those of you with permanent fish houses on the lake yet, we think it’s a good idea to strongly consider removing them from the lake. We will not be continuing to plow a lake road while the storm is going on. Once the storm is over, we will make an attempt to plow roads to the areas we have plowed this season, but there is a high likelihood the road will not be in the same place it currently exists. With several days of snow and pounding wind, the current road will likely continually fill in and catch snow in the banks of the road making it so we need to start from scratch. We’d hate to see someone leave their house on the lake thinking that since they are near the road, we will plow the exact same path.

There aren’t many predicted snow events like this one, so we are taking the forecasts pretty seriously.

We will be open with normal hours tomorrow, and will address our store hours for the rest of the week by the end of day Tuesday 2/21/23.

Snow and wind coming?! Wednesday 2/22 - Thursday 2/23

 Snow and wind coming?! Wednesday 2/22 - Thursday 2/23 are predicted to bring a pretty big blast of snow and wind. We will be plowing the Lake road again after the wind settles down (most likely Friday morning 2/24). We will plow where we did earlier in the season. The screenshot on this post (yellow marks) shows where the road was and will most likely be again on Friday 2/24. 

Folks in permanent houses off on their own might want to consider the difficulty the weather might bring if the forecast is anything like they are predicting.

Thanks and see you on the ice

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Access opens FRIDAY 2/17/23!

 Things are firming up nice on Lake Waconia. Our access opens Friday! We will be opening our access for vehicles and wheelhouses including Diesel Trucks and Tandems at 9 am tomorrow  2/17/23. Some layered ice is still in random areas today where the water was deeper during the rain. After tonight's cold the ice should be in very good shape at our landing and on the Lake. Slippery! Take it easy driving around houses and on foot, it is quite slippery in most areas on Lake Waconia after it re-froze.  There is no banking snow left on the lake with the exception of old hard road banks so be prepared for that. 

For those wanting to walk out or ATV today 2/16 we are allowing that.

Thanks and see you soon!

In Towne Marina Lake Waconia Ice & Access Update #2 - 2/15/23 - Access remains closed today (2/15/23) and likely tomorrow (2/16/23)

Ben and Avery are back after checking on lake conditions this morning. Lake Waconia has layered ice again (hopefully only for a day or 2), with the top layer of ice currently about ½ inch. Most of the lake had an inch to several inches of standing water on it from yesterday’s rain that is now trying to freeze. While they were apprehensive to break up any of the layered ice, they needed to get a sense if things were improving or getting worse around fish houses. Where they checked in Waconia Bay and parts of Center Reef area (about 25 houses), they did not notice any worrisome draining like we’ve talked about in previous posts.

Our access remains closed to all usage today (2/15/23) and likely tomorrow (2/16/23). The recent extreme weather and lake traffic during that stretch on and off the access gave it a beating. The main lake will probably heal quicker than our access. With the next couple of nights predicted to be very cold, we are hopeful things will be improved enough to open the access for Friday morning. We thank you for your patience while we let that happen.