Well, we were fortunate to stave off winter for quite some time, but boy did it roll in with a bitter reminder.
That should mean good things for ice, provided the snow blew off the lakes instead of piling on thin ice.
I see in the Wednesday edition of The Free Press, we ran an Associated Press brief from the DNR warning of thin ice. I always love these reminders, because you know it won't be long and you'll hear about some goofball who just had to drive his truck/car on the lake and went in.
Anyhow, the brief basically said as of Monday, Dec. 7, there was no place in the state with good ice, which, according to the DNR, is 4 inches for walking weight.
This is all funny to me because Free Press photographer and outdoor guru John Cross was telling me that people were fishing Lake Elysian with portables. Mind you, he told me this on Monday, a full day before — to steal a bit from KFAN — the "snownami" hit Minnesota and the same day that the DNR lists in its release.
There you have it. Have ice, will fish.
For the record, I need good ice before I'll travel out on a lake. Once the ice is thick enough, I'm more than willing to travel out lightly on the lake, but I need a good 6 inches for walking weight, maybe more.
So send this chicken your ice reports. It doesn't have to be special. You don't have to give up what you're catching, just what lake you were fishing and how much ice you were fishing on. Simple enough.
