I almost hesitate to start this thread....I don't want to think of ice out....but, we can turn this into a positive and dream of just how long ice may be on this year. Been a great year so far!

So, the attached picture was taken on November 7. The first time I saw the ice on that lake was November 6th. 

To think that if we make it to May 6 with ice still on that lake, that’s six months of ice. That’s unbelievable! 

I have been saying for a while that April 20 would be the last day to possibly ice fish...I'm gladly changing that. 

I’ll say without a doubt people are ice fishing on opening day weekend. On a number of lakes. And our opener is even a bit later than most years this time. 

The last ice will probably be on Trout Lake/LVD/North Twin etc...about May 15. Not saying it’ll be fishable… But I’ll say you can still visibly see ice on May 15 on some of the lakes. 

USAbrams-love the picture! Wonder what the yard will look like after tomorrow night…

"Fished just across the border today. U.P. Only 4 inches of snow on the lake. That always amazes me because there is  so much in the woods."

Look at my yard! LOL

Fished just across the border today. U.P. Only 4 inches of snow on the lake. That always amazes me because there is  so much in the woods. 

24 or so inches of good solid ice. I think opening day is no longer a question of if, but more a question of how many lakes will be available on the opener for ice fishing. I'd say more than the handful that we had a few years back. And if we get a lot of snow this weekend, it will only hold the ice longer. 

I just looked at the weather forecast and looks like the temp for friday is dropping down sooner so they are calling for more snow instead of rain.  Pelican lake could see an additional 12-18" of snow by monday.  This is on top of the 12 they got last week.  When I was up fishing at the end of Feb there was over 30" of ice.  This aint going out anytime soon

I measured a good 2' of ice with snow and hard pack on top of it up in Northern Vilas. There was open water by Palmer's landing (spring) and High Lake's landing was wide open.

Unless there's a ton of rain, wind and warm, odds are the 2nd weekend in May.

I was on the ice today and I was shocked at how good the access was. Ice is still hard and coming out in nice shavings, not even chunky yet. I might get out next Friday, with a little luck. That will be the latest I have ever ice fished.

never at this rate!

I look forward to 2 or 3 more trips on the ice. I'll report conditions when I do. Certainly, everything could go quickly, but it will depend on sun and temps. Rain can be a factor too if it's over 45 -50 degrees. I've found cool rains to not do a lot of damage to the ice. 

Let's see, April 6th now...really cold. Nights very cold. No significant warm up until April 11th. Still below normal even then. Gotta melt the snow cover first. Looks like mid to late April is predicted to be generally in that 44-50 degree range with lows generally in the 20s. I fished on November 15th on the ice. Gonna be a really long season this year. Love it!

You mean the Leo Frigo Memorial bridge?

Yeah that picture of the cabin was pretty nuts.

Green Bay ice got pretty smacked up buy the snow and wind storm last week. Modis shows big ice slabs shifting around from day to day. The news showed a Bay cabin by Union with ice crushing into the bedroom piling up on the bed. The pic is of the lower bay going over Tower Drive Bridge yesterday.

I'm going to be heading up to Conover in 2 weeks to get my boat and put away snowmobiles.   Might have to keep the auger filled up for the opener... I really regret not doing it a few years ago.

On another note... If the shorelines open up do the walleye spawn in that warmer water?   I thought the last time we had late ice like this the natives griped that they had low spearing numbers due to shore spawning walleye and not being able to launch boats to spear.

The opener is 1 month from tomorrow, unless there's something drastic, that opener will be frozen shut.

The next 5 days in Land O Lakes (According to NOAA/NWS)

Wed: High 26/Low 9

Thursday: High 34/Low 15

Friday: High 25/Low 6

Saturday: High 25/Low 5

Sunday: High 33/Low 16

That's December/January weather.

I started reading that thread. Interesting....

Another cold day. One day closer to the opener....

We may actually be entering another ice age, n.pike. Check out the astute scientific observations noted under the “Global Cooling” thread in General Discussion.