What Fun!

Joanna and I had a most unusual experience this afternoon.  All our guests for opening fishing are now in camp, yet because of our cold winter, there really aren't but a few lakes open to fish.  They are eagerly awaiting the opening of Indian Lake which usually opens after the smaller lakes in the area. 

This afternoon we noticed large ice chunks floating down river to the rapids from the lake.  Joanna and I decided to take a boat up to the lake and see what was happening.  We left the dock and headed to the first corner to turn up river and were met with a large floating hunk of ice that totally covered the river for about ten feet, blocking our path up river.  It was coming right at us forcing us to back up and let it pass by. 

We pressed on encountering a river full of ice floes floating down stream.  It was like running an obstacle course to motor in and around them without damaging the motor as they were still five to six inches thick.  Finally we reached the lake and saw that it was about one third open, but not yet navigable. I've never gotten to see or experience the ice going out quite like that.  What a fun adventure.

Later on John and I took the four wheeler to the camp spot on the sand beach just a couple miles away to get  a better view of the lake.  It was open on that side of the lake and we could see ice piled up on the distant shore.   Most likely we will see open water in a day or two.  That will make our fishermen happy.

Good News

I don't have any pictures to post because I forgot to take my camera along with me this morning when I rode the four wheeler over to Victoria Lake.  The road in is quite good and the lake is open as far as I can see.  If it's not fully open on the far end, it should be in the next few days.

I then rode the rest of the way down to Barrel Lake .  There are still some some in spots with snow, but you can easily get to the landing.  It is open to the left of the landing into the river.  To the right there is still ice, but it should go in the next few days.

I then took a boat up the river to Indian Lake.  The ice is black , so I'm thinking it may open up on Sunday or Monday.  Not bad considering how thick the ice was this winter. 

All in all things are going well and there WILL be lakes for folks to fish in this week.

Ice Update

This afternoon, Joanna and I took a ride up the 325 road north to see what shape the road and the lakes were in so we could give an accurate update of the ice situation.  The road is thawed, but has some fairly deep muddy spots in several places.  There were also three places where water is running over the road, one which looks like it could do some damage to the road.  The MNR is aware of it and monitoring it. 

I stopped at Square Lake to take a picture and was surprised to see the lake still had patchy white ice on it.  I had hoped to get to Arethusa Lake to take some pictures, but just before I could get to the parking lot, we came across a very deep muddy spot which I did not want to try to navigate through even though I was using four wheel drive. 

Then before coming back to camp, we went down the road to Heathwalt just for a mile to see what Hearsey Lake.  That is a fairly shallow lake.  Half of the lake is open and the wind was pushing the ice to the boat landing side.  The road was soft in spots and really shouldn't be driven on yet. 

Though I believe Barrel Lake is open enough to fish on, I don't think the road is ready to be driven on.  I plan to run over there on Thursday with the four wheeler to check it out. 

Picture #1 is Square Lake.  As you can see, it is still quite frozen over with open water on the edges.  Picture # 2 is the Square Lake road.  It is good except for one little snowy spot.
Pictures # 3 and 4 are a swampy area on the way to Arethusa.
Picture 5 is a muddy spot on the way to Arethusa
Picture 6 is Hearsey Lake just a mile up the Heathwalt Lake road.  I thought surely that one would be open, but as you can see, it is not.  

Our weather forecast is still quite cold for lows with 30 degrees for Wed., Thurs and Fri. nights.  The temps will be going up dramatically on Sun. and Mon. with highs of 66 degrees both days.  That will help with the ice for sure, but I do not recommend anyone coming before this Saturday, May 17th because I honestly don't know where you would fish, except for our river up to the lake. 

Indian Lake will hopefully be open by May 31st.  We'll keep you posted with updates every two to three days. 

The good news is that we have running water to all the cabins now, so they are ready to inhabit. 

Making Progress

 

Today was the warmest day yet this spring at about 70 degrees.  It sure put a dent in our remaining snow and hopefully the ice on the lakes as well.  We've been so busy cleaning and renovating and repairing the cabins, that we haven't yet run up the road to see how the smaller lakes are doing.  Tomorrow, we will be gone all day to Dryden, so it looks like Monday will be our first chance to look around the area and see what's happening.  I will take some pictures so I can post them for you to see.  If this nice weather keeps up, we should be sitting good for opening fishing.

Little by Little

Starting today, I will be regularly posting pictures of the snow and ice status here at camp.  Once the snow melts on the 325 road north of camp, we'll keep checking the status of those lakes.  The 325 road south is completely open and in good shape.   I know the ice is still quite thick on Indian, but the temps are going up and we hope for the best.