Lots of open water on our pond today.

The channel at Grays bay on Minnetonka is open. I am going back tomorrow before work and make a few cast. More for Practice than anything else.

Narrows is open as well...I was surprised there weren't any crappie guys already there today.

Crystal lake was getting close this morning.

I got some pretty decent rain last night and early this morning. Would not surprise me if lakes nearby are open now. I'm gonna do some intel tomorrow.

Still lots of ice on the lakes here (Alexandria area) - saw several dozen people out sitting on buckets ice fishing - this morning it was 18 degrees and it looks like night time temps will continue to be below 32 for the next two weeks - happy for the more metro area anglers, I hope you can get out soon - I had predicted an April 18th ice out here and at this point it seems we will be lucky if that is the case unless we get some rain/warm temps/wind and a few bright sun days in a row

Recent development here. The DNR was able to persuade the Bands on Mille Lacs to allow bass fishing out there prior to May 9; the new regulations have now been posted.

Looks like football season is back on the radar!

I think I’m the northernmost guy here. It’s going to be probably 3 more weeks before stuff starts to really open up around here.

57 minutes ago, gim said:

Recent development here. The DNR was able to persuade the Bands on Mille Lacs to allow bass fishing out there prior to May 9; the new regulations have now been posted.

Looks like football season is back on the radar!

Wow ~

For the bassheads looking to poke a few plus-sized brown bass,

this is a very big deal and Great News !

Congrats.

A-Jay

Yesterday (Friday) had a high of 28, low of 18 - last night was about 18 as well - but we are supposed to get a warm-up and strong winds today (a fire risk warning has been issued for today due to the big winds) - yet it still looks like below 32 at night for the next few weeks - mid-April ice out would be nice, but we shall see

On another topic I saw @gim mention Omnia Fishing moved locations - What does that mean in the long run ? Will they just be fully absorbed into Thorne Brothers ? Will they just go 100% online and have no retail store front ?

I went to run some errands this morning and drove past 3 local lakes to do some intel. All three had partial open water but still about half covered in ice, from what I could tell.

I think next week they will be ice free. I predicted April 8 back in December. It will probably be a few days before that.

Not sure what the deal is with Omnia. Let's just say I'm not very happy about their move. They are building a Scheels in Blaine too, not far from Thorne Brothers.

Drove by a couple south metro lakes today. 100% open water.

We had big winds, temps in the 50's and mostly sunny this weekend - on my way in to work today I observed that smaller/shallower ponds/lakes have most of their edges with open water (20 to 30 yards out from shore is all open water) - larger lakes, in the area most exposed to the sun/wind, seem to have small edge areas (10 feet out or so) with open water - so progress towards ice out was made this past weekend - unfortunately it looks like the next 7 days will be mid 30's during the day, mid 20's at night -- with a few days of snow mixed in

The lakes by me are open this morning. I've received visual confirmation from others.

Looks like we might be going backwards this week again though. Colder with a chance of rain, snow, or both.

Drove by multiple smaller ponds/lakes (football field sized bodies of water) and most of the ice on them is gone (big winds yesterday must have helped with that) and the larger lakes are showing signs of the ice retreating -- BUT -- snow/sleet/low temps over the next 4 days........blah

Weather here looks pretty crummy for the 7-10 day now. I was hoping to get my boat out at some point here but if the forecast predicted occurs, it's gonna be another couple weeks. I am seeing one day next week where it might be 60 degrees, otherwise it's cold and rain/snow nearly every day.

Oh well. When Mother Nature cooperates, I'll be out there and it will certainly be way before it was in the past.

Nothings open up here except for rivers and vernal ponds. We could get almost 2 feet of snow according to the forecast from today until Saturday, and it doesn't look amazing after that. I’m hoping to get in the water before may 1st at this point.

3 minutes ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

Nothings open up here except for rivers and vernal ponds. We could get almost 2 feet of snow according to the forecast from today until Saturday, and it doesn't look amazing after that. I’m hoping to get in the water before may 1st at this point.

That's the reality living here. I think some people just assumed that there would be an early start to bass fishing. There is, legally. But realistically, there may not be a much earlier start, due to weather/conditions.

I like to fish but I am sure as heck not going out there when it's 36 degrees and sleet/rain/snow.

It's MN weather at its finest - snort (snow/sleet/rain) - saw big ice chunks bobbing up and down in the waves - a reminder that you might think the ice is gone but it's just lurking under the surface -stay safe

Tonka is open

I predicted April 8 last December.

Blah -- ice out might be happening in the TC's but sadly not here -- more of this white stuff is supposed to fall between now and Monday morning -- temps at night look like they will be below freezing for the next 10 days

Ice might be gone, but it's not like I'll be out on shore anytime in the near future. Forecast is for highs in the 30s and 40s with a mix of rain, sleet and snow all week.

What have you all got for snow? Here it’s about 16” of soaking wet snow so far and it’s still coming down.

All gone, even in the shaded area of my front yard that's always the last to lose snow.