Early winter cold provides ice, but is it enough ice?

Sipping my morning coffee and watching something low key from my recliner, I looked out onto the deck, as the first dim rays of morning light made their way to the yard. A cottontail sat on the deck. I want a couple for the pot to make soup. The thermometer read minus seven degrees and this day held a full schedule.

The temps fell and started making ice. Reports on local lakes tell of varying ice thicknesses. On one I heard talk of almost a foot of ice in one spot and barely thick enough to walk on in another. On some lakes a lot of wheelers started venturing out, but some areas on those lakes the ice measured less than three inches.

The rabbit on the deck hopped back and forth lapping up the sunflower seeds the birds knocked down. My mind kept moving between the rabbit, lake ice, the fire in the wood stove, my coffee and that exactly one week previous white caps rolled across open water on the Petenwell. This past Sunday I got a report of someone watching a guy a drive a four wheeler around where he watched the whitecaps rolling seven days prior.

Last year someone died on the Petenwell after the UTV they rode in fell through the ice, only a short distance from the path that several other UTV’s drove. And the thoughts of a UTV falling through the ice led to recalling the time I saw a car fall through the ice 50 years ago a hundred yards or so from us. Cars don’t sink instantly like an anchor; they float for a couple moments. But you need to be skinny, nimble, and quick enough to climb out your car window in 15 seconds.

The two chaps riding in that vehicle possessed all those physical traits. One managed to reach back into the vehicle and grab the case of Old Style off the seat and get it out in time. The roof of the car sat inches above the ice and they sat there and drank beer. Not completely sure if the Old Style contributed.

Hundreds of fishermen that walked out onto the ice that day sat on our buckets and watched them drink beer. I don’t remember if we caught any fish. I do remember that I got cold and that the car got totaled. I think the moral of the story holds itself quite evident.

Afemale cardinal landed on our deck. The red strip on her wings and her reddish beak didn’t show up in the dim light. I thought she came to the feeders earlier than normal. A second rabbit showed up chasing away the first.

I thought about how back in Daniel Boone’s day that the first rabbit would be getting skinned right about now. They didn’t look gift horses in the mouth back then. Day to day things like putting food on the table required more effort, seven below or not.

Up by Namakagon, my friends tell me they found about 10 inches of ice, but they didn’t walk around looking for thin spots. They go fishing the same spots everyone else fishes and take the proven paths. They also told me no one started fishing on the bay yet.

For other northern lakes I’m hearing reports of seven to 10 inches of ice. I expected a little bit more to tell the truth. And to be honest, I’m not planning on venturing out onto the ice hoping not to find a thin spot. I don’t go out Polar Plunging for a reason. Now we warmed up a bit and the forecast predicts the temperatures staying warmer through the end of January. You diehard ice fishermen, probably started ice fishing already, I haven’t. About 10 years ago two friends fishing on the Eau Pleine went looking for deeper water on a day with over a hundred trucks out by them. While looking for deeper water one put the auger blade down and it literally punched through the ice – the truck only five yards away – another step and . . . A hundred yards back they measured 18 inches of ice. They did some careful backtracking and headed to a bar.

I’m guessing we came out of the weekend with more ice than we went into it with. But I didn’t see anyone driving out on it. I did see a few wheelers but most people walked out. Stay safe out there.

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