When We Say Everywhere, We Don’t Really Mean EVERYWHERE, Common Sense Should Prevail!
We have been on the ice 4 times in the last 5 days and I would normally tell someone:
You can drive everywhere!
However, when I say everywhere, I mean except the obvious no-no’s.
There are places on the lake, no matter how thick of ice sheet we have, I will not drive no matter what, not with a 4-wheeler, not with a snowmobile, and absolutely not with a full sized vehicle.
Those places are:
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Under or within 200 yards of a bridge
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Cattails
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submerged road under 5 feet of depth
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Coulee
Under or within 200 yards of a bridge
Even in the middle of January you will not catch me in this spot. Even under Hard Water, those bridge areas still have current and that current keeps the ice thin. These are always the 1st places to open up and a couple of them have already had open water. The Six Mile Bay Bridge experienced a tragedy a week ago. No one should even think about driving under them and to be on the safe side we don’t go near them.
Cattails
The cattails are another spot we stay away from for two reasons. That vegetation can compromise the ice and the darker color warms up quicker and weakens the ice faster here than in other spots. Steer clear and go around the cattails or avoid cattail areas altogether.
Submerged Roads Under 5 Feet of Depth
This is another spot on Devils Lake that from time to time experiences some water flow and current. It also seems to warm up faster because of the dark color and closeness to the surface. The combination of these two factors makes these a weak ice area.
Coulee
Never, ever drive up one of the coulees. These are small rivers and there is constantly flowing water and the edges are all cattails. They never offer stable ice and we avoid even foot travel on them.
No Ice Is SAFE Ice
We want to tell you the ice is safe, but in reality, NO ICE IS SAFE ICE. We will tell you what we plan to do. We plan to drive out with full size pick ups for the foreseeable future. We were on 23-28 inches of ice on Saturday and Sunday and experienced 28-30 inches in a different area last night.
The recent cold snap has eliminated 95% of the slush and snow issues and right now are the best conditions of the year. Like driving on pavement in most areas, with the exception of Creel Bay, it’s a little rough.
Still Strong Spots For Late Ice Catching!
Sometimes when we fish a spot it is good for a couple hours, sometimes a couple days, and on occasion a couple weeks. We have some waypoints that are still holding fish and limits of Perch have come out of these areas in the last few days, they are:
More Happy Fisherpeople!!
Good Luck Out There!!
Hold On TO Your Rod…
And…
CATCH MORE FISH!!
do you have waypoints for walleye on alice?
Yes, in the ice waypoints there are lake alice lake irvine packages and a bundle of all of them available.
Heading up tomorrow was wondering if you ever head to black tiger and how it is to drive out there.
Driving conditions on Black Tiger are similar to pretty much all the other places we have been. Can easily drive on at Estenson’s and pretty much go anywhere.
Response sent to your email.
Email sent
Hi Travis, thanks for all the ice updates and fish reports. Coming up next week with a big group, looking to fish six mile bay. Id like to purchase your most up to date waypoint package for ring perch, is the email system working now?
Thanks
Josh,
Though we have had some issues with some Email addresses, we have always been able to send them successfully manually when notified. We send confirmation emails out when notified of a purchase and have always gotten back to email requests in as timely a fashion as possible. We realize that at times things just don’t work. There is nothing wrong with our email at this time and if you purchase waypoints from us we will do everything in our power to be 100% sure that you receive them.
Gotcha! I appreciate what you guys are doing, it helps out of state ppl like myself haha. Thanks again