Report from the Dock
While lakes across the central and southern parts of the state were mostly ice-free early this week, anglers were finding enough ice to walk on in some areas of northern Minnesota. Starting at about Brainerd and heading north of it, there has been some ice fishing taking place. People have been walking out since last weekend and finding 3 to 5 inches of ice on the spots being fished. Most of it is happening on small, shallow lakes or bays that tend to cap first every year. Most big lakes or anything that’s wind-swept remained wide open early this week and it is worth pointing out that the warmer weather has not done the ice any favors this week. In short, ice depths have not improved much since last weekend in most areas and in some locations, ice conditions have actually deteriorated with the warm temperatures. There will be plenty of lakes to walk on and fish this weekend, but it is early and ice depths really vary from lake to lake and one spot to the next so check it as you go.
Leech Lake Report
With the exception of some shoreline ice, Walker Bay and Agency Bay were wide open early this week. Main lake ice seems to come and go and with the warm warmer weather this week, don’t expect much ice to form. There has been some foot traffic on a few small lakes in the area with 3 to 5 inches of ice being reported in spots, but there hasn’t been enough people out to get any fishing reports.