I drove around the lake yesterday.  I think we will be standing shoulder to shoulder infront of one of the creeks if we plan to be fishing on opener.

Looking at those webcams has me doubting the weekend of the 18th at this point!  Pray for rain and warm.

Pretty heavy thunderstorm came through overnight and surely aged the ice. 10 days gone? I ain't bettin' on it but I could be wrong and hope I am.

Checked out Hunter Winfields camera tonight, and 2 guys were still ice fishing Isle Bay at 6:30pm. I stated b4 that ice out on May 10th on my b-day. Now watching people ice fish on MAYDAY on Mille Lacs is somewhat ironic. Who has a john boat to go ice fishing on the opener, curious if the mid lake will have a solid enough ice sheet to walk on for the opener.

Long range forecast, if right, calls for a cold front to come in right before the opener. That usually means gusty NW winds.

With a storm front coming through mid week (before Opener), the question is, will there be enough open water down south and east/and the north edge of the ice sheet weak enough, for the cold front wind to open a half mile or more of water on the up wind north and west side? Or maybe even open the whole thing up?

Or will the forecast change between now and then?

It usually goes out with a cold front wind as that form of wind is the strongest and longest lasting. But then again, if there is a half mile of open water on the north end, a big south wind could crash it in on the north shore and bust it all up too. In '65 I think, the house on what is now known as Doc's Resort on the north end ( back then is was Kamp Diffrent), was leveled in the middle of the night by that same ice out scenario--I have pics of me and my dad standing in the tree tops on ice the next day.

Who knows! LOL

FYI--the small lakes in the area are all ice yet and most are even tight to shore as of today. That said, most of those lakes are at least a week ahead of Mille Lacs in the ice out dept. Just sayin'...

Looks to be a good south wind on Tuesday. That should finally give the ice sheet a good shove and open water along the south shore, crunching into the north shore in the process. By Thursday, the wind kicks pretty good ino the north which should pile it up down south--leaving a 1/4 mile or more open on the northern/northwestern shores. That could be the setting for the 11th. I doubt the north wind can take it all out this time 'round. I could be way off but I would not be surprised that "official ice out " is in the 14th 15th of May range. It most likely will take at least two or three more weather fronts to blow it out--starting with this Tuesday. So there should be some fishable water on the upwind side by Saturday.