by Vivian LaMoore
vlamoore@millelacsmessenger.com
It’s official. Following the rules the Messenger has used for the last 50 years - when a boat can safely navigate the waterway from Garrison to Isle in a straight line without hitting ice, it is declared ice out. As of late Friday afternoon, May 11, it is officially ice out on Mille Lacs Lake.
This year was difficult to call. As of Thursday, May 10, there was a large sheet of ice covering slightly less than one-third of the lake on the west and southwest side of the lake. From Wigwam Bay to the far southern corner of the lake, the ice was not giving up its hold over the open water.
While Garrison Bay and Isle Bay were both open water, satellite images revealed the sheet of ice lingering in the south and west and protruding in the navigational path. If a straight line was drawn on the image from Garrison to Isle, it would have hit the ice.
Friday morning folks were expecting the ice to be different. It was. Winds had shifted a portion of the ice sheet further out into the navigational path and it was not passable. Due to cloud cover, the satellite images were a negative. The Messenger called upon a local expert ice-watcher and fishing guide, Steve Fellegy.
The Messenger and Fellegy worked together to determine the best possible call. Late Friday afternoon, with the cloud cover still dense, Fellegy went scouting for ice.
“With my 40-power scope, standing on the highest point on Pike Point, looking at the Isle water towers I could easily no ice in the line,” Fellegy said. “Standing on the southern tip of Brown’s Point, the ice runs from a half-mile north of there in a south line to Sherman’s Point, then east out about two to three miles out into the lake or a hair more, and then runs at an angle southeast to the area out from Rocky Reef Resort and back to shore on the west side not too far south of Rocky Reef Resort.”
In other words, he added if he launched a boat in the middle of Brown’s Point to head toward Isle he would hit ice. “But leaving from Garrison, I would be clear of ice by at least the width of St. Alban’s Bay.”
There you have it. It is officially ice out, a mere hours prior to the fishing opener. For those planning on fishing at midnight tonight, Fellegy warns, “There is no fishable water from the north side of Wigwam Bay (Browns Point) to south of Rocky Reef – along the shore, but most of the mud flats are ice free.”
It was looking good for ice out to be on May 9 if the winds would have kept up but Mother Nature had other plans providing a stable easterly breeze holding remaining ice in place for two extra days.
Posted here by : MM Malmo Mike
Malmo Bay area.
