Hello Sportsfans…  Here’s the latest and greatest from L O Dub.

Yes…  We are continuing, with great anticipation, to wait for Old Man Winter to cover this big lake with a sheet of wondrous ice.

Currently:  The main lake is open, and so is the main river channel.  We did get a big blast of snow last night and it is continuing today, but no freeze up yet.  You can see by the looks of the river that we’re getting close.  There’s some slushy soupy water coming down the Rainy.  Along with some chunks of ice forming near the shorelines.

Weather:  The ten-day forecast is calling for single digit weather the next few days followed by highs in the 20’s and lows in the teen’s.  Hopefully that will be enough to put the initial cap over the main basin.  Once that does happen, we will have a better idea on what our approximate “start date” for the ice fishing season might be.  Obviously at this point in the game, weather is everything.

Prediction:  Tough, tough, tough…  Right now, here at Ballard’s Resort, we are still hoping to get cranking sometime between the week of Christmas to New Year.  That would be somewhere in the 12/26 to 01/01 range.  That’s ten days out from today…  A lot can happen between now and then.  The best we can do is to keep you posted every couple of days.

History:  Steve reminded me yesterday that there have been times in the past when we have experienced a “quick” freeze up.  Basically, a specific occasion where we made a lot of ice within a short amount of time.  Back then, as it happened, we were waterfowl hunting in Nebraska during early December.  The lake here at home was open when we left town.  While we were gone Joanne called and told us the lake had unexpectedly froze overnight.  This was our cue to hustle home…  Within seven days we were open for biz and ice fishing.  Every year is different…

Come on WINTER!  Set the hook…