The solid blue ice of a week ago on Mississippi River backwaters took a bit of a beating with rain and temperatures as high as 50 over the weekend, but it's recovering in this week's cold, and ice anglers could again have decent ice this weekend.
Dan Dieterman, Department of Natural Resources fisheries office in Lake City, said he found 3 or more inches of good ice before the melt, but a lot of water was on it last weekend. "It's going to firm up again" with the cold this week, he said. He expects 4 inches this weekend. The DNR always warns that you shouldn't trust any ice, and to always check before you walk because there might be springs or other things below the ice that weaken it.
Lake Pepin had ice last week, lost it over the weekend and gained some back Monday night, he said.
DNR conservation officers in this region reported that some duck hunters tried to get out for a last shot at ducks last weekend on the Mississippi River but had problems with ice at boat accesses. At the same time, it's that odd time of the year when they could talk about duck hunting, ice fishing and snowmobiling, all in one weekend.
The 3B deer opener was wet, but some bigger groups did well with drives. "Bucks are in a lock down mode," said Scott Fritz of LaCrescent. Others said big groups got deer but things were slow.
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Hooked on Fishing reports that the Rochester reservoirs are back to where they were before the melt because any ice lost was regained in the mid-week cold.
