Update To Ice-Out Conditions On Northern Minnesota Lakes Before Opener

The Minnesota Fishing opener is coming up this weekend. There likely will still be some ice on Northern Minnesota Lakes, but there is progress being made. I've checked in with some resort owners who are hopeful that enough ice will be gone by the weekend for fishing.

South of Duluth, the lakes are pretty ice-free. North of Duluth, there are still some lakes with ice on them. I checked the satellite images from Space Science and Engineering. The most recent photo we can clearly see was from Saturday, May 7. Upper and Lower Red Lake still were mostly full of ice. Lake Vermilion can be seen with some ice on it still. Mille Lacs appears to have mostly opened up.

I spoke with the owners of Life of Riley Resort on Lake Vermilion. They sent me an updated photo of Norwegian Bay, where their resort is located. Caleb told me that the warm temperatures, rain, and wind are making good progress on the ice-out. He said their guests for sure will have open water to fish by this weekend.

The webcams on Lake Vermilion also show that Wolf Bay has opened up. There still is ice on Hibbing Point. Usually resort owners have their docks in the water with plenty of time to spare, but for Life of Riley Resort, they weren't able to get their docks in until days before.

Mille Lacs appears to have opened up as well, which was expected by resort owners by this last weekend. Red Lake is even seeing some progress and there should be water to fish.

So don't cancel those fishing plans yet. This week's warmer weather should help ensure that we do have a 2022 fishing opener.