Mille Lacs ice up above average on Dec. 1

As I write this on Sunday morning, Dec. 4, it is a crisp seven degrees outside and the big lake is making a lot of noise – the telltale sign of making ice as the sheet expands during the freezing process.

It is this writer’s belief that the main lake will be ready for ice travel soon as the forecast calls for lows in the single digits for the next few days, and very little snow, and that should really help solidify it. Ice fishing has already begun on the southern bays, as they always freeze before the main lake because they are protected from the wind.

From the looks of it, this could be one of the better years for a fairly smooth surface as the initial freeze held and did not get broken up by the wind. Big lakes like Mille Lacs are known for having a rough surface after they freeze, as it usually takes a couple break ups (due to wind) and re-freezes before the whole lake stays frozen, thus the surface will reflect that with lots of areas of ice piled up on itself scattered about the lake from the wind.

There has not been a protocol set for calling “ice in” on the big lake, but there is for “ice out.” Ice out is official when one can take a boat from Isle Bay to Garrison Bay without encountering a major ice floe. May I propose the opposite for ice in? 

Although there are still some pockets of open water along the shoreline on different sides of the lake, the center mass was never broken up. Therefore I believe on Dec. 1 it would have been impossible to get a boat from Garrison Bay to Isle Bay.

As far as I know there are no records for ice in on Mille Lacs, but I have been keeping them since we moved here in 2003. According to my records this will be the third time the lake has froze on Dec. 1, and seven times in those two decades the lake has frozen in the month of November. 

Nov. 13 is the earliest on my records, and that was in 2014. On Nov. 10 of that year there was a blizzard that left 10-12 inches of snow in its wake – thus chilling the lake down for the early freeze. Amazingly, people were driving cars on Wigwam Bay that year by Dec. 1. I believe some other cold records were made in the state that month as well.

The latest ice in according to my records was the following year in 2015 when the lake didn’t lock up until Dec. 22. The ice went out the following year in 2016 on April 2. The winter (or non-winter) of 2015/16 never amounted to much, and just didn’t make the ice on the lake that an average winter would – thus the early ice out.

In 2019, the big lake froze on Nov. 28, but some of the smaller area lakes iced over much sooner, and ice anglers were seen on Shakopee Lake as early as Nov. 12 that year.

There were two years that the lake completely froze, but then reopened in areas. In 2011 the lake froze on Dec. 6, but then reopened on Dec. 15 and there was a hole of open water in the middle of the lake until mid-January when it finally refroze. Ice anglers and resorters never made it out to the middle of the lake that year – and that is almost unheard of.

Just last year in 2021 the lake froze again on Dec. 6, but reopened again Dec. 15 on the northwest corner during an epic wind storm. The open area refroze on Dec. 17 and the rest of the season went off without a hitch.

Looking at the earliest ice in on Nov. 13 and the latest on Dec. 22, the first week of December is probably about average. I do know a good rule of thumb that everyone hopes for is to be driving on the lake by Christmas, as that is a very busy time for businesses and resorters on the big lake.

Twelve to 15 inches of good clear ice is generally what resorters will be looking for to pull their rental houses and seasonal customers out. And it’s always a good idea to check with the resorts on the lake to get a current ice report – don’t rely on social media. And remember, the DNR says, “Ice is never 100% safe.”  

On Mille Lacs, and most large lakes, almost all of the problems with vehicles going through the ice occur around the pressure ridges. Pressure ridges are formed during the freezing process because the ice is continually expanding (just like an ice cube in an ice tray). It starts with a crack, and then the edges of the ice push up against each other into an inverted V. Some can be well over four feet high. 

Because these areas are almost always continually moving, the ice near them will not be as thick as the ice away from them. Pressure ridges are very dangerous and should be approached with the utmost caution, even on foot.  

With the above average freeze up, and a decent long term forecast, it looks like it’s going to be a nice long ice fishing season. Although there are a lot of perch in the lake that made for a tough walleye bite last summer, the fish caught this winter should be fat and healthy. The walleye regulation on Mille Lacs Lake started on Dec. 1 and is one walleye between 21-23 inches or one over 28 inches.