Ice Free

The "big lake" is free of ice as far as I can see. We had a strong south wind yesterday afternoon that pushed the ice to the north and northwest. Many of the "Hardwood Points" to the north of us have ice piled up on shore this morning. The ice piles on "Big Hardwood" appears to be 8 to 10 ft high. I will need to check around and see if any ice damage occurred. Ice has been out of Steamboat Bay and the Narrows for a couple of days already. The strong winds ended up taking one old tree out at Oak Point Estates and many branches were blown down. The winds could have brought us some much needed rains, but they didn't.

I don't know if the ice is out of Walker Bay yet. Walker bay is deep and the water does not warm as fast as the rest of Leech Lake. Usually "official ice out" date is not until Walker Bay open up. Even if the official ice out date is not for a couple of days we are talking about a new modern era record for early ice out. The current record is April 9, the average ice out date is April 27.

Lot of waterfowl in the area. They seem to follow the ice out up north. Mallards are setting up nesting areas in the wooded potholes. Canadian Geese are in the grassy areas down at Oak Point Estates. Wood Ducks, Golden Eyes and great variety of waterfowl.

With the dry March we have had, I continue to have concerns about water levels in the area lakes. Officially we are only a few inches lower then last years lake level at this time. However last year the melt was still on and their was more water in the water shed then we have now. We need rain.