Be extra careful with the ice this year, especially early on. Early ice has been all over the place with the weather this Fall. I scouted a local trout lake on Friday, confirming a safe path out to where I wanted to fish with my trusty spud bar. 18 hours later on Saturday morning I was the first one on the ice in the dark following my trail. As I walked with my headlamp on, I noticed an odd "spot" that looked like an old hole in my path. I hit it with the spud bar and it went through in one hit. Then the ice started creaking... Fortunately, I was able to get the smitty sled turned on a dime and retreated to a different spot without doing a polar bear swim. These people out half a mile from shore to shoot YouTube videos recently really make me cringe. This lake had 3" of clear ice on it a month ago, and 1" of cloudy ice on Rememberance Day. With the forecasted weather for this week, I'll probably have to check it out again before going out in the dark next weekend. Stay safe.
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