Well I drove around White Bear on the way home from work. It looks like the springs are going to be a big factor this year. The area from county line Rd. to the tip of manitou island over to the peninsula then to the mahtomedi beach down to fir st. is open water. I got out at Mahtomedi beach and the open water was 150 yds away. I walked out 30 yds. and heard cracking. The north end has what looks like open water on Ordway's bar and just west of it. The west side looks good and there were people fishing in front of the vfw. Good luck to everyone.

FIshing on the WB would be very risky rite now, and I would advise people to KNOW THE LAKE before setting foot on the ice!!

most definitely, that lake can be VERY sketchy, and if you dont know where you are on that lake, you could be goin for a swim

I was just out there this saturday infont of tallys there was a little ice ridge i was fishing on the right side of it i was about 250 yards out. there was close to 4 1/2 to five inches but on that other side by that ridge there had to be about an inch. i also saw some guys out in the middle of the lake i really dont know how that got out there but if you dicide to go out there BE CAREFUL!!!! the snow cover made it worse to see thinks

Well White Bear is still open water ( 12/3) on the east side from mahtomedi beach to the peninsula to the tip of the island to county line road to fir st in mahtomedi. Be careful out there the springs seem bad this year.

when the heck is it going to lock up?

Was out in front of VFW on Tuesday on 3.5".....got really thin another 100-200 feet out. By this weekend I would think it would be pretty good...but watch yourself. We fished on the 3.5"...but I was still a little nervous.

I drove by there this afternoon. There was one portable out by the vfw and one by the Yacht club. I also saw a guy walking out from Bellaire. I'd be careful though. The lake actually looks like it is unfreezing! There's more open water there than over Thanksgiving weekend, mostly on the Mahtomedi end of the lake.

unpossible!! grrr, i want to go set up off of matoska... hurry up ice!

Well the black hole of open water I described above was still out there on Friday afternoon 12/5. I also saw a narrow band of open water on the north end from the west side of Ordways bar to the gap between the peninsula and island. The west side looks fine and people are fishing in front of the vfw. It looks like I'll be heading to Big Carnelian tomorrow as that seems to have good enough thickness. Good luck and be safe.

was able to get out last night for a couple hours there was 4-5 inches of good ice, the black hole was about 350 yards from me, that sure is a weird deal. managed one 17 inch eye on a rattle spoon and minnow head. not to bad for the first time out plus it was the only fish i had come in all night.1-1.

were you the guy out by ordway i saw today?

i need some advice, i want to go check the ice by matoska tommorow, but i need to be sure there are no springs or anything i should be looking out for over there that may cause a thin spot


Edit-
oh by the way, i went by the vfw tonight a fished for an hour or so, there was about 4 in of ice. only caught one small sunny though

I did see ONE person fishing off near the vfw today. Bear bait guy said that some kids were hitting crappies off of bellaire last night. I stopped at the ramsey county beach and didn't see anyone so that was a good indication to Stay away. I will be waiting for some more ice. Heard way too many bad storys bout wbl

6 inches or so off of ramsey county beach. guy at little bear said someone fell in wedsday by maintou island, be carefull