South Shore Ice Report: Digging Out Nicely

By all accounts, you'd have to give South Shore Resort Owners and Ice Fishing Access folks at least a B+ for their efforts to move snow and open accesses and roads for anglers to get out this week.

Here's the rub on the lake. With the way the ice set up, there are jagged chunks everywhere on the main lake, making for some pretty treacherous plowing operations. Everywhere I went, I was allowed to drive my 1/2 ton Sierra 1500 onto the ice (at 10 mph) to check things out and take the photos you see below.



I visited Brandt's, Walleye Dundee's, Chapman's, Lyback's and Hunter Winfield's on Wednesday afternoon and offer this report.

Lyback's certainly has the largest amount of roads plowed. Eddie and Ryan Norell have combined to use a pair of 1966 Ford F250s (V-plow and Straight Blade) along with a Bomdardier with Disc plow to break ice ice, beat back drifts and get four-well plowed roads in nearly all directions from their landing. They are out more than 2 miles and all the way to Banana Reef. They have about 25-30 houses out in their sector. Ramp Access Fee $10/day or $40/week.

Both Chapman's and Hunter Winfield's appear to have teamed to conquer the Isle Bay network of roads and beyond. In talking with Tim Chapman, he said they have more than six miles of plowed roads. They also have 14-plus inches of ice in most areas. Ramp Access fee for both is $10/day. There are many houses out in Isle Bay.

Walleye Dundee's has cleared a single road with offshoots to Half Moon Island area. They also charge $10/day ramp fee. There are a large cluster of houses out on the bay area.

Jerry Brandt has cleared his access area and developed a sled/ATV trail from the access all the way out to Sloppy Joes. There is plenty of ice in this area but the vehicle highway has not yet been developed.

In all, expect to be able to drive light vehicles onto the ice across the south shore this weekend and emplace your portables and smaller wheelhouses. As always, check with resort owners and access folk before driving onto the ice.

Blizzard delays ice house placements

A trip around Mille Lacs Lake Monday morning revealed that most resorts were struggling to open up roads to haul out fish houses. Highways 169 and 27 were wide open and mostly free of ice. Highways 47 and 18 were open but icy.

Sunday's 8-plus inches of snow, coupled with heavy winds and horrendous drifting made even the most hearty resort and ice fishing operations wince.

Castaways Owner Steve MacDonald said the heavy snow probably will delay his staff getting heavier houses onto the water for about a week. He was busy with a bobcat, removing snow. And he wasn't alone.

Lundeen's Owner Bill Lundeen said the heavy snow was about a week too soon. With the ice being 10-14 inches thick in many places, it will take heavier plow trucks to get roads open. There were at least two vehicles stranded at the mouth of Cove Bay overnight.

Check the pictures to see just what we are talking about. Hunter's Point, Mac's Twin Bay and Walleye Dundee's seemed to be making good progress in getting plowing done on the lake. There was a road open from Dundee's to Half Moon Island on the south shore but that appeared to be the only wide open road as of noon Monday.

If you have snowmobiles and portable fish houses right now, the lake is yours. DNR vehicles hadn't started much snow removal at most public landings as of 11 am. Things should improve greatly. Those with sleds were seen huddled outside Johnson's Port Side fueling up and the north lake snowmobile trails had already had a groomer go through.

WISH Lions Give Area Youth Head Start on Christmas

It may have been Pearl Harbor Day, but 95 area children got a head start on having a great Christmas as part of the Wahkon-Izatys-South Harbor (WISH) Lions 5th Annual Kids Shopping Trip Sunday morning at the Target Store in Rogers.

Nineteen area Lions and 42 volunteers took "wish lists" from area families, grabbed some holiday spirit and headed out on a "dream" shopping trip. The children live below the poverty line and many aren't able to enjoy the kind of Christmas the average American child does.

"This is awesome," yelled Kevin(last name withheld), 7, as he grabbed his favorite WWE Wrestling Toy box off the shelf and ran toward his cart with a huge smile on his face. "When can we go home?"

Fortunately, for Kevin and the rest of the kids, there was plenty of adult supervision on hand to ensure the kids got needed items like sweatshirts, winter coats, boots, gloves, underwear and basic necessities. These are the kind of things they really need and the reason the Lions are so fierce about doing the event each year. Each child did receive a $15 toy.

In all, the WISH Lions donated more than $12,000 toward the children, who ranged from age 5-15. Those under age 5 were kept home and volunteers and Lions members shopped off lists provided by parents for this event.

To bring an event of this magnitude together took a ton of work. Lions members Judith Malmgren, Julie Wilsey and Barb Erickson spearheaded this year's event, doing the "lion's share" of the planning and coordination. WISH Lions have donated more than $50,000 for kids shopping in the last 5 years.

Both Isle and Onamia schools had key staff help in the planning process, identifying qualifying students and helping transport the kids to and from the event. Both schools even sent honor students to help in the bagging process, a nice community service add-on!

An equal-partner in making the event a huge success was Target Corporation. The Rogers Target gave the shoppers a 10 percent discount on purchases across the board and provided both volunteers and kids with a free hot dog, popcorn and pop after shopping.

Lions Club President Gary Groen was beaming with pride as he stood at the end of one of three checkout lines that Target designated for the kids shopping. "This kind of a thing brings a tear to your eye," Groen said. "These kids just appreciate this so much."

The WISH Lions, unlike most other Lions clubs, don't receive gambling revenue and raise its entire yearly budget at its annual golf charity tournament. This year's event will be held once again at Fiddlestix Golf Course in Isle on June 28th, starting at noon. Last year, 28 teams participated helping the club raise more than $17,000. WISH Lions donate much of the rest of their annual proceeds toward area charitable causes.

For more information on how you can become a WISH Lion or donate to their cause, please visit their website at http://wishlionsmn.lionwap.org/. And as Lion's Club Secretary Mike Wehking said to the volunteers before they began to shop Sunday morning, "Merry Christmas!"

Izatys Sale Pending?

Commerce Bank continues to push forward in its effort to sell Izatys Resort, which was converted to Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in September. As you may recall, the resort was sold at Sheriff's Sale in Mille Lacs County on October 28th and was purchased by Commerce Bank for 3.2 million dollars.

Since then, rumors have flown as to how many investors and/or groups are actually interested in the property. We touched base with Barry Hines, who is the interim property manager for Commerce Bank on Monday for an update.

"The bank has been in contact with two potential groups in the last week," said Hines, who spent five years as the golf course superintendent at the resort. "The current owners are another potential buyer working on financing as well." That means three groups are still in the fray and Hines said the bank wouldn't release the names of the other two interested parties.

"The bank is still stating that they don'
t forsee a deal being struck before the December 28th deadline," Hines said. The redemption period of the sheriff's sale ends on December 27th. With the current economic situation, there has been speculation that the bank might have trouble unloading the property as banks nationwide have tightened lending for such ventures.

Hines' duties include building checks, coordination for security, giving tours to potential investors and checking in with the bank on a daily basis.

Will we have new owners at Izaty's Resort by the New Year? We will keep you updated on what we hear.