2026 Platte Lake Ice Out Prediction (3/8/26)

 

I have been poring over my records here at Bass Pundit, trying to get a grasp of where we are compared to past Aprils, and tracking the forecast for where things are going weather-wise. I have concluded that the cooler weather ahead for later this week will bring things in line with where they were last year, so I'm going with last year's prediction of April 7th for a second year in a row.

April 7th, It Is!

Last year, I mistakenly called Ice Out on April 5th, as 95% of the lake was ice-free, but ice in the North Bay held on until the 9th.

The forecast isn't ideal, but it isn't terrible either. There is a lot of bare ground now. Forecasting has been on the erratic side lately, as March is prone to do. I think I could catch a bullhead any day now at the Grumpy Old Man Hole. I won't be surprised if red-wings show up today.

2025 Platte Lake Ice Out Prediction(3/5/25)

 March is the month I make my official Ice Out Prediction for Platte Lake.

I predict Ice Out will be April 7th this year!
Snow will be gone by Sunday and the ground temps will warm next week. The GOMH has started to open.

Bass Pundit's February Platte Ice Off Spitball (2/17/25)

 

Currently, we are in the midst of what I hope will be the last "Polar Vortex" of the winter. We have had multiple Arctic Blasts this winter.  I am assuming the ice on area lakes is 20+ inches deep right now and we have several inches of snow. It looks like we are going to end February and start March on a warming trend. This winter as yo-yo'ed up and down quite a bit, so a return to the deep freeze is certainly not out of the question in March. Last year, the ice was off of Platte on March 9th, but we got an Arctic Blast with snow late in the month and everything re-froze for a few days. Who knows what MN weather will do? 

That said, I am predicting the ice will go off Platte Lake on April 21st this year.

BP's 2024 Ice Out On Platte Lake, Spit Ball

 I'm predicting March 16th for the ice to be off Platte Lake this year.  There isn't going to be any snow left in a couple of days, it is going to be a warm end-of-the-month, and the ice is probably under 12 inches. The earliest ice-off on Platte Lake that I'm aware of is March 19th. 

Platte Lake Ice Out Prediction for 2022

 A Couple of days late with my Official 2022 Ice Out Prediction for 2022. This year's weather has been up for a day or two, then down for about a week. Looks like we are going to be in for more extended cold next week, with no signs of a turn towards Spring. I wonder if I will need to put the extension on my auger next week. Yikes! 

I predict ice goes off Platte Lake on Easter Sunday, April 17th, quite a reversal from my initial spit-balling of ice off April 1st. I think I need to re-train my brain to like ice fishing more and not be so gung-ho for ice off. I've got positive elements to work with to do it. Patience BP, patience.

I think the ice will be off the lakes in the lower 3rd of the State early this year. It has been way warmer down there than it has been up here, and they are supposed to get a soaking today.

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February Platte Lake Ice Off Prediction

 This month has been flying by. I think we are at about peak ice this upcoming week, and I don't think it is even 20-inches thick on Bulldog. Therefore I believe ice will be out by April 1st this year. No fooling! I will be shocked if there is ice on the lake on April 1st.

Platte Lake Ice Out Prediction for 2021

It's that time of year for me to pick an ice-out date for Platte Lake. We have pretty good ice cover on the lakes right now and a moderate amount of snow cover. It looks like by this time next week the snow will be mostly gone.  I don't think there is much hope of beating last year's ice-out date of April 8th.  It does look like we are going to be starting March warmer than last year which makes me optimistic it won't be a late ice-out this year. 

I predict the ice will be off Platte Lake on April 13th, 2021

2020 Prediction April 8th, Nailed it! 

2019 Prediction May 9th Ice Off Date April 20th 

2018 Prediciton April 22nd Ice Off Date May 2nd 

2017 Prediction March 29th Ice Off Date April 1st 

2015 Prediction April 20th Ice Out Date April 3rd

February Ice Out Prediction

 

Last year I made a prediction on February 15th that ice would be off Platte Lake by Easter which was April 12th last year. This year Easter is on April 4th. Right now with the arctic blast, we are supposed to get next weekend and no significant warm-up in the long-term forecast ice off by Easter is looking unlikely.  So I predict ice will not be off Platte Lake by Easter this year. I do think it will be off Lake Minnetonka by then. 

Platte Lake Ice Out Prediction for 2020

Well, it is time for me to give my official Platte Lake ice out date prediction for the year.  Last year my pessimistic prediction was wildly off the mark as Spring kicked into gear during the second half of the month and never looked back.  This winter has been on the snowy and mild side.  We got the snow early which insulated the Lake so ice depths at this point are below normal or at least that is what I've heard.  I haven't drilled a hole yet.  Also, we had high water at the start of the winter so we have had current moving through the lake.  We have as much open water right now at the Grumpy Old Man Hole as we did on March 22nd last year.  We have a lot of snow yet to be melted and that is going to take a while to happen.  I suspect we will see ice start coming off lakes in the Southern part of the State in the third week of March.

I predict ice will be off Platte Lake on April 8th this year

2019 Prediction May 9th Ice Off Date April 20th
2018 Prediciton April 22nd Ice Off Date May 2nd
2017 Prediction March 29th Ice Off Date April 1st
2015 Prediction April 20th Ice Out Date April 3rd

Long term forecast looks like temps mostly slightly above average with no big warm-ups just the way I like it with so much snow around.

 

Prediction: Ice Will Be Out By Easter This Year

I hadn't done any blogging so far this month, so I thought I would throw out my first ice out prediction of the year.  I think the chances of ice still being on the Platte/Sullivan area lakes on Easter Sunday, April 12th 2020 is looking pretty slim to me at this point.  In early March I will give my official ice out date guess.  Right now, I'm thinking the chances of a March ice out date aren't very good either.

Here is the forecast for the rest of February:

 

And So It Begins!!! (3/28/19)(Updated: GOMH Pic's)

The DNR has recorded our first ice-free lake of the year, Lake Pepin.  I suspect next week there will be an avalanche of them.  I believe Platte Lake will now be ice-free in two weeks on either April 10th or 11th. I will be dropping a line in very soon, just got to go and get that fishing license.

Updated:

We are just about a full month ahead of where we were last year.

Platte Lake Ice Out Prediction for 2019

I'm giving this years prediction a day late thanks to Facebook not showing Bass Pundit linked posts in my Memories for the time being.  Hopefully, that isn't a permanent change that Facebook made.

Anyway, I'm not liking the way this Spring has started, because it hasn't.  Temps have been below normal for a month with frequent nuisance snows and more of the same is on the way.  Because of that fact it going to take a significant swing in the weather for us to have ice off in April up here.  I wouldn't bet on it.  I think ice out will be later than last year and I could easily see it breaking the May 8th record set back in 2013.  My prediction is that we do indeed set a new record this year with ice going off Platte Lake on May 9th.  I really hope I'm wrong and it goes off at least a week earlier than that.

 

Platte Lake Ice Out Prediction for 2018

This is the date when I blog about this topic.  I actually already spitballed it a little bit on Facebook already.  We are possibly in the early stages of the biggest snowstorm of the year right now.  The snow from the previous 3 snowstorms was a good half to two-thirds melted this week.  One thing I can say for sure is that it's not going to be an early ice off this year.  Too much snow and ice to melt.  I think we are going to be on the late side for ice off this year.  Therefore I am guessing April 22nd for the day I declare Platte ice-free.  That would give 3 weeks before Opener.  May it be so!

Platte Lake Ice Out Prediction for 2017

Thanks to the "On This Day" feature on Facebook I was reminded of my first ever long-range ice out prediction for Platte Lake on this blog that I made in 2015.  I was off by quite a bit with my prediction in 2015 with the ice going off Platte Lake on April 3rd.  Keep in mind that the two previous years to 2015 had late ice-out dates.  Last year I forgot to make an early prediction.

I believe the ice on Platte Lake will not make it to April and am predicting it will go off the lake on the 29th.  That would make it the third earliest ice-out date since I moved North in 2003.  The earliest was March 19th, 2012 and last year it went off on March 23rd.

Progress Stopped!

Rock Lake Access

The cold weather today has the area lakes in a holding pattern.  I got a better look at Platte Lake today and I'd say it's 40% open.   Rock is less than 5%.  Bulldog is 5%, Sullivan 5%.

I now think ice will be off Platte Lake on Monday.

Because ...

Because gas prices are low and now I have a car that gets triple the MPG of the Expedition I am now able to take trips I normally wouldn't.  Today I drove to check out Shakopee Lake and Mille Lacs.  Shakopee was way less open than I anticipated and Mille Lacs is just weird.  The small cattail bay in Vineland Bay was wide open, which I didn't expect and there was less open water than I expected at the Whitefish Lake Inlet.

I was a little surprised by how open Platte had become with today's wind.  Channel Inn Bay was completely wide open beyond the north tip of the Small Island.

The Big Island is dead center behind the darker ice line. The Small Island ends at fat pine tree

The Platte River Outlet (SPRO) was completely ice free in Sullivan and well into the Intersection.

Intersection is the area beyond that point on the left

The view from the Platte Lake Access and other area lakes is about as promising as the 5 day forecast, that would be not much.

Platte Lake Public Access

I think Platte will probably be ice free on Saturday, matching the day it went off in 2012 just under very different conditions.  In 2012 Platte opened during a lengthy warm stretch.  The bullheads were there almost immediately and the fishing got very good very fast. With the long term forecast being what it is I don't expect a repeat performance.  But I never know and that's why I'll go.

I did fish tonight for about 30 minutes before I decided I was more likely to catch a cold than a fish.  Conditions were very breezy out of the NW, cloudy, and 40 degrees.

A Wheeler Went Through On Platte Lake Tonight

Sullivan Tonight

Sullivan Inlet

Tonight I went fishing for about 45 minutes at the Grumpy Old Man Hole and caught another toothy bullhead.  As I was leaving a wheeler showed up on the South end of the small island.  I drove down to the inlet on Sullivan then over to Bulldog Lake. As I was heading home on 8 a cop passed me lights on and turned at Richardson Corners headed towards the GOMH. Turns out the guy on the wheeler fell through. Lucky for him Peter W. was out and saw the whole thing happen and called 911. I don't know if the person crawled out on his own or if he had to be rescued, but he made it out. I saw and heard some sandhill cranes out there tonight.  I'm guessing Platte Lake will be ice free by Tuesday the 22nd at the latest.  I think it will probably be earlier especially if we get significant rain on this Tuesday (15th).

Thinking Spring, Platte Lake Ice Out Prediction

Temp as I wrote this post

I am predicting ice out for Platte Lake by April 20th.  Personally I would prefer it be a little later, say April 27th like last year.  I've never done a really early ice out prediction like this before at the blog.  Hopefully I will make this an annual tradition to go along with "When Will I See My Driveway?"

After the way the past two winters have gone, maybe I shouldn't get cocky writing this, but I'm going to anyway.  After tonight I believe the worst of the winter is over in terms of low temps and hopefully for snow as well.  The weather is supposed to get into the 30's on Friday and the long range forecast at Accuweather.com says we're not going to look back.  From this blog to God's ears.

My first "When Will I See My Driveway?"  Post is coming by Friday.

I also predict the Tackle Warehouse Opener will be next week along with the ability to see the whole driveway.

Temp as the Sun came up this morning.