High of 72 Today -- Ice Fishing in a Week

With 70s as forecast highs for the next couple of days, it's sort of hard to believe that at this time next week I'll be grabbing my last couple of hours of sleep before venturing out onto Minnesota's Upper Red Lake to go ice fishing for walleyes. I just read an Upper Red report, though, and the ice is between 6 and 10 inches thick now, depending on the part of the lake. This time last week it was only an inch or two thick, so things are changing quickly, and the 10-day looks good for more ice making. The same report, published by Jeff Sundin via word he got from the floor of the St. Paul Ice Show, suggested that the early walleye bite has been really good on Upper Red. I'll also spend a day with Jeff searching out panfish on some of the smaller lakes in his area of the state and a day on Mille Lacs. Three lakes in three days. Lots of moving and lots of ice fishing fun.