Two steps forward and one step back, might best describe the month of April this year with an early meltdown that has been superseded by 12 fresh inches of snowfall.
A picture from my living room window would not look any different today than it would have in February, but we are seeing a few subtle signs of a changing season. Waking to singing birds is much more pleasant than a plow truck scraping the highway, but we are still a long way from looking like spring around here.
Will there be open water for the fishing opener in Cook County?
This hot topic is being discussed at every local coffee shop and meeting place while locals wonder, “when they will see open water?” I thought we would be fishing from boats throughout the county last week as I watched Devil Track Lake begin to separate from shore. The ice turned dark gray and appeared to be melting quickly until this last winter storm left another 12 inches of snow to melt.
My son Bo and I have already been canoeing around the open water perimeter of Devil Track while retrieving a well hit baseball from the lake. He hit the ball far enough to make it to the shoreline, and then bounce across a half-inch layer of clear ice before resting against the thicker layer of lake ice 20 feet from shore.
We decided to launch a canoe and break through the thin ice while fetching his home run hit. It was more fun than playing baseball, so we continued to break ice and canoe the perimeter of the lake in front of Skyport Lodge.
Extortion Lake on the Gunflint Trail has already opened up, so the bigger lakes should not be too far behind—despite the recent snowfall. Hopefully, this will be the last storm of the season while we say, “so long to April.”
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