I spent 4 hours on Shell Lake Saturday. The lake is just south of Spooner, WI about 1.5-2 hours from the TC. Over 2 feet of ice with 1-3 inches of perfect corn snow on top. Good smooth firm corn for excellent edge controll and very fast. The wind was 15-20+ and was perfect for boosting all day. Right on the edge of my 9.5 Frenzy. You could ride right in front of town. At one point, the local cop stopped by and said I was causing a minor traffic problem from people slowing on highway 63 to watch. Unlike Callhoun, no ticket here.
I may go up and try it again today. If anyone is interested, leave a post or try me on my cell at 651-343-2469. It's a lot more fun with more people.
Shell Lake was Great!
Moderator: MK
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Kevinousdigian
- Posts: 646
- Joined: Thu Nov 28, 2002 10:37 pm
Glad to hear you enjoyed Shell Lake. My parents bought a cabin on their in the late 80s so I spend a lot of time on the lake windsurfing and sailing my catamaran. There is even a sailing club with a few formal and informal races every year.
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/community ... w=.&uh=1,0,
Thank goodness the water level is going back down. It was such a crystal clear lake until the high water and DNR messed it up. It still is weedless on the main part of the lake and beats anything around the twin cities in the summer and fall. There is almost no boat traffic, even on the busiest days of the summer.
In the summer the city beach won't give you good access for the prevailing southerlies and westerlies (it mainly works on NE, E, SE). There are two other lake access places on the north shore:
1) Donovans' cove: SE/S best and works on west winds. not easy to find on north shore east of the big point. In between 2 cabins. Legal access though.
2) Boat launch on northern shore in eastern side of lake. Not the best rigging but shallow access. works great on S/SE, S, SW. Nice ramps come in by point. All shallow sandy bottom along the north and east shores!
I have a map if you want me to email it to you and mark these places. I usually sail from #2 on southerlies and from neighbors across the street on the NE side of rolphs point on W, NW, N, NE winds.
There is even a campground really close to #2. If you wanted to get away from busy city lakes on a weekend in the summer and it wasn't blowing at Green in Wilmar this lake would be a good place (ie there is not lake effect like Mille Lacs).
Kevin
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/community ... w=.&uh=1,0,
Thank goodness the water level is going back down. It was such a crystal clear lake until the high water and DNR messed it up. It still is weedless on the main part of the lake and beats anything around the twin cities in the summer and fall. There is almost no boat traffic, even on the busiest days of the summer.
In the summer the city beach won't give you good access for the prevailing southerlies and westerlies (it mainly works on NE, E, SE). There are two other lake access places on the north shore:
1) Donovans' cove: SE/S best and works on west winds. not easy to find on north shore east of the big point. In between 2 cabins. Legal access though.
2) Boat launch on northern shore in eastern side of lake. Not the best rigging but shallow access. works great on S/SE, S, SW. Nice ramps come in by point. All shallow sandy bottom along the north and east shores!
I have a map if you want me to email it to you and mark these places. I usually sail from #2 on southerlies and from neighbors across the street on the NE side of rolphs point on W, NW, N, NE winds.
There is even a campground really close to #2. If you wanted to get away from busy city lakes on a weekend in the summer and it wasn't blowing at Green in Wilmar this lake would be a good place (ie there is not lake effect like Mille Lacs).
Kevin
Kevin Ousdigian
I went back to Shell Lake on Sunday with Joe J. The ice is holding up very well. Much better than any of the lakes we went by on the way up. I was surprised on how good the conditions were and how thick and solid the ice was. You could still drive on this lake if you wanted to. The nice corn snow was almost all gone and the rain Saturday night left a hard dimpled ice surface. The edge hold with skis was not too bad. The rides were very fast, but the turns were a little rough until the hard surface started to soften up later in the day. The wind was quite gusty and landing surface (rock hard) kept me closer to the ground than the nice big air time yesterday. All in all, it was another great late season day on Shell.
If the hard top surface of the ice softens up some more or some snow cover arrives, shell, or other northern lakes, could still be and option for later in the week or next weekend.
The ice season still may not be over yet. 
If the hard top surface of the ice softens up some more or some snow cover arrives, shell, or other northern lakes, could still be and option for later in the week or next weekend.
The ice season still may not be over yet.