Hi beagle, I am going out tomorrow. I went out this afternoon and still had two inches of ice behind my toon. I turned the motor on and ran it half throttle for 20 minutes and it broke up the ice, along with throwing my anchor on the ice about fifty times. According to the tables tomorrow will be wimpy fishing but like you said it's good to be on the water whether the fish cooperate or not. The water was slightly stained around the marina but that is a pretty protected area. Thinking of trying the bridge pilings tomorrow.