Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Open Water in Minnesota

My experience and what I know from my icefishing friends says that the ice is (almost) always thinnest at the banks and starts melting from them too.

In the absence of any solar influence during the melting period there are still several variables I can think of which would cause one side of the pond to have open water. The one I think most likely is wind direction and/or wind breaks causing uneven freezing when the ice formed (it was thinner there) or uneven melting (the 35 degree daytime winds strike the North bay). But there may be lots of better reasons.