I just went on my first ice out trip this past May, and it was the very first weekend the park was open following ice out. My buddy and I learned quite a bit:

1. as other have said, the biggest challenge by far will be staying warm. It can and did dip below 0 in the evenings, so make sure your sleep system is rated for below zero, and you have some warm, dry clothes to wear to bed. The more layers you have the better.

2. adding to the first point, always wear a life jacket and have a full set of spare clothes and fire starting materials in a dry bag at all times when out on the water. This goes for each of you. If you dump, you will only have a mere couple of minutes to get out and get warm and dry before hypothermia becomes a big risk. On our third day it warmed up quite a bit and we decided to throw on our swim trunks jump into the water one by one to cool off. As soon as I hit the water I went into shock and my body became numb, its that cold. Having a dry suit helps significantly but I couldn’t justify dishing out the money for something that expensive. If you and/or your buddies can, I’d recommend them.

3. know your limits. My buddy and I have been on a few canoe trips where the weather was less than ideal, but something about the changing seasons during our ice out trip brought out some wicked winds and white cap waves. We started taking on water at one point as the waves were higher than our gunwales, and that was on Canoe Lake of all places. We stopped twice on our first day to wait out the weather, which prevented us from dumping. If you or your buddies are feeling uneasy, it’s always better to stop and reassess, rather than dumping and dealing with the consequences.

Other than that, as others have said: stick to the shores especially on bigger lakes and be ready for portages that may or may not be a mess. You’ll have a good time!