Ice Fishing
Are you done for the season?
Sawyer county lakes are still solid as well, had 20" on 4 different lakes ranging from 100-800 acres. One lake opening up a bit along the shorelines but otherwise no issues. Cold weather this week should prolong the season another week. Fishing was great as well, love this time of year.
Ice was in great shape today. Quite a few people out at various lakes too.
No slush. Easy to get around. Everything really solid. Had about 18 inches. Yes, it's in layers, and who knows how long it will last, but it does look like we've gotten a bit of an extension to our season these next 10 days or so.
Fishing was decent. Barometer started around 30.70. That's huge. Dropped steadily through the day.
I was usually looking forward to ice fishing in March. I would even take my spring break vacation in Minocqua. Now? I would like to make a trip up there, but I am more likely to just do my end of season maintenance and put stuff away. One of these years I am going to go north for the perch bite at dawn, then down to south central WI and chase gills with fly rod on the same day. Fun daily double action.
Heading out tomorrow in Vilas Co. Will report how ice is.
My job duties are up in the air for a few weeks here...so might be able to get on the ice a number of times before ice out. Been really cold the past few days, giving us a bit of an extension to the season. Once it warms up, the ice will go pretty fast.
I am, and I'm pretty sure these guys are now too
https://fox11online.com/news/local/rescue-efforts-ongoing-as-ice-breaks-off-in-bay
No way! Some of the best is yet to come! We still have very fishable ice up here and the forecast looks decent to hold on for a while yet at least. Very little sunshine. Don't see any major rain. And, highs are in the 30s and low to mid 40s, with lows often from 17-25 degrees. Hoping to fish through March, but it won't be as long as usual. Usually mid to late April up here!
I was done with the slush fest up north but now it firmed up. I was up two weekends ago and the lake was like a salt flat. Easy walking. I burned some carbon outta the sled ripping about. Anywho, the crappies were cooperative and I hope to be back up at least one more weekend to set out a bunch of tip downs and enjoy the warm weather with fam and beer.
Madison area is done for the year. We never got more than about a foot of ice this year. Where I fished on Saturday there was still 8 inches of ice but the north shore was not accessible, south shoreline still had some snow on it. Top four inches of ice cut thru even without pushing the button on my drill, then under that was the 8 inches of "good" ice. Any old holes from almost all season opened right up just by stepping on them, so I had to watch where I was going! Last year March 26th was my last day on the ice in Madison, this year March 7th, almost 3 weeks earlier! We had 3 first ice seasons this year - One in November (the earliest I've EVER ice fished!), one in December I thought for sure would last, then AGAIN in January!
I doubt I'll have any time to head north, but I'm sure they still have a few weeks left. There's only one season I can remember when the ice was out before the first of April in Vilas County - 2012. That year we hit 80 degrees on St. Patrick's Day!
