I'm not sure where the rumor of 6 inches of ice came from, but if there was 6 inches of ice at fishlake today it was far away from any walking access on the west shore. Started by mack campground and found that to be the thickest ice, about a finger length of clear, slick ice. Later moved down near twin creeks and found it to be a generous 3-4, but cracking and somewhat nerve racking. There is a giant ridge that comes out of the creek and goes straight across the lake, at one point it made a horrendous sound and spewed water about ten feet up in the air. At this point i valued my life more than fishing so we moved south closer to the lakeside marina, the ice here was thinnest of all, by the warmest part of the day maybe 3 inches thick, but not as loud as the other spots. With that out of the way the fishing was good for 12-20 inch splake, and a few pup macks were had as well, one of them was maybe 5 or so pounds and about 25 inches long. White seemed to be the color, depth didn't seem to matter, you could see your jig like you were fishing out of a boat due to the clear ice. Alot of times we'd watch as splake or rainbows would bite about 15 feet down. Monday will have thicker ice i think, if you go soon use your brain on the ice. If i get bored enough i'll post some pictures
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We were at Fish Lake on Thursday. The ice was a sight to behold. We got there late, took plenty of time figuring where the ice might be safe, and finally set up on the south end on about 4 inches of good and clear ice near the weed line. We had a group of 10 and experienced mediocre fishing. (My personal worst day on Fish Lake). It might have been our late start and/or our location. With the questionable ice, we didn't have the desire to move around).
It was scary yet fun seeing right through the ice. The wind made it interesting (on the clear, frictionless ice). Take ice cleats if you go =)
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Would you say 6 inches? i know everybody i talked to said they "heard it was 5-6 inches". Most people weren't bothered by the cracking, it's one thing when it cracks but entirely different when you can feel the ice shaking and what not. Made the fishing kinda fun to be able to see your fish come up.
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It wasn't 6 inches where we fished. I think I read a report that there was some thicker ice on the north end. We didn't hear any thunderous cracking like you did. It is a bit unnerving, though. =)
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We fished it Wednesday - Friday (31st-1st) and never found more than 3 inches of ice. We fished in front of Macinaw campground, then spent the next two days just south of the lodge (in front of the rental cabins). Fishing was pretty fast and furious for splake, with a few pup lakers here and there (one 7 or 8 lb laker that was released).
Overall I think the quality of fish this year is up at Fish Lake.
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