02-02-2012, 10:32 PM
This is a report from wednesday from Ron Stewart, DWR Northeastern Region Conservation Outreach Manager:
Ice fishing tour
I took a tour of some of the ice fishing waters in the Northeastern Region yesterday. I was mainly interested in how some of the better and thus more popular ice fishing locations, Red Fleet, Steinaker and Starvation, were holding up to the strange weather this winter. What I found is the reservoirs are in a melting pattern about six to eight weeks early.
Starvation is the most dramatic.
Four weeks ago Starvation was completely frozen though there were several areas of unsafe ice. Yesterday, roughly half of Rabbit Gulch was open water and the area where I parked my truck to fish three weeks ago is now underwater. The open water extends well out into the main channel. However, there was an ice shack out in the middle about 2/3 of the way back into the bay and the ice it was sitting on was 7 to 9 inches.
The area southwest of the bridge on the north shore likely has the thickest ice (over 24 inches a week ago), however there are a few areas I would avoid and be careful getting on and off the ice. Directly under the bridge is melting out faster due to the road sludge dripping down and adding a layer of dark grey to the snow and ice. Another area to the northeast of the bridge is turning a dark blue-grey, a sign the ice is deteriorating. There is also a 15 to 20 foot ring of new ice and/or slush around the shoreline which will create some problems getting on and off. However there were three groups fishing west of the bridge on Wednesday afternoon.
There is open water in the middle of the reservoir as well as open water in Indian Bay and in front of the main boat ramp and campground. The ramp itself however is iced in. Surrounding all of these areas are large patches of the dark blue-grey ice indicating deteriorating ice conditions.
The largest group of ice anglers braving the ice were at the west end of Starvation dam. These anglers had located a large school of perch and most had claimed a limit of fish in roughly five hours of fishing. To get there they crossed about 20 feet of slick new ice around four to five inches deep. They drilled through about 12 inches of ice and fished with small flies and lures in 35 to 50 feet of water.
Steinaker never did freeze this year as three large areas have remained open. On the north end, the two open water reaches have now connected forming a figure 8. The third area is near the dam and it looks like it has grown as well. Anglers are using the east side, near the dam and near the boat ramp. Results have been fair to good for rainbows and we are hearing of more browns than usual coming through the ice. The anglers are fishing on roughly a foot of ice but have to cross a 10 to 15 foot ring of new ice along the edges. As I was there, I could see water welling out onto the new ice so the level must be coming up fairly quickly. Also, the new ice at the boat ramp has been shattered by someone either trying to drive on it or lost his brakes so be especially careful there.
Red Fleet, which is better sheltered than the other two waters, seems to be holding up the best. From my vantage point near the boat ramp, I could not see any open water so the last few holes have likely filled in. There was however a 10 to 20 foot edge of new ice along the shoreline, which shows the reservoir is being filled. There were no anglers visible on Wednesday, just tracks leading out from the boat ramp. Anglers have reported fair to good catches on rainbows and even a few walleye and bluegill have been iced near the dam.
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Ice fishing tour
I took a tour of some of the ice fishing waters in the Northeastern Region yesterday. I was mainly interested in how some of the better and thus more popular ice fishing locations, Red Fleet, Steinaker and Starvation, were holding up to the strange weather this winter. What I found is the reservoirs are in a melting pattern about six to eight weeks early.
Starvation is the most dramatic.
Four weeks ago Starvation was completely frozen though there were several areas of unsafe ice. Yesterday, roughly half of Rabbit Gulch was open water and the area where I parked my truck to fish three weeks ago is now underwater. The open water extends well out into the main channel. However, there was an ice shack out in the middle about 2/3 of the way back into the bay and the ice it was sitting on was 7 to 9 inches.
The area southwest of the bridge on the north shore likely has the thickest ice (over 24 inches a week ago), however there are a few areas I would avoid and be careful getting on and off the ice. Directly under the bridge is melting out faster due to the road sludge dripping down and adding a layer of dark grey to the snow and ice. Another area to the northeast of the bridge is turning a dark blue-grey, a sign the ice is deteriorating. There is also a 15 to 20 foot ring of new ice and/or slush around the shoreline which will create some problems getting on and off. However there were three groups fishing west of the bridge on Wednesday afternoon.
There is open water in the middle of the reservoir as well as open water in Indian Bay and in front of the main boat ramp and campground. The ramp itself however is iced in. Surrounding all of these areas are large patches of the dark blue-grey ice indicating deteriorating ice conditions.
The largest group of ice anglers braving the ice were at the west end of Starvation dam. These anglers had located a large school of perch and most had claimed a limit of fish in roughly five hours of fishing. To get there they crossed about 20 feet of slick new ice around four to five inches deep. They drilled through about 12 inches of ice and fished with small flies and lures in 35 to 50 feet of water.
Steinaker never did freeze this year as three large areas have remained open. On the north end, the two open water reaches have now connected forming a figure 8. The third area is near the dam and it looks like it has grown as well. Anglers are using the east side, near the dam and near the boat ramp. Results have been fair to good for rainbows and we are hearing of more browns than usual coming through the ice. The anglers are fishing on roughly a foot of ice but have to cross a 10 to 15 foot ring of new ice along the edges. As I was there, I could see water welling out onto the new ice so the level must be coming up fairly quickly. Also, the new ice at the boat ramp has been shattered by someone either trying to drive on it or lost his brakes so be especially careful there.
Red Fleet, which is better sheltered than the other two waters, seems to be holding up the best. From my vantage point near the boat ramp, I could not see any open water so the last few holes have likely filled in. There was however a 10 to 20 foot edge of new ice along the shoreline, which shows the reservoir is being filled. There were no anglers visible on Wednesday, just tracks leading out from the boat ramp. Anglers have reported fair to good catches on rainbows and even a few walleye and bluegill have been iced near the dam.
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