Rockport ice and fishing update

[Mildog]

After thinking a couple trips ago the ice would be marginal At best by now. Mother Nature has changed once again. Today the ice was “slightly” thicker than one week ago. Ice varies by location on the lake as do the conditions on the edges .The ice near the Dam area is thicker, on the upper /south end it is thinner but as of today it was still safe. In the South end we found the ice where we were was about 7” inches plus. Maybe 3 inches clear 4 frozen slush . The  snow has melted and refrozen, the  surface has a thin skiff of snow /crust that makes  walking easy. The edges when we walked on were fine, but when we left about 3pm the edges had melted and there was some water for 3 or 4 feet to the shore on top of the melting ice. A plank was in place and we took an 8 foot plank along so we did not get wet feet. The perch fishing was slower than the previous 4 trips by a lot today. We kept 52 filleting sized perch between 4 of us and we let a few go . On previous trips we all kept limits and let plenty of smaller fish go. 27 feet was good depth and fish can be released at that depth as the air bladders are not expanded. Some buddies that fished Rockport yesterday said it was crazy fast for most of the day with one lull midday.  Tomorrow is expected to be very warm, the edges will refreeze a bit tonight,  but may be messy tomorrow. If we are lucky the very cold weather predicted for next week will solidify things again and we may get a few more days to ice fish. 
**Always check ice conditions carefully, don’t assume it’s safe, use caution and good judgement. It was safe today and groups were out in several areas around the lake. Tomorrow may be a different story . Hopefully the cold temps coming will freeze it up for a few more days.

[icerman]

Thank you for your report!

[Jmorfish]

Thanks for your report..I also took a drive out to RP, but today was just for a scouting look...didn't get there til about 4:00, but there were still a few groups out on ice..one group was just heading down hill, and I watched them cross safely to the solid ice, assisted by the 2x4's...as they were setting up, another group..guy and 3 little kids..were coming back, so I waited to talk to him, helped load his sled..he reported no fish, ice about 4.5" where he was, and he'd busted or fell off one of those 2x4s coming out and got wet to 3 feet up..so he said he was glad to get his kids out, and they had a good time....I just aired out and stored my ice tent for the season, but like Mildog said, if it gets REALLY cold a few nites....????        The Shrew Doth Tempt Me...

[Jmorfish]

Mildog...PM sent..