01-17-2018, 10:43 PM
[#0000FF]TinCan posted about open water at Willard north marina. Just hadda get back in the 
dle (float tube) again. Weather forecrash looked doable for today so I went for it.
Based on last week's report and pics I figured I could launch at the ramp. WRONG. Either it has refroze or a sheet of ice had blown in from the open lake. Oh sheet.
Drove over to the parking area at the fish cleaning station to look at the possibilities off Eagle Beach. More better. Open along the shoreline and out at least 50 yards...extending out beyond the channel out from the marina. Plan B...Eagle Beach.
Launched about 8ish. Air temp 30 and water temp just over 35...warming to almost 37 by noon. Cool launchings and cool runnings.
Found thin clear ice about 50 yards out...in water about 10 feet deep. Angled south, following the ice edge SW to a point straight out from the marina where the water was just over 19 feet. Saw almost nothing on sonar all the way and got no love on anything I tried...minnows, crawlers, jigs, fligs. Nada.
I continued to make big S turns between the edge of the ice and shallower water...watching for signs of life on my sonar screen. About as uneventful as watching current political pontifications.
Decided to try up in the channel and see if I might be able to get to the ramp by coming in through the ice from the open water. I did see a couple of clusters of something on the bottom straight out from the ramp...and the water temp inside was 38. Hmmmmm? Nothing that wanted to play though. And the ice was just thick enough that I couldn't break through it to the ramp. So back out to the main lake.
I might mention that there was obviously a big shad dieoff under the ice. There were quite a few 2-3 inchers washed up along the shoreline at Eagle Beach. And you could see little floaters under the clear ice near the edges. The gulls and terns were watching for the edges to melt and release new tidbits too and the birds were dropping down to pick up remnants all morning.
As I got back into the main lake I noticed that a little west breeze was moving the ice sheet closer to shore. Figured I better get back to my launch spot before I was cut off. That's when I had a couple of pop and drops on minnows. Wouldn't cha know it? Just when the fish get ready to play the ice moves in over the fishy area.
But wait, there's more. My rod with a white flig and a piece of crawler suddenly developed a big bend and the reel started screeching as line peeled off the drag. Yee haw. The fish had weight and pulled hard. Wiper? Nay, not so. After a pretty good battle my wiper came to net. But he was a gold color, had big scales and puckery lips. Funny looking wiper. But he kept the skunk away...barely.
Today was a good news and bad news day. The bad news was that the fish cleaning station was still closed. The "good" news was that I didn't need it. But it felt good to be afloat again.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
dle (float tube) again. Weather forecrash looked doable for today so I went for it. Based on last week's report and pics I figured I could launch at the ramp. WRONG. Either it has refroze or a sheet of ice had blown in from the open lake. Oh sheet.
Drove over to the parking area at the fish cleaning station to look at the possibilities off Eagle Beach. More better. Open along the shoreline and out at least 50 yards...extending out beyond the channel out from the marina. Plan B...Eagle Beach.
Launched about 8ish. Air temp 30 and water temp just over 35...warming to almost 37 by noon. Cool launchings and cool runnings.
Found thin clear ice about 50 yards out...in water about 10 feet deep. Angled south, following the ice edge SW to a point straight out from the marina where the water was just over 19 feet. Saw almost nothing on sonar all the way and got no love on anything I tried...minnows, crawlers, jigs, fligs. Nada.
I continued to make big S turns between the edge of the ice and shallower water...watching for signs of life on my sonar screen. About as uneventful as watching current political pontifications.
Decided to try up in the channel and see if I might be able to get to the ramp by coming in through the ice from the open water. I did see a couple of clusters of something on the bottom straight out from the ramp...and the water temp inside was 38. Hmmmmm? Nothing that wanted to play though. And the ice was just thick enough that I couldn't break through it to the ramp. So back out to the main lake.
I might mention that there was obviously a big shad dieoff under the ice. There were quite a few 2-3 inchers washed up along the shoreline at Eagle Beach. And you could see little floaters under the clear ice near the edges. The gulls and terns were watching for the edges to melt and release new tidbits too and the birds were dropping down to pick up remnants all morning.
As I got back into the main lake I noticed that a little west breeze was moving the ice sheet closer to shore. Figured I better get back to my launch spot before I was cut off. That's when I had a couple of pop and drops on minnows. Wouldn't cha know it? Just when the fish get ready to play the ice moves in over the fishy area.
But wait, there's more. My rod with a white flig and a piece of crawler suddenly developed a big bend and the reel started screeching as line peeled off the drag. Yee haw. The fish had weight and pulled hard. Wiper? Nay, not so. After a pretty good battle my wiper came to net. But he was a gold color, had big scales and puckery lips. Funny looking wiper. But he kept the skunk away...barely.
Today was a good news and bad news day. The bad news was that the fish cleaning station was still closed. The "good" news was that I didn't need it. But it felt good to be afloat again.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]