11-28-2018, 04:43 PM
I was at Huntington yesterday (Tuesday).
I decided to get a spud bar for early-ice safety, but after a few whacks at the ice as I went and no water, paranoia led me to drilling with my hand auger anyway to check ice thickness.
Ice was 5" nice and clear, but there was 6" of slush on top and almost a foot of soft snow on top of the slush.
After drilling any hole, water would continue to gush out to fill the hole I made in the snow to get to the ice. I've never seen water continue to come out of the hole like that. I didn't have a shovel, but it seems like if I would have dug out a spot for my tent, it would have been filled with water after a while. It was very wet conditions.
Fishing was hot! I caught a tiger every few minutes. I was actively jigging, but caught just as many with a jawjacker set up with a small glow lure and a wax worm. I was fishing about 15' of water and could see the bottom. I loved seeing the fish come right up to my lure! That's my favorite part of ice fishing.
[signature]
I decided to get a spud bar for early-ice safety, but after a few whacks at the ice as I went and no water, paranoia led me to drilling with my hand auger anyway to check ice thickness.
Ice was 5" nice and clear, but there was 6" of slush on top and almost a foot of soft snow on top of the slush.
After drilling any hole, water would continue to gush out to fill the hole I made in the snow to get to the ice. I've never seen water continue to come out of the hole like that. I didn't have a shovel, but it seems like if I would have dug out a spot for my tent, it would have been filled with water after a while. It was very wet conditions.
Fishing was hot! I caught a tiger every few minutes. I was actively jigging, but caught just as many with a jawjacker set up with a small glow lure and a wax worm. I was fishing about 15' of water and could see the bottom. I loved seeing the fish come right up to my lure! That's my favorite part of ice fishing.
[signature]