03-09-2023, 03:36 PM
I'm afraid my other post may not attract Ice Fishermen to read it due to how I titled it, but I think as I reviewed the topic I have learned that we are probably on the cusp of a very dangerous ice out this year. From my research and observations I have noticed that the ice sheet is getting very weak even though the temperatures are very low so far. The articles I referenced show that spring ice should not be judged by black ice standards. It shows how solar radiation actually melts the ice even though the temperature are below freezing, when the ice melts out of the crystaline structure the water drains out of the ice leaving air passages where the water melted out, this greatly weakens the ice to where it requires a significantly greater thickness to support the same weight... I have been seeing these conditions develop and it deteriorates very quickly once it starts to go bad...
Sooo my warning is make sure you take your spud with you and use it often to check ice conditions, they talk of how during the day while you're fishing, the ice can go from ok to weak enough to not hold you... Most of the time we get an obvious melt out and we don't get into too much trouble, but this year, it seems like the ice conditions should be fine with the temperatures we're seeing but we have the solar deterioration going on that is cutting the ice strength from within, so I think we all need to pay attention to this condition this year, because they claim the highest level of ice fatalities are due to spring ice, so let's not have one in our watch area... Later Jeff
Sooo my warning is make sure you take your spud with you and use it often to check ice conditions, they talk of how during the day while you're fishing, the ice can go from ok to weak enough to not hold you... Most of the time we get an obvious melt out and we don't get into too much trouble, but this year, it seems like the ice conditions should be fine with the temperatures we're seeing but we have the solar deterioration going on that is cutting the ice strength from within, so I think we all need to pay attention to this condition this year, because they claim the highest level of ice fatalities are due to spring ice, so let's not have one in our watch area... Later Jeff
When things get stressful think I'll go fish'en and worry about it tomorrow!