Newton Reservoir Ice Update 1/8/2025

[BearLakeFishGuy]

Took a ride to Newton today. Was hoping for good ice since I wanted to try it on Saturday.  From the boat ramp to the dam it is frozen.  There were a couple people fishing it and the ice was 5-6" thick. But just up a little higher it was wide open water.  I could see 2 or maybe 3 large angling groups fishing up near the top of the reservoir where it was frozen again. I could not figure out where the anglers accessed the reservoir up there?  They could be local farmers who own land around the reservoir, but I'm not aware of anything up there that is not posted for trespassing. Any ideas?  Anyway, I was pretty surprised at how much open water there still was since it has been in the single digits at night the last two nights.  I'll probably try to fish it on Saturday but I really wanted to fish where the open water is.  Patience is not my forte'

PICTURE FROM TOP OF DAMN LOOKING TOWARDS THE BOAT RAMP.


PICTURE FROM RAMP PARKING LOT LOOKING NORTH (I could see at least 2 or 3 big groups of anglers fishing up there, but could not figure out where they parked).

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******I could not figure out how to post the pics I took.  It kept telling me the post was too large when I added in the pics.  The pics were only 400kb in size so that shouldn't be an issue.  Any help from the MODS would be greatly appreciated.

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Scott, sure appreciate you checking that out... I still would have thought it wouldn't be fishable yet... Guess my thinker isn't working very good this year... Later Jeff

[wiperhunter2]

Scott, try it again and see if adding those pics works today, if not, send me the pics and I'll get them added for you. Thanks for the ice update.

[jeremy t]

Took a ride to Newton today. Was hoping for good ice since I wanted to try it on Saturday.  From the boat ramp to the dam it is frozen.  There were a couple people fishing it and the ice was 5-6" thick. But just up a little higher it was wide open water.  I could see 2 or maybe 3 large angling groups fishing up near the top of the reservoir where it was frozen again. I could not figure out where the anglers accessed the reservoir up there?  They could be local farmers who own land around the reservoir, but I'm not aware of anything up there that is not posted for trespassing. Any ideas?  Anyway, I was pretty surprised at how much open water there still was since it has been in the single digits at night the last two nights.  I'll probably try to fish it on Saturday but I really wanted to fish where the open water is.  Patience is not my forte'

PICTURE FROM TOP OF DAMN LOOKING TOWARDS THE BOAT RAMP.


PICTURE FROM RAMP PARKING LOT LOOKING NORTH (I could see at least 2 or 3 big groups of anglers fishing up there, but could not figure out where they parked).

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******I could not figure out how to post the pics I took.  It kept telling me the post was too large when I added in the pics.  The pics were only 400kb in size so that shouldn't be an issue.  Any help from the MODS would be greatly appreciated.

Go north past the boat ramp to 10200 n. take a left go about half a mile and take a left on 6300 w. and follow it down to the top of the lake.

[IceGuy97]

Going to try this in the morning. I'll let you know what I find.

[SkunkedAgain]

Sounds good, I think it was cold enough over night you might find the rest of it with ice today, but don't trust the new ice just yet... I checked my pond last night and it is at that point where I think I can fish it, but it's still iffy to me... My calibrated finger measurer said 2 1/4" and the spud takes two hits to draw water... I won't fish anything thinner, but this is at the point that I'll fish shallow water at that thickness, but my risk acceptance won't let me fish anything deeper than I can touch bottom so I can get out if I go through... I think if the temps stay good, Newton should be good come Saturday for the whole pond, rather than the limited areas that have been available to this point... Good luck and hope you catch some nice fish today... Later J

[IceGuy97]

Still a lot of open water. Wouldn't venture out too far. It was safe just at the end of the boat dock and out towards the dam with 3 to 4 inches of ice. All the stuff that just froze was thin enough I wasn't going to try it. Caught a handful of perch and bluegill. North side saw a few vehicles and had better ice.

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks for the report, glad you got a few for your efforts... I can't figure out why the ice isn't building yet, doesn't seem like the days are that warm, yet they keep the ice from growing overnight... Thank you very much... Later Jeff