Jan 2nd Report

[SkunkedAgain]

Sorry I couldn't remember where I needed to reply on conditions, so here's a quick update report on yesterday's outing..
Headed to Newton to start the day, roads in were terrible, that last leg to the dam was buried in 2' of drifted snow and trying to stay on the road was a trick, (total white out and no lane markers to see where the road should be) but before I left the snow plow came through and opened the road up so it wasn't bad when I left about 10:30... Some kind sole had left a pallet to bridge the gap onto the ice, so I was able to get on the ice sheet without wet feet, but there was 1-2" of slush on top, which wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected.  I went out in the middle and found I could build a snow platform that kept me out of the water... Only graphed like 6 fish all morning, first one bit and I had some technical difficulty with my reel, but when I got it to the ice I ended up losing it without even seeing a flash of it... Which was too bad it was a heavy strong fighter... I was using my noodle rod, which was nice to see the lite bites, but didn't have enough back bone to set the hook well enough to land it... Anyway, it was too slow to be worth much time, so I called it a day early... Then in the late afternoon I went to Cutler and found close to identical slush conditions, however, the ice is getting really rotten and thinning out.  Friend of mine went through getting off the ice sheet, but it was only knee deep...  Got a pair of crappie 9 & 10"ers... So it salvaged my day from the skunk... Anyway hopefully we'll get some cold to fix the ice, still looking for a good day on the ice, it's been pretty meager for me this year only a couple fish a trip... Later J

[smokepoles]

Golly, all the reports suggest ice is marginal all over, and it doesn't look good for cold enough to do any good through the next week. My weather site says 4 of next 7 days it will not even get below 32, and the other 3 to just below. Long term suggests some cold by last week of Jan into early Feb. At least I've had plenty of snow removal to keep me busy ;-).

[SkunkedAgain]

Golly, all the reports suggest ice is marginal all over, and it doesn't look good for cold enough to do any good through the next week. My weather site says 4 of next 7 days it will not even get below 32, and the other 3 to just below.  Long term suggests some cold by last week of Jan into early Feb.  At least I've had plenty of snow removal to keep me busy ;-).

You're scaring me, my site is similar with daytime temps in mid 30's to 40 and night time temps upper 20's to 30's... won't build much ice at those temps... Too often mid February is the end of lower elevation fishing, if we lose our ice in January, it probably won't recover this year... Guess it's time to ice fish like there is no tomorrow... cause there might not be one till next year... Later J

[wiperhunter2]

January thaw started early this year it seems.

[smokepoles]

Just drove by Hyrum. One guy wit a snow dog tooling around.  There were several foot holes through ice at ramp where someone(s) hod gone through - hope they had hippers on - and then slush prints out to dock pieces a ways out.  It looked as though the snow dog got on there too, but maybe had enough speed to make it and leave a slush trail for 20 yds before topping on the snow.    Hope he gets off OK as there was a 2 x 4 foot slab of ice sunk a bit right there where he got on and looking to give way.  Two guys were just getting out of truck to enter the west end as I was leaving.

[2knots]

Just drove by Hyrum. One guy wit a snow dog tooling around.  There were several foot holes through ice at ramp where someone(s) hod gone through - hope they had hippers on - and then slush prints out to dock pieces a ways out.  It looked as though the snow dog got on there too, but maybe had enough speed to make it and leave a slush trail for 20 yds before topping on the snow.    Hope he gets off OK as there was a 2 x 4 foot slab of ice sunk a bit right there where he got on and looking to give way.  Two guys were just getting out of truck to enter the west end as I was leaving.

That was Eylayo on the dog

[EyLayo]

Hyrum conditions were actually pretty darn good today. Boat ramp was a little soft getting on, just remember the gas is on the right. Temps were low enough that a nice crust formed last night with a fresh 1-2" of pow on top of that. Dog stayed on top with no problems. It did break into the crust when I was screwing around and carving some corners. My boots broke into the slush approximately 1/4 of the spots I stopped at (towards the end of the day) No big deal though, less than 2" of soup before I stood on 5-6" clear goodness. Fishing was less than desirable. Bunch of bitty and a 10+ perch is all that came topside. Wish the fishing was better but I was grateful for favorable conditions.

[smokepoles]

Glad all was safe for you.  It'll take some real cold until I feel comfortable.

[SkunkedAgain]

January thaw started early this year it seems.

Hope the cold today will tie a few layers together, so it will take longer to melt what is left...  Going to be an interesting season when the usual good month is questionable ice this year... Hopefully everyone can stay safe and we don't have anyone getting in trouble this year... Later J