Solid 5 inches in Sussex county! ICE!

[FASTEDDIE29]

Drove out to Budd lake to find super sketchy ice this morning. Walked on to meet Andre and Dennis and said F this. Once that sun gets high we’re going swimming. The ice was 2.5 inches at best. Decided to head to the far north, Lake Ocquitunk, only to find worse conditions. Weird! Headed to southern Sussex county to a very old spot which is at a high elevation. Here we found 5 inches of ice. It’s not the best lake in NJ but the jig bite turned on around 2 this afternoon and I was the only one out there. Nothing spectacular but just enough to scratch the itch. Had some cocktail Pickerel on tip ups and finally found some Gills and Perch to play with.

We’re headed for a meltdown after tomorrow’s rain so I highly recommend putting the ice fishing off til conditions improve. Looks like we have another cold spell coming shortly after the new year. And this cold spell for NWNJ looks like a good one. Be patient guys. I’ll see you out there! FLAGGGGGGGG!!!!!:D
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[JDTuna]

Very nice man! Way to persevere and find the safe hardwater!

[icebadger]

that place looks like a place that i go to not far from stokes state forest..The smaller water with shallower water locks up first and that is where i look for safe ice. The warm temps are melting a lot of ice and with the rain it does not look good until well after the new year. Nice mixed bag for your efforts eddie those sunnies are good size, fun on a jig rod indeed well done:cool:

[ScowardNJ]

Way to hunt down some Jersey ice Eddie! Nice bag of pans!

[anthrax2244]

Dude, you found 5” ice and caught fish on it in this “warm” weather, you did a remarkable job!

[thmyorke1]

chunky 'gills. Nice!

[Mikey topaz]

Nice little warm up session pal, hopefully we get on some good water soon.....

[Chrisper4694]

that's pretty damn good for that lake! as good as it's gonna get ice fishing for a while here :(