Ice conditions thread......?????

[Chrisper4694]

i wouldn't count on it. there are a very few places that didn't open up at all during that ridiculous weather we had. those will be ok but are few and far between. very little if any ice is going to be made even with the temps this late in the season. cong at river stix is still wide open on the lake side and it's been bitter cold multiple nights there.

[Blackfish Bobby]

Just got word from my team up North and they are geared up for early start tomorrow. Will be back on my lake,,,without me.....told them catch em up and send me some pics so I can hopefully report.....We aint done yet fellas.

Hello Hard Rock.....CMON SEVEN !!!! Daddy needs a new center console !!!!

[Sigma1073]

Fished in NW NJ today and found 5-8in of ice. Needed to poke around to find the good edges. Fishing was slow. Not a sniff on tip ups or jigs until we said let's pack it up...FLAG! Caught a nice LMB and was the first on the 1/0 circle hook setup. Hooked right in the corner of the mouth. CPR'ed and we bounced. Be careful out there.

[briansnat]

Thinking we aren't done just yet. Lows in single digits next week and highs below freezing.

[icebadger]

i fished the cong today and had 5" of ice with three inches of snow on top. there was wet spots here and there and the weight of the snow made the water come up onto the ice at the hole. with cold temps in the forecast we may be able to fish the shallow coves for a bit more. the shores are a bit tricky but nothing a plank cant solve.. you should check the ice with a spud to be sure the ice is good to walk on.the main lake is open still that probably will not change it is to late in the season to lock up that part of the lake. be safe out there

[FASTEDDIE29]

8 inches of ice north side of Monks as of yesterday. Jigged up 50 Bluegills, a few Crappie and some pencil Pickerel. Not one flag all day. Can’t get to deep water due to a few rather large cracks in the ice on the other side the bridge. Water temps are 7-8 degrees less then what they were last year. The fishing will be tough open water and through the ice. I’ll be on Monks til it melts! Even if it is slow. FLAGGGGGGGG!!!!!

[Chrisper4694]

just a heads up to everyone if you plan to ice fish this weekend...don't assume tons of ice was made with this cold weather. there are a lot of variables right now minimizing ice formation (snow, higher sun, longer sun out, thick low quality ice) Some places have remained ok over the past few weeks, but if you haven't been on a particular place recently, be careful.

for example the main lake side of river stix looks locked up but was open just the other day and i'm sure there are many spots in that area with very thin ice that you can't see due to the snow.

2.5 inches of pure black first ice is safer than 6-8 inches this time of the year imo

[Rich196]

Just be careful out there guy's, like Chris mentioned, even though we are having a cold mid week, with the heavy wind a lot of these places wont get heavy ice. Weather it's ice fishing, Open water fishing in a boat, remember we all do this for the love of the sport, and we all cant wait for the weekends to fish, but it's not worth risking getting hurt or killed. Were all one big fishing family no matter what kinda fishing you do, and I would hate to see someones fun day of fishing turn into a tragedy. STAY SAFE GUYS !!!

Just to add to whats already been said, was at one particular lake Sunday and Monday. Sunday was mostly open water with maybe a third of the lake having some degree of ice. On Monday with Sunday's heavy winds, the entire ice pack moved from one side of the lake to the other, craziest thing I've ver seen.


Be careful out there, as others have already mentioned many variables impacting safe conditions.

[icebadger]

i fished the cong today and found 8" of ice to fish on the crappies were playing nice got 12 of them the biggest was 12" most were 8 to 10" also got 18 sunnies 2 slime darts and 2 perch all caught on jigs. all fish released to fight another day. the season is still going on in the coves, state park and the cove by dows. we might have safe ice for another 4 or 5 days then it is going to get warm and we have rain in the forecast so we will have to see how it goes but for now it's flagggg up. be safe out there tight lines and many flags to all that go out.