Over 20 Consistently
It finally happened, 20+ inches on pretty much they entire lake. Significantly more to the West, right at 20 to the East. If you look back at the same time last year, we were nowhere near that mark. A relatively colder than last year January and we are well ahead of ice depth. Add to that, some of this ice is very hard, not the soft stuff that plagued us last year
Still some issues with some of the areas of the lake dulling blades at an alarming rate, far West and far East. The stuff in between seems to be ok, but it you want to be changing blades every 2-3 days, by all means focus on those two areas.
Ridges and Cracks Breaking and Contracting
In the last 48 hours we have had a roughly 45-degree swing in temperature. Unlike every other substance, ice behaves differently, expanding when every other substance contracts. With this wild increase in air temps, that ice is going to be contracting at an alarming rate, forming cracks along all of the pressure ridges around the lake. Over the next 48 hours, it would be wise to avoid any and all ridges and cracks. Cracks that were inches, can become feet in a short period creating dangerous areas.
Gonna Have Ice Well Into March
After this little warm-up, the temperatures are going to drop down the single digits above and below zero for an extended period of time. With us having 20 inches already and then extended cold in late-January/early-February, we are going to have pretty good ice well into mid-March. Dare I even dream of ice fishing into April? A guy can dream, right?
Good Luck out there!
