Yep, tis the season......

[kenz]

Sitting here and hearing the sirens.....means someone went swimming out on the ice.

Its been above freezing for a week or so, rain the last few days, and reached 68 today.  Rivers are breaking up, and the ice is getting punky. The fishermen are all trying to get that last couple of trips in. Word is that the 'crack' in the ice separated and moved out, so we will see tomorrow how many went trolling.

[Buford445]

People are Crazy

[NickC]

I got my last day in Monday and i had to walk through about 5' of open water to get onto the ice. The lake ice around at the time was around a foot thick, but the shore ice always gives out first due to the sun heating it up faster. It was not a very solid trip, i only took home 4-5 perch. 

I do have to say that the site that you referred me to, Ken, was a HUGE motivation to get out there and take advantage of what we have here in Michigan. I was going on average twice a week, sometimes thee. My freezer has some perch in it now and i have some pretty cool outings under my belt, i defiantly cant wait until it comes back!

[NickC]

I know that was one of the biggest concerns to everyone with the middle of the lake thawing. If you have an offshore wind and a pressure crack, it can move out to the lake and you might not even know that its moving until you get ready to go in and see that the crack separated 20'. Scary stuff!

I think this year was one of the first years that our entire lake froze over completely. We had almost 2' of ice at one point and at that time, i had a dull auger. 

The ice was so thick and the cold was so bad that most of the fish that usually make it through the winter, died off. The last time i went out, there were Shad popping up in every hole that was not frozen over and the water stunk. The DNR have already reported that its going to be an EXTREMELY smelly spring due to the dead fish everywhere. They checked for disease and viruses but the only thing that killed them was the abnormal conditions.

[kenz]

Yep, a hard freeze in a lake can create a winter fish kill. Sad, but it happens. The report was 12 fishermen rescued. But not really all that true. There were 5-6 people rescued straight off the Bay/Arenac county line, but not by the Coast Guard. One managed to get his sled across the water, went home (lived near by) brought his rowboat back and ferried the rest ashore. Went back during the day and got the sleds. 2 rescued in the Linwood marina, one fell in helping his buddy to shore who happened to have had a heart attack (thus the sirens I heard). 5 or so were assisted to shore of of the State Park. What happened is the crack opened up better than 30 feet when the wind shifted. Plus when darkness came so did the fog. 

[Buford445]

EFF THAT

[NickC]

Yeah, that sounds like you got some die hards up there! 

Im not sure about the reports around me, i have not really heard anything other than a truck falling in a few weeks ago. Some kids were partying on the lake and got stupid, as usually happens. They punched through on the shore which was only a few feet deep, but i heard the tow truck and fines combined once it was all said and done came out to be around 12 grand. Eff THAT! 

[kenz]

Ice went out the other day. Supposed to get 30mph winds from the East tonight/tomorrow. Sounds like we might get a few new ice mountains by the afternoon.

[NickC]

Hope its not anything like that one year that you showed us...

[kenz]

Went down to the water today, no ice in site. Ice fishing season is officially over around here. Time to get the boat out.