Today there was a few fishermen out and the reports when they came in were mixed, but overall I would say slow.

The good news is we got across the pressure ridge and marked the roads to the gravel bars.  and tomorrow we will be putting our biggest bridge out and crossing it.  I will not let anyone across it until I see it there and all is good.  So don’t expect to show up tomorrow morning and go.  I will let you know tomorrow evening. I’ve seen alot of things out there over the years and I’m glad we are finally getting out there.  But something inside is telling me maybe this isn’t necessarily the best thing to do.  Or I’m just getting a little more cautious at my age with the changing of this business.  It used to be one thing to let a car or truck cross on a bridge, but these days with wheelhouses and trucks wanting to cross it is a large increase in weight at one time.  Figure a 3/4 ton truck at 6 to 7 thousand pounds and a wheelhouse that could weigh up to 5 thousand lbs.  That could be up to 12 thousand pounds on bridge that weighs 7 to 8 thousand pounds on 20-24″ of ice….over 20 plus feet of water…  something to think about.

What water out there has soaked into the ice a little and the rest is freezing a little at night so it looks like things will get going the right way over the next week. No promises for houses going across it yet for the weekend as I want to see what happens with the ice ridge/crack as it gets colder, but we will take it day by day for now. But we will let vehicles across it when it gets set.

Keep a Tight Line!!    Eddy

Today was a pretty quiet day on the ice.  We had rentals customers out but not many others.  The bite was ok, but nothing to spectacular compared to what people were used to over the last 2-3 weeks.  Perch activity was ok but not many Jumbo’s, (12″ or over is what I call a Jumbo.)  lots of 9″ though.  give them a couple more years…  One angler took pictures of a huge muskie cruising under the ice under his hole..  pretty big fish..

The ice will start to heal up and harden this week with it slowly turning colder, but it will take a couple days.  Hopefully we won’t get much snow on it before it does.  A lot of resorts dealing with the pressure ridge are doing the smart thing and letting things freeze this week in hopes of getting back to it by the weekend.  It was a good thing this warm did not continue or there really would have been some problems.   It pays to check with the resort you go to and not listen to the hype. Everyone on this lake has different conditions to deal with.. it’s a big lake..

Keep a tight Line!!    Eddy

Yesterday I ran the office so I could see what the results were from the fishermen over the weekend. Not something I normally do as my place is usually on the ice in a truck and Cindy would rather not see me in the office as I always seem to screw something up….    🙂

Reports from fishermen that were there for the weekend was Friday day,Friday eve and Saturday morning most had the best action and Saturday eve was mostly quiet until Early Sunday morning.  Most everyone caught some Walleye and Perch.  The Northern were active south of Spider Island in the basin.  I seen pictures of 8  Walleyes from 28 to 30″  all were released except for three from what I heard.  And numerous reports of fishermen C/R 8 to 15 Walleye during their stay. The bigger Perch finally starting going better in the shallow basins and seen numerous catches of 10″ Perch.  Best action by far was in 12-22 feet of water and with the cloudy weather fish were active during the day also.

The warm weather took it’s toll on the snow and ice with the water on it from melting. I am glad  I decided to stay on the inside of the pressure ridge and not put the bridge out.  With the fog every evening and morning it would have been taking a chance we didn’t need to take.  By yesterday afternoon the water was starting to go down in most areas, and it really softened up the ice.  Fishermen  that went north of the Graveyard in deep water on the clear black ice told me the ice was so soft the augers cut like butter.  And that ice is normally the hardest ice  when cold.  (Not a good sign)  We should be thankful there is colder weather coming soon.  Until it does we are not letting 3/4 – 1ton trucks with tandem wheelhouses out.  I’m sure by the weekend it will be fine, but for now it’s not.  I’m hoping later in the week to get our bridge across the pressure ridge, but I’m going to wait until I see colder weather.

All in all it was a good weekend despite the weather.

Keep a Tight Line!    Eddy