And if you're in Florida or one of the other southern states don't be a smart a$$ reponding.

I've got what appears to be 2 inches of solid clear ice on my ponds. No doubt it will be thicker next week when temps drop to near zero Farenheit.

You?

One inch max yesterday. 51 degrees and rain tomorrow.

That will change next week Tony!

Wanted to drill and measure yesterday but ended up spending the day at my inlaws... As mentioned in Hard Water thread I am on the fence of this next storm coming though but looks like we are going to get ice/rain.. Will see if I can get a measurement on my lunch today...

Just drilled and have a legit 3" out at the end of dock.. 3.5-4" around edge.. Only caused one pressure crack with a beautiful song.. . Wish this warmup and rain wasn't supposed to come through before the cold snap...

3-5" on ponds around Lincoln I fished yesterday. Cold temps coming, season is finally here!

And this just showed up on my FB new feed.. Kind of interesting... Probably a little technical for most, but not around here...

http://lakeice.squarespace.com/ice-growth/

Cool! Love that kind of stuff!

Thanks!

Now all I have to do is memorize it and I can be like this guy on Iceshanty.com!

I'm just glazed over here in Central IL. Actually with the sunshine and warm temps today I bet I have open water again this evening when I get home.

I'm hoping for a real hard freeze soon though...lots of work to do that requires walking on water.

Guys,

I feel like the Lone Ranger. Everybody looking forward to thick ice and I am nervous what will happen when I get it. This is my first year with fish in the pond so I know I am acting like a new parent with their first kid; totally paranoid. Max depth is 8 feet and most 4 to 5. I have been using the aerator (in 4 feet of water) as needed to keep an area of open water so far. Looking at 4 or 5 days coming up next week with wind and subzero temps so I don't want to run the aerator for fear of super chilling. I am going to develop substantial ice thickness. Am I worrying needlessly? Should I be following some other approach?

I need to make it thru this winter so I can increase the depth next summer.

All thoughts are appreciated!

Bill D.

Bill,

You should be fine but if it was me I'd pull the diffuser back to 3 feet if I could. You should have it at a depth of about a third of your maximum depth.

Thank you Sir! I was losing hope that someone would answer. I can't move the diffuser now. So would you continue with my approach of opening the water with the aerator when outside temps are ok? I am in the process of raising the level with the well, so depth numbers will be up by a foot all around by the time the frigid air hits.

2-3 inches average with strange holes caused by the incessant winds. Dangerous ice right now.

Bill,

I think you're fine. Just keep a hole open 24/7 and you will have no worries.

No comment.

Wise move!

Bob-O
LMBO


Pat W

Bill D did you miss that one?

I thought Bob pretty well covered it.

I was on 12 inches on some small water a month ago. The big deep lakes here are just starting to cap

It's actually cold enough that water is sitting on top of the ice but it's not melting. By tomorrow it will be all solid again when the temps take a nose dive.

Cranked up the diffusers today as I could end up with 6 inches of snow on Tuesday.

Cecil,

Are you going to run your diffusers thru the subzero weather this week? They are forecasting high of -4 and low of -14 now for my area on wednesday and the rest of the days this week at least dipping subzero. Also supposed to snow.

Bill

Bill D., you can run them intermittently. Clear ice (with no snow) will allow the sunlight thru. With a new pond, and it's low biomass, you have less chance of winterkill than a eutrophic pond.

If you get snow, run it until the hole opens and the sun can get into the water.

I will run mine continuously from now on until the ice goes out. Scott is right, that, it doesn't have to be 24/7, but my fish have such a monetary value I don't have an issue with the utility cost. I've also had ice block an airline even with a check valve, if I shut mine off. I'm guessing the warmed air from the compressor causes condensation in the air line and it freezes it shut.

Thanks guys,

I will just keep doing what I have been doing then; running intermittent. Got it running now, 4 to 5 inches of snow last night and still snowing hard. Forecast is for another 6 monday night. Good news is it is only supposed to get down to -7 tonight!

And *poof!*in one day my 3" of ice gone since temps and dewpoint jumped up to the mid 50-s before taking a nose dive.

5 degrees last time I checked. Below zero predicted for Wednesday night. It's headed your way!

Cecil, go check again. -1.1°F here now.

I know, I know, I'm too far south for it to matter, but we have a 10-15' ring of ice around the big pond this AM. Last winter we probably had 6-7 acres covered in ice, and that was a first. It hit 24 degrees this morning, and the water was 40 degrees yesterday.

2° with a real feel of -16° here this morning... My nice pretty clear ice is no longer, between the rain and then snow on top... But other than that couldn't ask for better ice making weather than today...

Probably was. My weather station is a couple feet above the roof peak which is probably a few degrees warmer than closer to the ground.

Pond wide open when I got home from work this evening. Then I walked the dog down there at 7:30PM an hour later... and half frozen already! Huge 3+" crystals forming on the far side and blowing over to the other side and congregating into solid ice. Open water steaming in the 6 degree wind, -2 degree wind chill.

Heavy snow here. I kicked in the flood lights and am sitting watching the snow fall over the pond. It doesn't get any better than this.

Bremer Pond was up to 10.5. I checked it two weeks ago after a warm period and it was down to about 6. I was out last Saturday after 4" of snow and a week cold temps, back up to 8-9. Now going to the artic tundra sub zero temperatures for a week. Should solid things up, but wondering if "drive on" ice will happen this year. Good thing for an older gentleman that the walk out to my house is less than an eighth of a mile!

There is now a fresh 5-6" if fluffy snow covering the whole pond... Hopefully the wind kicks up a little and thins in out vs getting packed down...

Stick, "an older gentleman", you talking about Dwight?

Only 3/4" of ice as of this morning. Good news is, only a dusting of snow last night so the upcoming frigid temps should begin to fortify things.

2 1/2 to 3 inches of powder this morning. Haven't checked the ice yet but at these temps even with the snow I should be making ice.

Just a skim of ice on both ponds. Drove by one down the road and it is still open out in the middle but that will change the next couple nights.

We had 4-5" Saturday - been average of 10-12 degrees since, imagine we're at 7-8" and building as we speak. This weekend should have solid 10"+. You guys are welcome to come out.

We had 4"-5" of snow. It looks like you might get whacked with 5"-6" from the lake effect. But the -30°F wind chills will be something to deal with if you are outside, especially with you not having any wind protection there.

Bill and I are coming out to disect some 14 inch perch.

Lake effect all the way over here?

I'll say this..if I don't get fishable ice soon, I may be in trouble. Yesterday I ordered another $$$ amount of tungsten jigs from yourbobbersdown.com, and today I ordered two, Jason Mitchell meatsticks just because they were on sale with free shipping. I don't even need any more rods.

Worse yet, I don't have reels for the new arrivals. I'm fearful that a weak moment tomorrow will find me scouring the web in search of a couple Black Bettys' to pair up with them.

Plus, I think the shop may NEED a new Milwaukee Fuel, 18 volt, lithium ion drill. It's sheer coincidence that they happen to be the hot ticket to mate to an ice auger....what if my perfectly good Milwaukee 14.4 volt unit craps out? The shop can't be without a drill, that might be disastrous. And those 2-3 corded drills gathering dust surely can't be relied upon during a hole-drilling emergency.

Yes, I think the shop may be operating on borrowed time by not having a backup cordless drill.

Tony I didn't tell you this, but northern tool has a an 18 volt Milwaukee 2 piece drill/driver combo on sale right now for $199 with free shipping... Not sure what model but appeared to be a good deal..

Sparky, in this kinda weather I've found that several cases of Milwaukee's best seems to help.

Not helping, Sean.

Does it include extra batteries?


Thanks Bob, I'll keep that in mind in case the Polar Vortex doesn't come through for me.

Comes with 2 batteries.. Link might be a mobile link..

http://m.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200371376_200371376

Maybe?

http://northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200371376_200371376

FWIW - A buddy of mine spent a ton of time helping us get moved into the house and doing carpentry work last fall. All for free. He had a Ryobi that was fading fast so he always grabbed my Dewalt 18V when he was here and loved the power. As a token of appreciation I got him a Dewalt XR DCD790 20V Lithium as a gift. Very light. Tons of power. IMO brushless motor is the way to go. Runs all day on one battery although it comes with 2. Now when he comes over, he snubs my "old" Dewalt unless he wants to use one for drill and one for drive!

Ain't gonna happen! He's been in the same spot for over 12 hours. Pond only has about 12" of water and 2" of that is froze, by Friday should be looking at 6-8" hard water. Still see a few LMB, BG and GC hanging around but no CC.

Gotta' admire the tenacity.

-25 WC this morning, highs of 3 today. I'd guess we'll have 10-12" by the weekend.

For my shallow depth ponds; With this kind of cold and not much snow cover, I might stop counting the inches of ice but rather count the inches of water left. A glass half full approach!

Just cleared some snow and drilled a couple of holes on my lunch hour.. Had anywhere from 4" to 6"... Most of the snow has blown to the edges with maybe an inch or two still covering the pond...

Hopefully with these temps I will pushing 6+ inches by the weekend and can get out there and clear a nice skating rink..

Gonna be 38 tonight in Bradenton and I'm not tryin to be funny. That is damn cold when ya got no heat. Supposed to get back to 81 on Sun so this is one strong, fast front.

Bob, hope you have nice thick blanets or something. How about a kerosene heater or something?

It's 64 in my kitchen right now. Up about 10 degrees since I got home about an hour ago and cranked up 2 electric heaters I bought. This FREE heat don't work so well. I think the free heat would probably just keep the pipes from freezing.

Why not snugglin up for a couple nights with the cleaning lady? There should still be some 'fire in that old furnace'.

Whoa! ROFLMAO

Well, does the cleaning lady actually like him enough to snuggle up for a few day's?

Maybe some respect is due to this fictitious cleaning lady?

School cancelled again for my sons tomorrow. Supposed to be minus 15 tomorrow morning with 20 MPH winds. Anybody in the market for frozen fish!

Sheesh! It is 4 degrees F -- with strong wind gusts and blowing snow here. It got up in the 50s last Friday and into the 60s on Saturday. We hit a high of 14 today. The ponds were almost ice free on Sunday.

Early tomorrow morning I hope to get into town with the truck and a trailer. I went in this evening in my car, and saw Christmas trees on the curbs everywhere. Tomorrow the city will send crews of chippers around to turn them into mulch. I hope to get there before the chippers.

I figure the ice is now strong enough for me to safely walk on it. So I'd like to put as many out on the ice as I can. I'll fasten concrete blocks tied to the bottoms.

I've got a big pile of big rocks from the garden that I've been saving. I plan to put piles of them on the ice too.

Stay warm.

Bill, my cleanin lady has a few wires crossed and she packs a higher caliber pistol than I do. I'm always polite around her. I'll use Cecils advice and break out my other Goodwill "comforter". Now lets get back to the weather !!!

That's what they call a one flop or no flop day. That is when you pull the fish out of the hole it either flops once and freezes or it freezes immediately.

Bob,

I always found the ones with their wires crossed were the most fun. You just didn't want to make the relationship long term or bring them home for momma to meet.

Cecil, you slash deeper than Cody or Condello.

Cecil, You scare me sometimes! Was she a big female?

I heard he mounts big females

Kinda scary

Pat W

Just wonderful! Now they say we will get hit by 3 inches of snow tomorrow afternoon. Temp is supposed to rise in the afternoon to low teens and then back below zero for the night. Should I start the aerator to blow a hole? I just shut it down yesterday when the temps went subzero.

Bill
Put about 20# tannerite out there and shoot it

That should help

Oh use hearing protection


Pat

Ditto!!!!

Man this thread went to hell! LMAO

Bill D. I would keep er running until it gets above freezing again.

It's 4:30 A.M. and my thermometer says minus 8. They are calling for three more inches and winds up to 35 mph. Sounds like a ground blizzard to me.

I grew up looking at things like this out of our kitchen window. Superior, WI/Duluth, MN harbor yesterday (1/7/2015)

2.5" this morning. Freeze baby freeze!

I'm going to check the ponds today. I'd say we're in the 5 inch range or so...should be good to walk on water and jerk some lips this weekend.

The snow will help insulate the ice and slow the ice development. I will check the ice again today. Yesterday there was 3" of ice with 2.5" of snow on top. I will try to behave and quit teasing our snow-bird buddy Bob-Oh. O my!!! If he thinks it is cold in Bradenton he should be in northern Indiana or MN then he would need three cleaning ladies all packing 'heat'. Stop it Bill.

Bob what is the status on that cleaning lady? Is she keeping you warm?

You're not fooling me. If you can afford a cleaning lady you can afford some kind of heating system. Why would you forego that over a cleaning lady?

Hmmm...

They don't call me Columbo or Munk for nothing!

Cecil
Dangit man y'all really tough on ole Bob. Maybe he counted on "heat"from the cleaning lady.... Just saying


Pat

Cecil is just tryin ta make me out as a tight wad cause everytime I buy something from him I get bent waaaay over. That's why I don't have a heater other than the 380. Cody has seen pics of my cleaning lady and endorses my choice of having her tidy things up over having some ceramic hot air blower. I'm needing another cleaning and if I get some pics of her I'll send em to Cecil and he'll get off my case.
Stay warm and remember last yr. This cold will pass and you boys can get out and catch some of your pets. That reminds me that once Bobby Knight was visiting Purdue and Jean Keaty took him to their indoor hockey rink where the team was practicing.....augering fishin holes.

Bob O

They just jealous bud!

Pat

I won't know if I'm jealous until I see the picture.

Actually there is no need to post a picture. I just like to mess with Bob 'cause he likes to mess with me.

For all we know he'll just pose with some stripper anyway.

Well now that I know I'll charge ya double!

Just scooped more snow and measure again on my lunch.. 5.5 was the thinnest I found under the fresh scooped... I was at 6.5 on most of the holes...

With only having about 20 minutes a day on my lunch I should have the whole pond cleared by June...

4" here in N. WV.

Not sure how thick it is here but the aerator has been running at 4 cfm since 6:30 this morning and still hasn't poked a hole.

White out conditions here all afternoon. Winds 20 to 25 mph with gusts to 35. Warmer though. Up to 8 F.

Along those lines Bill...Not sure who posted it on here but it was awhile ago. About the ice on their pond bulging from the air pressure after a day of the compressor running with his pond froze over tight. He proceeded to shoot the ice with a rifle and the pond literally exploded. He stated that he even got wet! If that really happened (and I believe it could) I would have paid real money to see that!

There is some ice... Under all of the snow!

Mnfish, I did that last year only I used a drill bit to get it open, and yes I got wet . My buddy reeaallly enjoyed that but it scared the livin b'jeezers outta me!

He and I were at odds on the fact he didn't have it on video!

This year I just let it run until it finally broke through.

I think I'll just wait it out. The geo heat pump is also adding 8 to 10 gpm of water under the ice. Would be really cool to see it bulge! Could be quite a show when it finally breaks out!

My ice added 1" in 24 hours and under 3" of snow it added 1/2". I thought it would have added more ice thickness with air temps of 7F to -5F. I will check again tomorrow. Hopefully I will have 5" of ice Saturday so I can do some fishing and checking water temps & DO at the beginning of full ice and snow cover. I need some temperature and DO measurements pre and post aeration for a winter aeration article that esshup and I want to write for December or January 2016 Pond Boss magazine.

Bill, please share the info you gather with us. I probably don't have any worries so soon but your and my pond are somewhat similar and I never know when Cecil is reporting accurately or just messin with me.

What part of Central Illinois? I'm 90 miles south of Danville and today is our first day of real ice, maybe an inch. The drainage ditches through farm fields had no ice at about noon today and the large gravel pits were still open water out past 100 or so feet from shore. Got down to 1 last night and up to 17 today

What'd you cut that with a cordless sawzall?

Ice status on my ponds? Don't know 'cause it's too cold out there!

The wind is howling out there and my driveway is drifted shut.

At least ya got those big females to mount and keep ya busy!

Thought about that but I expected more ice chips with a chainsaw.

I have ladies that pay me to mount their .... They really like my work too. Many come back again and again. One lady said, "I don't remember it being that big."

All true!

Note: In case someone gets offended I'm a fish taxidermist.

I hope my friend I can call on you to mount that first fish from my pond when I have my wife finally wet a line next summer.... I am hoping we can do one of those cool mounts with a chunk of drift wood and the fish in an attack mode.....Sure hope it's not a FHM!

It's a arborist saw with very fine teeth. Made to use with one hand.....not much sawdust or ice chips.

Interesting!

Me too. Hard to skin out a fathead minnow!

Hopefully, if it goes all wrong and is a FHM, it will be a big female! ...Not sure how you are going to make it look aggressive in a mount though!

Cecil will be raising them next and selling the biggest ones for people to make fiberglass molds.....

Oh great, now I need to find a FHM rod! ...and I thought trout hooks were small.

I wish my other species were as easy to produce as the fatheads!

IIRC some intelligent lady once pulled in Cecil's drive and told him she just wanted to see the "beautiful Stork" in his pond. If she had only known that at that time Cecil had a federal permit to blast that beautiful GBH and for the right price would have mounted it for her. I gotta wonder if it wasn't that same lady that "didn't remember it being so big"

3.5" off the dock in the HBG pond this morning. Made an inch in 24 hours.

FHM can be caught on hook and line. Picture below, caught in the mouth.

Tried to think of some clever line to add as a caption. Never came up with anything.

After doing some searches on the internet (back when I caught this last year) , learned there is a group of people that concentrate on micro fishing. Targeting very small varieties of fish.

Woke up to a completely covered pond again today...Grrrrr!!!





So you are going to be on it tomorrow?..

That's the plan. Reminds me, need to dig out the spud bar.

Was still at 3" last night, hoping for 4" this evening so I can get the ATV on the ice to plow off for skating. I would prefer 5", but the snow is slowing things down.

Always makes me nervous getting the ATV on the ice with me plus plow. I don't like the idea of it sitting on the bottom since I use it for maintaining my driveway too. However I am anxious to be working on my backwards skating for hockey, since I stink at it. I am being embarrassed by the ladies on the team.

Wow Bob! I've got to be careful what I tell ya! You've got a memory like an elephant. Very true story! But just to keep me legal the birds I was allowed to kill could not be mounted. They had to be destroyed.

Yeah the lady thought GBH's were "storks" and were wonderful!

Had a tad over 3 yesterday around noon....it hasn't gotten above 15 degrees since then so I'm hoping for 4 or a bit better by tomorrow AM when we break out the auger and tip-ups.

Most important thing is the rod you choose if you are going to go after FHM. I use an old Lunker Stik. I find it gives that back bone I need from a rod when horsing a big FHM out of the weeds.

Cecil, my memory isn't the only thing that I have that's like an elephants!!!!! I've got unusually large ears. They got all stretched when I was a teenager.

6" was the thinnest I measured today.. Spent several hours on the pond this afternoon scooping, playing and fishing.. Caught 15 BG in probably 30 minutes after boys got cold and went in house.. Was a good day..

Sounds good Sean. I found 3.5" of grey ice on the big pond, so stepped lightly. Very tough bite, could mark fish on the bottom but they would not rise to the bait. I did manage a few that came in 3-4' off the bottom, and those fish were willing to participate. But they were traveling and tough to pin down...especially when my movements topside were limited.

Probably hit it again tomorrow.

Broke through with the ATV this morning. Luckily I was moving at a good clip and popped back out. I was trying to plow off the 7 inches of snow we had last night and apparently the ice thinned up under the snow.

Extratopia had a thin crust of ice yesterday. I was scared. How will I feed my fish?



Good thing the other Topias and the big pond were clear and 42.3F

Not cool. You be more careful up there, hear?

Not cool for sure !! You may be a hard ask but if yer gone being a macho man, ALL yer family will have to deal with it forever.

Went out to the the trophy pond for a about an hour and half this evening. Ice is 4 inches. As cold as it's been I thought it would be thicker. I'm sure it's due to the 3 inches of snow that was on the ice, which has now partly blown off.



Here's my 2 man pop up with the top down.



Here it is with the top up. A lantern keeps it really cozy inside!



Caught and released 5 perch up to 13 inches and one bluegill that was about 9 3/4 inches. Egg development isn't very significant yet with the perch, which is par for the course in my pond.





If I didn't know better I'd swear this one is a male. I did add about 20 yellow perch late spring and went by the urogential orifices. Really looked textbook. May have been a mistake! I had another 80 that put in another pond as they didn't look textbook.



Here's the bluegill. I had the flash on with this one which washed it out. Not this light at all.

All 4 of your YP were I think noticeably more plump than the 14"er posted a week ago by TJ.

I think you're right. They look bigger on the web than in person though.

You don't think that last one looks like a male?

Fabulous fish Cecil! Three to three and a half inches down here today. Sketchy too. Fish tight to the bottom, reluctant to rise. Managed a few anyway.

Tell me about it! A couple of the perch I caught by dropping the jig right on the bottom and pulling it up!

Comparison of TJ's fish that I thought was a female but the eggs are not very developed yet. However Bill Cody believes it's a male.



The fish I posted that should be all females. Last one does not look like a female to me.

We played on the pond most of the afternoon again today... Wife and oldest skated for a couple hours while the youngest and I scooped and fished.. Cut twenty 7-8 fish and through back probably 5 that were pushing 9+ and several dinks..

Youngest with his 1st ice catch..

Awesome!

Here's an example of how far along the ovary development is on yellow perch in natural lakes in my area. This was just posted on the Iceshanty.com. My perch are never this developed this early in the season. Either it's the strain (mine are a Lake Erie strain) or it has something to do with the natural food supply. My pellet fed fish may not be as well fed in the winter as natural lake fish.



Here is ovary development with my fish before they drop their eggs. As you can see they do catch up. May be since they are back on pellets by this time and getting the nutrition they need?

Got 3 inches of snow last night. Some wet spots appearing. Even an open hole on the east side. Hope the pond adds another couple of inches with the next arctic surge. With 4 or 5 inches of snow on the ponds i'm not sure it will.

How about you?

We got hit with 3-4 inches of snow last night too... It is a heavy snow that will be a lot harder to scoop... (Oh my back) It has an area of the pond pushing water to the top of the ice also around where I was fishing and the dock... Should be making ice again tonight and rest of week... Supposed to be above freezing after Friday so if I don't get it cleared before then the ice skating might be done for the year...

You can always pump water up on the ice from the pond to melt the snow. I knew a guy that did that keep his pond from winter killing.

Won't that cause an airspace between water and ice? If so won't that be prone to breaking? We don't get ice down here so scuse the dumb question


Pat W

No. If anything it will push down the ice from the weight of the water but the water will refreeze if it's cold enough.



It could cause some cracking but again it will refreeze if it's cold enough.

Ice took a beating over the last 24 hours. Gonna cool off for the next couple days, may try fishing again on Wed.

I've got 6 to 8 inches of ice. Next two night's forecast is for below zero again. Hole the aerator can make in the ice has shrunk from 60 feet or so diameter early in the season to 30 or so now. Supposed to warm up to the 20s and 30s later this week. Just my luck, my fish are still too small to go ice fishing!

Be patient grasshoppa.

But Master....I want to fish now!

Then you use uberlight pole and reel grasshoppa and pursue fatheads for practice.

Snatch the fathead Grass Hoppa!

I will hit the tackle shop this afternoon to see if they have any FHM hooks left!

You might have to shop on-line. I doubt they have size 30 hooks.....

http://microfishing.com/tackle/

Biggest problem I've had with the size 30 hooks in the past is getting that 20 lb braided line thru the eye so I can tie them on!

From past experience, I know you need at least 20 lb line to horse a big FHM thru the hole in the ice!

Even with some snow cove the pond had to be making some more ice... Radio said ambient temperature reach -23° last night... I was still -8° on the Jeep thermometer on the way to work at 7:30..

Think I am going to borrow an ATV with a plow from a guy I work with to do some serious clearing...

Up to 7-8 inches! Can finally plow without taking my life.

I plowed over half the pond last night... The ATV I borrowed had the skid shoes welded so I could adjust them so the blade would sit flush on the ice.. I still removed a ton of snow that was causing the ice to sink and push water up.. Calling for 42° here on Saturday.. Hoping the ice is solid enough to survive a couple of days above freezing..

That's not warm enough to do much to your ice thickness. I don't think the thaw will last more than a day anyway.

Well, I couldn't get to plowing amongst all of my other obligations, so now I have a snow, slush, ice sandwich. I tested a hole and water squirted up at me until I stomped some snow into the hole. So much for skating this year. Darned scouts, job, church, sports, birthdays...

How about pumping some water on the ice to completely melt the snow?

Don't need to now. Checked this morning and my plugs didn't take. Now gaping dangerous hole where water came up.

You don't think it will refreeze? It's still fairly early in winter.

I'm hoping I can still get on early tomorrow morning. We barely got to 4", and now the warmer temps the past couple days have loosened things up. That's life at the southern edge of the ice belt....some years my season consists of 3-4 days.

Don't do it man. Not worth the risk. The fish will be there in the spring.

Just have another cup of coffee in the morning instead!

Your welcome to come up here anytime you want Tony. Hey maybe I could get Scott to join us for a day. Wish it was closer for you.

Thanks Cecil, very generous offer. If I lose my ice and suffer withdraw I may be in touch!

My neighbor is taking his daughter ice fishing on my pond tomorrow for her birthday. Hopefully I'll have a report as to how they did.

Should be plenty of yellow perch!

Can we get some pic's please? The way you guys grow YP is down right impressive. Cecils perch aren't perch. They are striped black and yellow footballs!

I'll try and get some pics tomorrow. Might just take the day off and fish all day.

Throw out the anchor. It's supposed to be windy! The wind is already kicking up here. Gusts to 30 are predicted.

Gotta watch it dropping trees today!!

My Genz two man fish trap will keep me out of the wind. I keep it tied to a pier post if necessary.

The neighbor said I had 6" of ice on my pond.

Did you lose your ice? My small pond is still covered but a lot of water on top of the ice in places. Went over to the large pond this afternoon and there is a ring of open water about 10 feet out from the bank everywhere but the south side.

Two boys, 13 and 17, drowned today after breaking through while ice fishing on an old quarry lake, about 12 miles north of me.

If there are any other southern Indiana ice anglers here on the forum, please watch your step guys. My ice is junk...open water in a lot of areas, after 4.5" of decent ice yesterday morning. Too warm, for too long.

My thoughts go out to the families of those boys.

So sorry to hear that. I'll bet they didn't know they could have rolled out on their backs. I did it once and it's amazing how simple it is but 100 percent effective.

If anyone needs a link on how it's done I can try and find it.

Still a good 4 to 5 inches of solid ice on my pond and it's tightening back up again tonight under clear skies. Amazing what a difference 100 miles north makes.

Same ice thickness here on my pond Cecil. Snow cover on the ground went from 5" to 2.5" in the past 2 days.

I fired up the aerator and it poked a hole through the ice in an hour, and opened up the ice at the rate of about a foot diameter per hour. This morning I have a hole that is about 15' across.

News
Division of Law Enforcement

Indiana Department of Natural Resources
402 W. Washington St.
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2748

For immediate release: January 18, 2015

Update:

Both juveniles have been pronounced dead at I.U. Health Bloomington Hospital. Clark "Edward" Shoemaker, 17, of Spencer and Dominic Arthur, 13, of Coal City. Autopsies are scheduled for Monday, January 19th at Terre Haute Regional Hospital.

Divers recover two juveniles after fall through ice (Owen County)

Spencer, Ind. – Indiana Conservation Officer divers recovered two juveniles this afternoon who had fallen through the ice of a rural rock quarry north of Spencer, Indiana.

At approximately 1328 hours Owen County Sheriff’s Dispatch received a 911 call in reference to two juveniles who had fallen through the ice.

First Responders arrived and navigated steep rocky terrain to reach the waters edge. Indiana Conservation Officer Divers located the two juveniles within minutes of entering the water. They had been submerged for approximately an hour and a half in 11 feet of water. Both victims were taken to I.U. Health Bloomington Hospital and their condition is unknown at this time.

The pair had been ice fishing with family members at the rock quarry near the 2400 block of Romona Road in rural Owen County. The ice was measured at less than three inches thick.

Responding agencies include Indiana Conservation Officers, Owen County Sheriff’s Department, Owen Valley Fire, Owen County Rescue, Owen County EMS and Air Evac.

Indiana Conservation Officers note that the warming temperatures had contributed to the deterioration of the ice. Always verify the thickness of the ice before venturing out on it.

I had two water striders either in or next to my ice hole last night. I've never seen that before. Also had one of the perch passed a snail albeit not the ramshorn species.

Ice has been taking a beating the last several day with temps in the 40's.. The extended isn't looking good either..

I was surprised to measure 5 3/4 inches of solid ice today.

Hard to believe but I am getting tired of catching up to 20 perch every evening up to 14 1/2 inches. I'm shooting for a 10 inch plus bluegill for a customer to complete an order, and can't get one to save my soul. Well actually that's not true. I did get an undersize one the other night and one that was plenty big but screwed up fins.


It appears the yellow perch are more aggressive! When they move in the Vex becomes solid red about a foot to 2 feet off the bottom!

Can't get a bite until a half hour before dark and then it's almost nonstop from then until a couple of hours after dark. The lantern on the ice seems to draw them in.

On another note I was sure I screwed up and the following fish was a male. (Pond is supposed to be all fast growing females) Turns out it was a female but the eggs were not very developed yet.

She did taste good rolled in flour, dipped in egg, and then Italian bred crumbs. Wow!

Both pictures are the same fish.





The above fish was about 11 inches and is a year and 8 months old. It spent most of it's life in indoor tanks, mine in the basement and one of three high school tanks I set up. Perhaps it's the young age and/or the indoor tanks played havoc on photoperiod response -- even though it was in the pond this fall? Or it has not been as adaptive on natural feed in the pond and is not as well fed as it could have been for egg development? It was eating invertebrates judging by its digestive tract contents.

My aerator has opened up a hole that is about 30' in diameter, and all the way to shore. I'll shut if off until the hole freezes back over and we get snow on the ice.

Mines about the same, but I keep mine running after I shut one off on another pond last year and the air line froze shut. I do have smaller less power hungry compressors for winter though.

Cecil,

You mentioned an air line freezing. I was told that can happen if the check valve at the diffuser fails/leaks. Is that what happened to yours? I was also told that runing intermittent is hard on the check valves. Ever had one fail?

Bill,

All my diffusers have check valves at the diffuser, unless they are a membrane diffuser, and many times I put one there too. As you remember last year was really really cold, and I think when it was shut off the warm air condensed in the airline and it froze up.

My winter compressors are so small and use so little power I just keep them running.

We have now hit ice so thick I cannot drill through it with an 8 inch long wood bit. The first 4 inches are the refrozen junk, below that is the solid stuff. Interestingly no cracks in the surface due to the junk full of air vs. Last year's black ice with gaping maws that ate ice skates. So while the ice is soft and digs up easily while skating, it doesn't eat your skate.

Todd,

Thank for posting that but for some reason pushing out on your back works better than the prone position, at least it did for me! I know that from personal experience! LOL

Love the graphics. Reminds me of the ol' "This happened to me," page in Outdoor Life years ago. Anybody else remember that?

I have had a good solid just under 6 inches of solid ice for sometime even with highs and lows hovering just above to just below freezing. Had some water on the ice the other day but it's refrozen.

If you can, kick off your boots. Even tho Cecil was only half successful at this I think it must have helped.

That was the first thing I would read when I got my new magazine! Brings back a lot of memories how I first got my love of everything outdoors.

Ditto!

Measured yesterday and had 8" total with 5" of clear down on bottom and 3" of white bubble filled snow ice.. Going to attempt to flood and get an area for skating again.. Limited to just a garden hose because my well output pipe is probably frozen in ice..

I have no hope still. 10" of snow on top of 3" of slush on top of unknown ice thickness. Bone chilling -30F wind chills and more snow expected.

No idea how the slush is not freezing in this weather. Weird dynamic for sure.

My fish seem to have backed off on biting. Instead of fishing in the deepest water I'm thinkin of setting up in shallow enough water where I can sight fish. I've always found sight fishing pretty fun.

I find sight fishing hard on my blood pressure!

I like the clip with the beard, gotta hurt tho.

My truck has literally been frozen to the ground while parked by my camper. Jump in, fire it up, put it in reverse, no-go. WT?, put everything in neutral then pop 4H and try again, still no joy. Go to 4L creeper and ended up with frozen mud shoes on my tires. I had to chip that stuff off before I hit the road, but didn't get it all, and it let me know that.

Potentially could get close to that cold tomorrow, but I'm on pavement this time

Exciting isn't it?

Ahhh supposed to hit 70 tomorrow.... Come on down


Pat

Yep! Anytime you suddenly realize you haven't taken a breath in who knows how long, you're having a good time.

I'll be there Wednesday.

esshup, please leave that cold weather up there
Tracy

I plan on it. They are talking -30 windchill later on today with a high of 4 tomorrow. That wouldn't do your gardens any good!!

No ice

Off and on snow here. Wind around 30 MPH. Forecast is for minus 10 tonight with sustained high winds. Wind Chill Warning in effect until tomorrow.

My windows are closed and the vertical blinds in the LR are blowing all over the place. Tad bit of a leak ya might say

Two 1500 watt heaters going, and my feet are cold.

Burrr.. It's just nasty outside. Yep, it's February in Michigan!

White out conditions here now even with the sun peeking out now and then between the snow showers. Winds supposed to be up to 45 mph.

Scott I'll bet you're getting more snow though. Right?

We are getting hammered right now. The current snow on the ground is like ice, and the new snow is just blowing so easily over it. About 6" new stuff this morning and wind is picking up with white-outs almost at a steady pace. Probably be some really big drifts later. Not good.

Temp is 9 F. right now. Windchill -15 F. My ice shanty although the tether rope is looped over a pier post, it's upside down. I'm stalling going out there. Just hope it's not damaged!

Couple of our interstates have been closed down here.

Nothing but serious north wind and cold here.. Ran the hose and walked the pond for over an hour yesterday trying to take down the high spots of melted snow ice.. Talk about making the ice sing.. Way to windy to even try and flood today, would have white caps on the existing ice..

Yep, it's a tad cold out.

I hope that damn rodent didn't see his shadow a couple weeks ago. I know it was sunny here and saw mine, so hoping he has really bad eyesight.

I noticed my windshield washer fluid is only good to 20 below. Is it going to shoot ice cubes at my windshield?

I sure hope the Dodge Boys didn't skimp on my anti freeze when they changed all the fluids a couple months ago

My feet are still cold. Where are my electric socks?

We are officially in a Blizzard - strictly due to lake effect snow. Roads are closed to all but emergency vehicles, no snow plows out. Driving today, I was really, really glad that I knew the road because there were times that I couldn't see past the hood of the truck. When visibility got better I still couldn't see more than one electric pole at a time. I had to pass one before the next one came into view. With the winds, the snow really isn't sticking, but we still have about 6" new snow on the ground. I can shovel, and 10 minutes later there's 1/2" on the ground.

There were a lot of things that I needed to get done today away from the house and they had to be put on hold because of the weather.

Young man you are grounded!

What was so important you had to be out in that?

Beer run?

I guess it sucks being you at this time. It was a tad nasty earlier with the wind and all, but that's settling out. Just cracked my LR window open about 1/4 inch, and it's getting cold in here. Need the oxygen rich fresh air here tho. Feet are getting warm with one of the 1500W heaters, but may need to put on a flannel shirt soon, but feet are warm.

Pond ice here is probably as great as it could ever be. It has been very cold for the last couple of months. Then we got a week of really warm weather and some rain. The top of the ice was flooded with water that froze. Presently, it is 11 F degrees, on its way down -5 F tonight. Plus, we are currently having 45-60 mph winds.

I don't own any ice skates these days. Worst of all, the "Green Hornet" says it is too cold to go fishing.

Yes, this is silly old me:



However, as some of us get a little older, things can get agitated in this cold weather, even between good friends:

You folks are cost me a lot of money...every time I read all the new post about your blizzards and -5 F temps, I reach over and bump the thermostat up a little more. We've dodged most of the nasty stuff this year but it is Kansas and that could change any day now.

It only got to -10F this morning. Fairly sunny skies now.

Pulled the shanty in this morning. No damaged fabric but one of the aluminum poles was bent, and when I went to straighten the pole it broke. Fortunately it's on the bottom skirt which isn't involved in support, and I can easily temporarily repair it until I can order a replacement section.

I saw the forecast for high winds but had my Friday mixed up with Saturday (that happens when you work at home and you work every day.) For some reason, I was thinking Friday was Saturday since the wife took off Friday. And since the winds did not materialize on what I thought was Saturday, I figured it wasn't going to happen! Woke up Saturday and things were rocking and rolling!

Ice ranges from 0 to 14 inches. O in the circulator area which is 0-3% of the pond area depending on the day and air temperature. Air temperatures this week are forecast -6 to 30F so ice will be building.

Sheesh. -30F windchill and -6F this morning. Still have slush under the snow!

Maybe the Koi problem will solve itself at this rate. No sun down there for several weeks now apart from the few short days I managed to get it plowed. No snow drought here!

It's amazing how well that snow insulates!

Indeed. It's the same principle as your triple pane windows. Provide a quiescent airspace. Either air or argon are pretty low conductivity. You can get a good gradient across them when it's natural convection (no forced flow). The snow buildup is mostly air.

For sure. When my dad did winter training in the White Mountains of New Hampshire I believe they stayed under the snow part of the time as survival training.

Work. Since I'll be gone for a while, some things just had to be done.

Just messin' with cha!

Some pictures of the road on from Saturday, and what the trailer looks the first night of the trip to the PB conference.

What road? All I see is some fence posts and line poles indicating a road is probably there.

Not a fun drive I bet.

Gosh darn it Scott! That does not look the least bit enjoyable!

We are anywhere from 12-16" on all ponds. Very little snow cover and below zero temps...I believe we are still making ice. yuck, yuck, and more yuck!

I was not able to see my pond at times and it's 250 feet from the house!

About normal, and you should be use to it.

Now, if it was like that in Texas, I suspect you may be one of the few getting around

We've got 3 inches + of ice and 7 inches of snow on top...not a great combination. Especially when I'm not home for a few more days.

No ice



It's getting nippy though, had to wear a jacket yesterday.

Slush FINALLY froze. It only took three straight days of barely getting out of the single digits during the day to finally do it.

Gallop, it's supposed to be the coldest day of the winter around Tampa. But of course, my son and his family are down from In where I understand it's quite comfortable. -4 last night.

Bob,

Is your cleaning lady still keeping you warm?

White out conditions again today with drifting. Not much snow coming down but it doesn't have to with 30 mph winds.

Drove home in a classic "dumper". Left with light snow, about 1/10". Got home to 6" an hour later. Had the wipers on so I could try to make out the snow piles on the side of the road. OMG that was awful. Spring, where art though?

Hang in there man! I think the way this weather pattern has set up it is going to be a very late spring this year. I will be happy with open water by April 15. Sure hope I am wrong!

The Lake Ontario Snowbelt!

Nah, regular old squall line on a front. Ontario is on its way now. Hopefully it will fizzle before it gets here, but if it stays together... probably a few more inches.

I'm seeing green grass and buds on trees here in Texas!! I had to go about 30 miles West of Texarkana before the temp climbed above 32 degrees.

-3 this morning in Ligonier. 2 hour school delay and many schools closed in lower Michigan.

May get another snow event this weekend.

-10 with windchill -30. Schools closed again. Boys are thrilled!

-11 right now. School has been cancelled every day this week thus far.

-19 with windchill.

You should making ice on the ponds right?

Had 1.25" of grey ice Tues. evening, with 2-3" of snow on top of that. Would imagine there would be close to 3" now, but that snow may hurt things. Not supposed to get above freezing all next week, so perhaps I will get another chance.

-4 in town and the windchill was -23 and they didn't even do a 2 hr delay at school. Said it would be no better with a delay and they'd rather have all the kids in a warm school.

Should definitely be growing ice throughout IN.

Just got done blowing out my drive for the second time today and the neighbors.

Meteorologists are having trouble coming up with the specifics of this weekend's storm. They say it's a complex pattern. Hmmm...

Ice at 14 inches today.

First year for me watching a pond thru the winter. For those folks that may have never seen thick ice on a pond with aeration, the water level where the aerator sits is in the bottom of a big ice bowl with sides sloping up to the actual pond level. The bowl just keeps getting deeper and the aerator hole just keeps getting smaller as the ice thickens even more. Probably have a good 16 inches now.

Dwight,
You need some of our snow.

Bill, if that's what it looks like then I think you are loosing water from your pond.............

-7 F. here right now. Probably -10 on the ground as my weather station is on the roof about 30 feet off the ground. Local weather station says -10 F. (-23.3 Celcius).

I hope your dad is down in Florida.

Yes, although I think there is a freeze advisory in Tampa this morning.

-25 here....actual temp that is.

I suspect you are correct. It is a water table pond.

Ouch!

How cold is it?

It was so cold when I fell out of bed my pajamas shattered!

My back three ponds did that at first but no longer do that.

-13 here this morning. Luckily the wind isn't bad.

Are those ponds water table ponds??

Think I'll kick the well in for a couple of days, that will add about 100K gallons, and see what happens.

Update: Well has been running for 24 hours. Around 50K gallons added to the pond. Ice bowl shape is filled with water and water is coming out of the aerator hole and spreading on top of the ice.

Bill
How are you getting O2 to the well water under the ice?

My well water discharge pipe directs the water entering across the bubble stream from the aerator. The diffuser is located to keep open water over the discharge pipe as well.

I have no understanding of those temps.

Getting upwards of 45 days with snow pack on the ice that I cannot remove to let sun in. No hope of getting my plow to the pond to do anything about it. Hope the fish will make it! it looks like at least another 10 days likely more of below normal temperatures. Long range forecast shows another foot of snow or more at the end of this week.
This is getting hard for even a die hard upstate New Yorker. We cannot even take a walk around the property due to snow depth, and the deer are starting to show evidence of starving. They are jumping fencing and prying themselves between the house and the yew bushes to eat them.
Come on spring!

11" was the thinnest I measured this afternoon and we are still making ice... Boys skated this afternoon even though it was 15° with a real feel of 0°..

Should have drilled a couple of holes and fished but had other irons in the fire...

It really isn't that bad. How does that saying go, -- it's a "dry" cold --

We are driving on Bremerpond until further notice.

Tested the ice yesterday in hopes of clearing off some to get O2 in the pond... in order from top down...
4 inches of old granular snow
2 inches of loose frozen slush
1 inch water
2 inches of frozen slush
4 inches of water or more.
Indefinite amounts of hard ice! Probably only a few inches

Needless to say I near pooped myself when drilling and layer 1 broke through to layer three. amazed at this after all of the cold weather I assumed solid, but just too much snow.

The fish will just have to suffer down in the dark.

Minus 17 this morning. My thermometer only goes to minus 20. Thankfully, no wind.

Dang, Bill....that's quite colder than what we are used too down south. I worked in Western Siberia up near the Arctic circle back in the mid-90 's and saw some really cold weather. But, can't fathom that extreme weather on a regular basis.

Was the area you worked in where there is no day light part of the year and no darkness part of the year? I always thought it would be cool just to experience that.

Well in June, it never would get dark (nighttime), it would get dusk then daylight again...in January, it would get daylight around 9:00 a.m. and get dark about 3:30 p.m. That made for some pretty long nights up there at -38° with nothing to do in the evenings.

I even got a chance to experience the Aurora Borealis (northern lights).

That would be so cool! (Pun intended! )

16 inches on March 7. Supposed to be warming up so that is probably about the max for this season.

First day above freezing here since I don't even remember when. Up to 43 today! Have some water on top of the pond ice from the melting snow. Forecast is for 57 next wednesday!!!!

Really need some rain or good snow melt runoff. Water table has dropped 2 to 3 feet over the winter.

Still under a couple feet of snow, but it's starting to melt.

I'll be glad when this winter passes. Just not fun anymore.

Ya think the guy upstairs could take a hint that 2 days of winter is enough for anyone

That reminds me. I'll be writing congress to ban all left turns in Michigan.

The worst possible combination you can come up with is winter and left turns. Have to also make all 2 way stops into 4 way. People seem to know how to get thru those.

OK Star Trek, when is that transporter hitting the streets?

Officially was ice free this morning..

The melt is on and most of the snow is gone. Perimeter started to open up, so maybe another week? Have snow forecast for Saturday, but it's been pretty sunny.

63F yesterday and darn near turned the A/C on when I got home

I wonder what will be floating, or visibly dead when it opens up? Last year was mostly LMB, a few GSFx???, snapper and a pretty large CC.

I have about of foot of crummy layer-cake to go. Edges where water runs in are melted with a lot of dead leopard frogs. A couple of live ones though...

Looks like we will get a re-freeze this week. Sooooo sick of this winter.

The last of the ice on one pond finally melted mid-day today. The other pond cleared yesterday morning. But is supposed to go down to the low 20s tonight, with snow forecast for Thursday evening and Friday.

Still have one big ice cube being pushed around by the wind. I am hoping the next 2 or 3 days in the 50's will take care of that. Took a Bill C. tip and dropped a couple 20 foot twiggy saplings in the North side of the pond today (trunks on bank) to get a little extra habitat for the YP spawn (Hopefully!)

Hey Bill, have you seen any perch ribbons? I've looked on some saplings I have laying in the water but nothing yet. I do have some brush underwater they may have spawned on. The frogs sure start early. My front pond has no fish yet buy thousands of tadpoles already. None Bullfrog that I can see.

I think my water is too cold still. Think it needs to come up to at least 45 so should be soon. Hoping by early April. I stocked my YP last fall at 5 to 7 inches so, hopefully, they will spawn.

Must have been quite a bit of water loss through the ground under the pond or via the banks over the winter as the ice level was quite a bit below the banks. Lots of melted water on top of a very thin layer of ice. Lots of holes through the thin ice. I must have had at least 12" maybe more. Still is thick ice in the middle but edges almost through. I'm surprised I don't have any critters coming up through the holes in the ice.

These holes earlier in the season had that jagged star look to them, I wonder if I had warm bubbles of decaying organics coming up through? I'm not aware of any springs in the pond.

I was going to speed up the clearance of ice with my aerator as I'm worried my dog may fall through and not be able to get out. He isn't so bright when it comes to knowing what ice he can walk on and which he can't. But then I figured if I give him open water in the middle and scary ice up to that point that he'll just be tempted to go to the middle. Hopefully he will stay on the edges!

Ice is gone and only found one dead fish, the fresh water drum we dropped in late last summer. Tons of small FHM in the shallows following the sunniest shore of the pond. I think my shallow little pond may have just made it thru the winter!

Congrats Bill. It's always a relief to see life in the pond after the ice leaves. The ditches along our lane have a lot of small frog egg masses that I assume are from the peepers. Think I'll scoop up some tomorrow and put them in the front pond with no fish to give them a chance. The ditches only have about 4 inches of water and will dry up in a few days without rain. Bluegill are feeding good in the bigger pond and also saw a few perch. The SMB always slam the minnows when they come out of hiding in the FA to nibble on the pellets.

I ice skated this morning on a good foot of ice. It was fun and depressing at the same time.

Poppy,

If last year is indicative, I get toadpoles first. Pond will be black with a foot wide band of half inch toadpoles in the shallows. Frog tadpoles showed up later last year.

LS,

What's yer forecast like?

I drilled 5 holes in the ice to measure the exact depth to place some porcupine crib structure I made as per the Pennsylvania fish and game specs. 18" and frozen solid to the shore line.

Ice is usually gone by April 1st but this year I don't know. Today is the first day of spring and we had 5" of fresh snow.

Pa,

Wish I could say I feel sorry fer ya but, isn't Pennsylvania where Punxsutawney Phil hangsout? This whole mess is his fault. My advice, .17 HMR till you find a ground hog that gets it right!

Just joking man. Hang in there!

Currently under a lake effect snow advisory for 3 to 6 inches tonight. Yea. Going a little nuts now. it hit 40 yesterday, heat wave! All it did was ruin the ice surface.

Only good news is light is getting through, hopefully some O2 down there with all the runoff making it into the pond.

No letup of the cold in the 10 day forecast either apart from a quick warm up and heavy rain and the a drop back into the dumper.

Ice is totally gone, as well as most of the snow on the ground.

I'm gonna walk around the pond and check for dead fish. Last year they didn't show up for a couple of day's tho.

A bunch of ducks out there now.

Finally gone today. Seems kind of late...

Winter Weather Advisory in effect - Snow, and for 2 days.

EDIT: They were totally wrong!