I was out onmy pond today and I checked on the open holes that I mentioned on Friday Dec 16th. After two nights of single digit temps the holes are frozen over with thick ice. Once the snow got all water soaked, the forces or pressures equalized between weight of the snow on the ice and the flotation force. THEN the water quit moving out through the hole. After all the snow got water soaked, it froze a layer of cloudy ice 1.5" thick. I now have 5.5" of firm uniform ice across the pond.
I drilled several holes at various spots late this afternoon and watched perch feed on the soft, rolled, pellets that I was droppng into the hole. I had y. perch feeding up within 12" of the hole in the ice.
