With the help of my neighbor's snowblower, I made time this weekend to clear the pond of the remnants of our last two major snowstorms. With a snowfall of over 2 feet from these storms, I was very surprised to find that the snowload on the pond only amounted to 3-4 inches. Once cleared, I augered a number of holes to check ice thickness. Total thickness was 11 inches with the top 7-8 being, what I've heard referred to as, snow ice. Although it appeared stable in structure, it had the consistency of a flaky pie crust. The remaining 3-4 inches of ice was clear.
With clear ice being the optimum for light penetration, I'm curious to know what effect "snow ice" has on light penetration?
Lastly, for those interested, we did get in some fishing time. My neighbor took the honors today landing a 14" smallmouth....twice! Once on land and the second time in the frying pan.
Russ
