Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations How's your Winter?

Those Trout look really nice! Good Job!!!

Ken, with the ice, can you even get a vehicle up and out of your driveway??

The UTV has a good set for chains, and I have the cargo bed loaded with about 400 lbs., of concrete, blocks, and big rocks. It does great, even pushing several inches of snow up the steep part of my driveway.

I forget what they are called, but I took four sets of old tractor trailer chains and turned them into a set of two chains for the tractor. I have cross link chains every four links that are then joined like an "X" in the middle so they can't easily slip between the bars on my tractor's industrial tires. The rear tires are also filled with a special beet juice that is as about as heavy as salt brine, but a lot less corrosive. I think it is called RimGard. So, it goes pretty well in the snow and ice.

I took the photos above while sitting in my UTV. It was too slippery to get out and walk around. We are back down to about 16 after a brief afternoon thaw. Probably no school for the kids again tomorrow.

I ready for it to be over. Was suppose to fly to Newark on Monday, got cancelled and flew out on Tuesday Morning. Woke up yesterday morning in the Basking Ridge Courtyard Marriott only to find 6" of snow and a coating of ice on the rental car (Ford Expedition 4WD). Have to clean it off in the rain while wearing suit and tie. It add insult to injury my flight back to Chicago was cancelled and I still stuck here in Jersey. This can get over now.

Suppose to snow goose hunt next weekend back home but with the weather for the next week I don't see the snows coming back any time soon.

Maybe I should sharpen the blades on the ice auger and finally go ice fishing on the pond.

Buy stock in mail box companies before it's too late

I just saw a whole group of them that got wiped out by a county snow plow

Yeah, there are mangled mail boxes all over the place!

The 2 in front of my place got hammered yesterday. Mine will be bungee corded to a horse until the snow melts. Mail lady said to build up the snow a little bit more and just stick it in the snow pile.

Bill Cody cleaned up one of my photos. What'd think?

I'll have to look into that.

The last picture is a UFO landing.

Here is how cold it was at Kent Narrows which is the Chesapeake Bay and salt water.

The Bridge



The marina



The only boat at the marina



^ I certainly ain't no outboard motor mechanic, but those lower units are in trouble.

That's a lot of money to leave in the ice and get damaged! Maybe the owner doesn't live in the area and realize they are frozen in?

Just got another 4 inches to add to the latest 10 inches on top of the 10 inches that was already on the ground. And it's still snowing up to an inch an hour. Even with diffusers and some open waters in both my trout pond and big pond I'm getting worried!

Going to blow snow off the trout pond again once the snow lets up today and will do so for the first time on the big pond.

I'll post pics today.

I haven't seen this much snow since my days as a kid experiencing back to back nor'easters in Massachusetts.

And of course there's the cold too. Even the ice fisherman are complaining!

Not complaining or whining myself, just reporting. Like Mark Twain once said, "Everybody complains about the weather but no one does a damn thing about it!"

I'll post pics later on today.

Its so cold here they usually start stocking the trout ponds the first week of Feb. Cant do it, all the ponds are iced over.

And my fillet knife is sharp and my trout rods are ready.

I heard the guy was out there the next day chipping away at the ice.

Look at the bright side; the trout will be bigger once the do plant them! Unless they back off on the feed or the containment tanks or raceways are colder than normal, trout can add an inch and a half per month in length and some significant weight depending on where they are length-wise.

I would be!

Maybe the marina called the poor guy and told him we are frozen in and you are the only boat out there.

Snowing down here again also. Slept in this morning, but headed out in a few to see how my ice has fared. Haven't checked on it since two snows ago!

Hoping to get on and do some fishing this morning.

I need to get out there with the snow blower but I'm procrastinating. A 400 foot driveway and two ponds! It is up to a balmy 14 and no much wind -- yet.

Snow is such a nasty 4 letter word! We got dumped on pretty good this year and it's still coming down.

Not very many places to pile the stuff up anymore. The handicapped parking out front... well there is no handicapped parking. That's where they piled the snow!

Come to think of it, I have not seen or heard a peep out of the two handicapped people that live below for a couple months now.

We should be in the +30°F for highs in another week or so.

It's slowly coming to an end.

Yep, getting sick of it myself and winter is my favorite season.. I have so much snow on top of the ice is is pushing water up around the edges and slushing the surface on warmer days.. Rink is about done and my back is killing me..

Snow where my pond used to be..

That picture looks a lot like it does here! Still stalling on going out with the snowblower!

Our church cancelled services this morning because nobody could plow the several inches of ice out of the parking lot.

We finally got out of our kitchen door yesterday afternoon after I took the digging bar out to break up the ice, which was over 2 inches thick in places. "Safe" ice melter and rock salt were useless. The pieces just made little holes in the ice. I thought about buying a long-reach air scraper from Northern Tool or Harbor Freight. But, the ones they sell say they need 10 CFM at 90 PSI. My portable compressor is only rated at 5 CFM at 90 PSI! Ain't no way I'm moving the non-portable compressor out of the workshop.

It has been snowing big flakes for about the last 45 minutes. I guess we can expect another couple hours of this. I'm actually glad it is happening. The snow banks were getting pretty ugly with the mud and gravel starting to take over the color and texture.

The areas I didn't plow have about a solid inch of ice on top of the snow. I opened the chicken yard gate yesterday, but the chickens and guineas went back inside the coop after trying to navigate the ice.

I haven't even gone close to the ponds. It is just too much work tromping through the ice-covered snow, and I don't really want to take the UTV or tractor to the ponds, only to find that I need to use several come-alongs to get the equipment back to its normal parking home.

I can't wait till its all gone!!!

I fished most of today and just got in a short time ago. And while I love to ice fish, I told my wife that I think I'm ready for it to go away. I'll still be sad to see it go, but while I may hit it again this week I'm just tired of dealing with everything else the cold has brought with it this year, just for some safe ice.

I can't pick up equipment, and I have a waiting list that's growing larger every day...too much snow everywhere to get it brought in. And, it's time to start making syrup, at least by the calendar anyway. But it's been too cold for the sap to run. By the time it starts flowing, I may be too busy in the shop to be able to take off during the week and boil it down. That's the problem with a long, cold winter in my line of work. When the weather finally breaks, folks will be chomping at the bit to get going on spring.

It's either feast or famine.

It just sucks. I had enough of this now. The thaw can come any day. I can deal with the cold but freeze up my septic and I had enough.