Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Ice on ponds still hanging in there

It's March here and the ice is still hanging on in the ponds. Of course I wouldn't walk on it.

How about you?

I don't know if there's any ice left, but there's about 2 ft. of snow on the pond.

There is ice holding your snow up.

Were in a mini deep freeze today. This past February was the second snowiest on record. About 39". 2008 was about 43", then you have to go back to 1900 and there was 33". All in all, were about a foot over normal snow fall for the year.

getting thicker

Almost two feet here, no warming trends in sight.

No sign of it melting except for about 4" around the edges. Not turning dark grey yet either.

Gone about a week ago.

Our pond has been iced over with 2-3 ft of snow since 12/1

Winters don't get much worse than this year - still socked in - It'll be a while before any ice is gone here.

Will be free of ice in the morning!!!!

Scott was over tonight and can verify it. His pond is still covered and he is only a stones throw away.

I have a lot of water that moves through the pond this time of year. Maybe I'll try feeding this weekend

And yes Scott....We should have used some accelerant!

That's the difference between torching grass on the ground and cattails in water. Next time the pyrotechnic show will be a good one.

Still 100% ice covered tonight. One lone goose on the pond, Kate ran out to check out the decoy and didn't pay any attention to the live goose.

Biggest .62 acre pond is 60 percent ice free.





Other 1/10 acre pond 50 percent ice free.



Really opening up with a mild couple of days with thunderstorms and then it got cold and got an inch of snow!
I look for some possible skim ice freezes and thaws still but the thicker ice is over.

Here's an intense winter algae bloom I get in my bluegill production pond every winter from just winter snow and rain. The ponds are drained down just before winter. I'm going to pump this into my perch production pond for a phytoplankton start for the yellow perch fry.

I am willing my pond to thaw. I went out yesterday and this morning and began breaking up the ice against the shoreline and throwing the chunks onto the bank and out into the middle.

While I suspect I'm all but wasting my time, I can't help but FEEL that I'm bringing myself just a bit closer to fishing by doing so.

As a result of my impatience, I have now successfully "swam" in my pond 3x's in the past 24 hours. The quantity of full outfits needing to be washed is growing at an alarming rate... but I can't help myself!

No ice means it's tilapia stocking time!

The word accelerant ALWAYS perks me up!...lol

Wow. I just went out to the pond. I've been on it for the past two days, trying to break up the ice along the shoreline. Though it's still 5-6" thick along the shore, it instantly breaks free if I try to put weight on it.

Can't wait!

After a calm night and a low of 20 F. the ponds have completely iced over again about plate glass thickness. Oh well T-storms tomorrow night so it won't last.

I need to do some fishing soon and prefer open water as I have order for three large bluegills for the World Taxidermy Show. Big bucks for the big ones!

23 inches, up an inch from last week.

My ice is melting from the top down. The decoy that marks the aerator was completely frozen in, with just the top if it's head peeking thru the ice. Now the whole duck is sitting on top of the ice. It's pulled away from shore a few feet, when Kate tried to run out on the ice she broke thru, but was able to get up on the ice once she hit the white, thicker ice. I wouldn't chance walking on it, but it's still hanging in there.

Pond came up <2" with the 1 5/8" of rain/snow that we had a few days ago.

Dandelions are blooming in my yard.

We sure could use some moisture of any kind.

Ice free as of yesterday evening. I caught and released about 10 yellow perch from about 11 to 12 1/2 inches and three bluegills from 8 to just under 9 inches. It was fairly mild at about 50 F. and my pier that goes all the way across the pond makes reaching any place on the biggest pond a cinch.

I need to catch three or four bluegills around 10 inches and over a pound. I know they're in there.

What are you catching your fish on?

Something called "butterworms" which seem to be a larger version of what we call "beemoths" here. I've never seen them before but I've been out of the loop as far as buying fishing bait for some time.

The fish are about a foot off the bottom in the deepest water or in the vicinity of what were thick sago pond weed when the water was warmer. I use my favorite rig which consists of a slip bobber.

I haven't fished yet, but my GSH have been hitting pellets even tho water temps are in the low 40s. Not a crazy feeding, but they are rising. I am amazed they are feeding in that cold water.

We have 50's for several days, I may head out this weekend and try the slip bobber approach ala Cecil. I do have pretty crazy blooms going right now - visability went from 6-8' to 24" in a matter of 2-3 days right after ice out.