West Battle Lake Ice

[kdotz]

Anyone fishing West Battle yet? Anyone know the ice thickness ?

[ChuckN]

The snow is pretty deep and I'm guessing the ice is pretty thin some distance from shore. The west side of the lake probably has more ice from the way the lake froze before the snowfall. I heard reports of 6" of ice in front of the Shoreline restaurant, but that's not far out.

I'm afraid it might be awhile before anyone can venture out a ways.

[BigPikeGuy]

I was out on the middle of the East end of West Battle on Monday night. About 50 yards out from shore I drilled a hole and measured 7" of ice, went about another 100 yards out and started to hear ice cracking. Drilled a hole there and measured only 2" of ice . I haven't been out since, but am planning on trying again next week. I was pretty surprised to see such a change in the ice thickness, but it just goes to show how careful ya need to be.

[Fishin_addict]

Last friday their were still spots that were open on the lake and then we got the snow now the spots look to be very slushy, The 6" infront of shoreline didn't look very good when I checked it the other day and now I see it's flooding. Its going to be a while

[tacklebox7FF]

seems to be a lot like ottertail is... 7 inches in front of graystone but off amor and east its only a couple inches...

[BigPikeGuy]

Went out again last night. I walked out about 1/2 a mile and everywhere I checked had 3-1/2" to 4" of ice. Slush was a little bad because it would cake up on my fish-house when I was dragging it out. Set up in 28 feet first and fished for an hour but didn't mark a single thing. I moved out to about 35 feet and fished for a couple of hours and marked some fish from 5 to 15 feet off the bottom but couldn't get any to bite (guessing they were crappies). I was fishing on the underwater point near the big sunken island on the east part of the lake.

I think after the cold weather this weekend a guy should be able to make it out there with a four-wheeler. If anyone has some pointers on techniques/locations it would be greatly appreciated. I generally can't get out onto the lake until after 6 in the evening because of work. Thanks!

[tacklebox7FF]

hey.. I fish the lake quite a bit in the winter... shout me your email..I'll give ya some tips...

[kdotz]

i walked out 30 yrds off south point on Saturday morning. ~3" of good ice under 4-5" of slush covered by a few inches of snow. After getting so cold on Friday night I was really surprised how bad the conditions were. didn't see a single house out there.

Hopefully conditions are better by next weekend.

[Gissert]

I drove by Ottertail today. Not much going on beyond the first break line on the west end.

What an odd start to the season.

[BigPikeGuy]

Tackle,

My email is "[email protected]". I just moved into a house on West Battle near Clitheral and will be there through next March. I've got all my gear around and am planning on going out as much as possible this winter. Thanks for the help!

[kdotz]

Hey guys, is west battle ice getting any better? any houses out there yet? I'm hoping to fish it this weekend

[Fishin_addict]

It is a little better, it's been from 5 to 8 in. where I have checked. Haven't been out past the first break though. Finding plenty of slush, and a small amount of flooding when opening holes. A guy could explore a little this weekend but check the ice constantly. Also I have not been going out of either public access so I'm not sure if this is what will be found their.

[kdotz]

Thanks! I really appreciate the info, really excited to do some fishing!