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Ice Question for Kelly P


InTheSchool

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What is happening with that ice sheet? Saturday night in that cold an 8" crack opened up along the east side and cut Westwind's and Red Lake Adventures roads. Out in the middle a pressure ridge came up tha was spectacular to see from a distance. And then yesterday a buddy of mine got flooded out after fishing by himself for three hours (8-10 inches of water surrounded his wheelhouse and truck). You boys are going to earn your money this winter!!

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It's interesting out there isn't it? crazy We have to remember that we may be in January but the ice sheet is like mid December. Until we get to about 18 inches of good ice everything will be moving around. That crack went all the way north into about 5 feet of water along the north shore and then turned west. I hope that I'm wrong but I have concerns that it could turn into a pressure ridge as it runs North/South and then swings around the lake to East/West. Hillman's long straight road bank usually worked as an expansion joint for north/south movement but we do not have that this year. Buddy has pushed his road out to about 2 3/4 miles now but I do not know if that will be enough to take the expansion pressure off the ice sheet when it warms up a little. All in all I'm playing it pretty carefull yet so we don't get caught on the wrong side of a new pressure ridge.

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There is plenty of safe ice closer to home and there are fish to be caught under it. It looks like if anyone wants to see the far reaches of the lake they had better bring a sled!

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Out in the middle a pressure ridge came up that was spectacular to see from a distance.

I'm wondering if that could have been a mirage. Cracks open up when it is cold and the ice is contracting while pressure ridges form when the ice is warming up and expanding. I can not see any ridges out there on a clear day. I wish there was so we would know where it is going to be.

This ice sheet is a little strange to me. Tonight while I was scouting the water started sloshing up and down in the holes like someone was driving up. Nobody was driving close to me and looking around in the glass's the only vehicle I could see within 2 miles was parked by a fishhouse. confused The water sloshed for about 30 minutes. Must have been seals under the ice. grin

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Hippogators, yup it was most likely Hippogators under the ice. confused Back in the “70’s” and “80’s” when ever a wife was calling around looking for her husband sometime between suppertime and sunup his friends would always tell her that the Hippogators got him. The Hippogators got big. Hippopotamus head on one end and an Alligator head on the other end with no “rear end” so they got really big. If a person was drinking beer or whiskey and around either URL or the Tamarac River the Hippogators would come out of the water and grab him. At times it took guys days to escape from them and go back home. grin

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Hippogators??? hmmm.. might have to have my buddy tell my girlfriend that one

From experience let me tell you,,,,she'll still chew on you for a while. grin

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • SkunkedAgain
      Hogs! Hogs!!!
    • MarkB
      My 2 cousins and myself just finished up a windy 4 day trip to our favorite lake. It was the last of the year and was eventful to say the least. When we arrived, water temperatures were 61 degrees and when we left yesterday morning the water temps had dropped to 54 degrees. The fishing was fantastic, once again, and we caught walleyes, bass, and northerns on minnows and crawlers(northerns only on minnows). We found the fish adjacent to shallow rock piles(14') in 20'-28' of water. Our best fishing hours of the day were ~5:30 -twilight in the evenings and until ~ 10:30 in the mornings. Although those two time periods were prime time, fish bit all day. For us, the bite was very light and we probably missed or lost as many fish as we caught. Some people think I'm nuts when I say bead color can make a difference and it certainly did this trip. My cousin's "go to" green/white bead combo did zilch on this trip. It was one translucent red bead and a plain size #2 gamakatsu hook with a 3' leader that produced the fish. We ended up with 137 walleyes and 19 bass for the 4 day outing. We caught far more 17"-19.999" walleyes on this trip than on our previous trips and our numerous slot fish measured from 21"-25". My younger cousin caught 4 slot fish in ~20 minutes one evening. We fish exclusively for walleyes and additional species are incidental. With that said, we caught some beautiful smallmouth bass on this trip and they were right down there with the walleyes, usually in the rocks. As usual, everything is catch and release except for the fish we eat while there and the 12 walleyes(3 individual limits) we take home to the wives. While cleaning some eaters we kept for supper, we always check the stomach contents. One of the walleyes had the jig that is pictured below loose in its stomach!  No attached line, no embedded hook, just the jig! It baffled us as to how in the world it could have gotten there . As you can see, the jig is in good shape so the fish must have swallowed it recently .   The boat traffic was minimal this trip and we had a couple days where it looked as if we had the lake to ourselves. Sunday was a brutal day with wind gusts to 50MPH!. We stayed in and ventured out finally at ~5:00. It turned out to be the best 2 hours of the entire trip. This time, the baby loons were around, the eagles were abundant, the changing leaves made the entire lake area look like a painting. If I could make only one short trip a year to the lake, now would be the time. What capped off the trip was the magnificent display of the Northern Lights. We can't wait for next spring to return, God willing, and, in the meantime, good fishing.  MarkB🙂 The jig found in the stomach of a walleye we ate.   My young cousin with his best of the trip.   a chunky 17" smallmouth   19.5" smallmouth
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    • Brianf.
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    • leech~~
      The price and the label.  It's that same exact gas.  
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      I don't use gas anymore, what's the difference between them?
    • Fish Head
      Great to hear from you again Mark! I've always liked your posts over the years. 
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      Yep, it's just you know and I know every dad who takes his kids or family camping for the first time.  Is buying the camping gas no matter the cost, cuz it says "Camping" on it! 🤭🤭
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