Ice Fishing this season?

[West Basin]

Thought I'd start a little ice fishing conversation.

Lake water temperature off Toledo is 37 degrees (Wednesday, January 10). That means it has to drop five degrees to get to freezing temp. 39 off Cleveland.

Even with this forecast real cold spell coming, starting this Saturday and going through all of next week (daytime highs in the low 20's / upper teens, nights in the single digits), I don't think it's going to be enough to get any significant ice on the main Lake by the 20-21 weekend. However, just looked at the Port Clinton Janauary forecast and the real cold is forecast to continue, with only a few days into the upper 20's. If that holds, we may get good enough ice (barring lots of wind) by the January 27-28 weekend. If the cold continues into February, by the first weekend in February we could have good ice fishing.

Rare for water temp to be so high a third of the way through January. Wondering if that might be too warm to cool down to freezing and allow for good ice formation by the January 27/28 weekend.

Thoughts?

[fisherman 2]

hard to say what the long range forecast will be to make good ice...if anything there may be locked in ice at put-n-bay for a short time...crane creek, catawba doubtfull but could get a short window at end of feb mostly for experienced locals.

[itsbob]

Hard to predict safe ice for fishing this far out.But to get that ice you need artic cold spells like the one we are going to get starting this weekend.I have only ice fished twice with a guide out of Put in Bay,so I'm no expert when it comes to ice fishing.I do know the first safe ice forms off s bass,green and rattlesnake.The ice off the Catawba ramp takes longer.Will see what the weather is like through end of January and early February for making ice.Think I have heard some ice fisherman say there is no such thing as "safe ice".Hope you ice fisherman do get out this winter though.

[West Basin]

"Artic Blast" starts tomorrow night and runs through next Sunday. Then it warms up the 22 through the 26. Then back into real cold again for the rest of the month, into early February. That four day warmer weather might be enough to stall ice formation and it won't be good enough for the January 27/28 weekend. Right now it looks like February 3/4 could be the first weekend of ice fishing. We;ll see.

I'm no expert either, but I do know that in order to get good ice, no matter where on the Lake, the water temperature has to be down at 34-33 degrees and then get several days of real cold temperatures and little to no wind. Get the first inch or two of ice formed in calm conditions. Best then to get at least a few more days of real cold with little to no wind to get a nice "locked in" 4-6 inches. Then continued cold to get 8"+ of ice to be able to withstand winds and a few days of warm weather. Even though the three week forecast is real good for ice formation, I don't hold out a lot of hope for February, as the cycle of warm and cold weather will probably start up again.

As for "safe ice", it's kinda like saying "there is no safe highway". If the conditions are good and you go to well scouted areas, there is little to no wind in the forecast, and no high water coming in from the rivers, it can be as "safe" as possible. But it's never entirely safe, just like a highway.

We shall see how the ice forms over the next two / three weeks.

[West Basin]

Well the Arctic Blast has done a number on the Lake so far. Water levels are way down in the Western Basin and ice is forming in nearshore areas protected from the wind. Western Basin lake info (NOAA) stations have stopped posting water temperatures, so I assume that means it's ice at those stations. Cleveland station says water temp is 39.2, down from 42 a few days ago, which is a big change in a short time for the deeper Central Basin.

The real high winds are obviously cooling the water much faster. If they lay down at some point during the remaining arctic temps this week, we could see ice formation near shore. We'll see what happens the rest of the coming week.

[Lynn M]

From the Catawba webcam I am seeing quite a few guys getting out to the west of Catawba. Wonder how much ice is there and how they are doing? Haven't noticed anyone around the islands yet from Perry's webcam.

[West Basin]

Ice fishing has begun!

Have a buddy going over to South Bass Island tomorrow to ice fish. He said 7 inches of ice. Web cams show shanties in the usual place off the North side of South Bass about a third of the way to Rattlesnake Island. Web cams also show shanties off northwest side of Catawaba Island, but those cameras are offline for individual viewing. Can only assume that picture is from late this morning.

I'll get a report from him tomorrow afternoon / evening.

[West Basin]

Buddy fished yesterday afternoon / evening out off South Bass Island, North side. He didn't say much, other than he didn't catch anything. He's back at it today, so I'll give a report after he gets in.

[itsbob]

Read that 21 people rescued off Catawba today from a detached ice flow.

[West Basin]

Buddy fishing out north of South Bass Island today, with a guide (Tuesday, January 23). Has a few walleye. Seven inches of ice. Will see when he comes in what they say about how long they will continue fishing. I would suspect today or tomorrow would be it until conditions improve, or if they do.