I went back out again this am fished from 830am till about 11am..Got skunked fished 18fow and was clearest ive ever seen erie i could see zebra muscles on the bottom that clear didnt see 1 fish swim by..Most of the shanties were pry with a couple hundered yds at the most of open water. We stayed about 400yds or so away from open water and had 5.5" of ice, ice is solid but its still only 5.5" not sure how much they had where all the shanties were but i did see some nice hogs being thrown on the ice one real big one as we were leaving at 11am. Fished almost straight out from brest bay marina. I wouldnt take a quad or sled although some do. But as for walkn out to 16-18fow you should be ok unless this west wind picks up ur more likely to be blown off on a chunk of ice rather than go through..Im pry gonna hit the bay fri sat n sun if youd like to shoot me a email i can help you out. Your best bet if your gonna travel that far out is to follow someone elses tracks and also heard nite bite has been lot better with the clear water. Hope that helps