The Ice Man Commeth!

[trappernorth]

Finally a "skiff" of solid water.... Maybe there is hope for some hard-water fishing yet this year!
http://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/mod...e.143.250m.jpg

I've been watching the satellite images for a few days now. Looks a bit soft yet but promising for at least a couple weeks anyway. The weather isn't looking to bad either. Looking forward to another great time on the the ice if it will be granted to us who enjoy the hard water season for the marble eyes.

[West Basin]

I haven't received any detailed reports from locals, but all the webcams show the Lake with either solid but not very thick plates or jumbled fields of broke up ice pieces. Plus the open water spots and the entire area east of Kelleys, the Central Basin, open water. The warm up later this week will have a detrimental impact. At this point I doubt there will be any significant ice fishing in January. If there is any it would probably be very close to shore around South Bass or Kelleys, maybe Put-In-Bay harbor. There was an iceboat on Put-in-Bay harbor yesterday, enjoying the wind and zipping back and forth across the Bay, so that ice is thick and stable enough for that. Maybe they will start some ice fishing for a few days until the warm up.