Today was an experience that I will always remember. While I did not take any sunrise or sunset photos, I was happy to experience the current ice conditions and took lots of photos to help remember the experience I had.
After hitting the snooze button multiple times and eventually changing my alarm for later in the morning, I found myself slowly crawling out of bed so that I could go fishing. Enthusiasm was not in the cards at first, because I was unsure of the ice conditions I would soon face.
My adventure started as soon as I stepped outside with my ice fishing gear. The air was cold, fresh and it was finally feeling like winter outside. As I loaded my gear into my truck, I heard a song bird in the distance. From my past experiences, song birds usually mean spring is just around the corner. Their return to the neighborhood is welcomed as the outside temperature warms up and my brain starts switching to the upcoming open water season.
I was impressed with the morning temperature of minus thirteen degrees and hopeful that the ice would be good for fishing. Thawing my front windshield took a few minutes, so I had the luxury of using my ice scraper to clear the side windows of my truck. It felt strange to scrape ice off my windows, because the abnormal temperatures have not allowed my scraper to see any ice time over the last couple weeks.
I enjoyed a hot cup of coffee under a blue sky as I drove to the fishing grounds. I started wondering if there would be anyone at the lake fishing as I drove along snow ridden countryside. As I drove slowly down the road toward the lake, I was surprised to see a group of tents fishing close together on the point closest to the deepest section of the lake. Judging by the dry ground on the sides of the road, I started thinking about installing wheels on my ice sled for next time (if there is a next time this year). When I arrived at the usual fishing grounds, I was surprised to see no one there. Where did everyone park?
I inspected the lake from the boat launch and was unsure of the ice at first. Those who have fished with me know that my imagination keeps me on edge at times thinking about what could happen. My trip to the lake today was more focused on shooting some footage to help others learn about the features I use on my Garmin Striker 4, so I was not in a rush to get on the ice right away. As I unloaded my gear, I prepared my ice picks and ice cleats. To me, early season ice and late season ice is still a fairly new experience. I feel there is still a lot to learn before my comfort level is at a “normal” and manageable level. Educating myself will definitely be my top priority and slowly gaining experience on thin ice (thinner than I am comfortable with) will be my second priority.
While loading up my sled, another angler arrived who I met on the ice last year. It was great to see a familiar face. With our sleds loaded up (but not too much) we cautiously walked onto the ice. I drilled a test hole and we had four and a half inches of ice, maybe five. We proceeded with caution drilling a few more test holes and it seemed the average thickness was about five inches.
As I walked on the ice, my brain kept playing tricks on me. The clear ice seemed broken or cracked in spots, but continued to hold my weight. The patterns in the ice were like nothing I had ever seen before. Was I walking on safe ice? I kept asking myself if I was pushing myself too far. After all, I never found or purchased a floater suit like I wanted to this winter. What if I fell in? What would I do? How would I react?
The ice thickness hovered around five inches the whole way out. Some places read six inches and others four. I almost felt like I was in a different world. The bubbles in the clear ice, the cracking patterns and the quiet lake had me feeling like I was experiencing something I saw in a movie. When I arrived at the location I would open my tent, I slowly anchored my first corner of the tent because of the northern wind that was pushing in. As I screwed each anchor into the ice, I could not stop my imagination from running wild. With each turn, the ice around the anchor popped and cracked. At one point the ice below me popped from the anchor and I mentally braced myself. Inside my tent, I drilled two holes; one for my transducer and one for my fishing line. I noticed right away the ice thickness difference between the two holes was considerably different. I found it interesting and this reinforced the fact that there could potentially be thin spots on the lake around me.
As I started filming content for my YouTube channel, the sun started rising in the sky and the heat of the sun started warming up the inside of my tent. Unfortunately, the sun also started warming up the ice around me. The sounds I started hearing were like no other sounds I’ve heard before when ice fishing. I believe the top portions of the ice were popping and separating in spots. The popping sounded similar to a dry ice cube popping out of an ice cube tray straight out of the freezer. Then, the cracking started. I like the sound of cracking, but I do not care for the vibration it brings as it cracks close to your feet. With every crack close by, I found myself bracing myself and my imagination. Then, I started hearing the most unusual sound I’ve heard while ice fishing. At first, it sounded like water bubbling out of holes. I looked around outside, but could not see anything. As the sun rose in the sky and the heat from the sun became more intense, so did the bubbling water. It almost sounded like lava bubbling in a volcano (as seen on tv). I couldn’t pin point where it was happening. My curiosity and willingness to learn had me looking around while I enjoyed fishing through a hole as I was not marking any fish on the finder. Time would eventually have me conclude that the bubbling sound was ice and water cracking and bubbling at the shoreline as the ice started separating from shore. What a cool experience!
I would eventually move a couple times from thirty feet to ten feet, then back out to fifteen feet. I was questioning where the fish could be and I was questioning exactly how little I know about ice fishing. Luckily, I still have lots of time to learn. Not too long ago, one of the boys asked me a question. It was a question that I could not answer at the time and now want to learn more about. How does ice form?
I recently did some reading on water temperatures and what happens to colder water. I need to confirm, but if I remember right, the colder water (not sure what temperature) is more dense than the warmer water. Eventually this colder water sinks to the bottom and the warmer water rises to the top. A lake experiences turn over and develops a thermocline during this time. The oxygen poor cold water supports less life as the water cools. Then, after it reaches three degrees it starts to rise and eventually freezes. While I believe this is what I read, I would like to revisit this topic again. Do you know how ice forms? What starts and stops the process?
I’d liked to say that today was my last day on the ice, but I’m not so sure yet. The song birds were everywhere and singing happily in the sun as I packed up to leave. Could this mean that spring is around the corner? If the weather continues to get colder, I might just have to sneak back out to the lake to learn some more. On the flip side, if the weather warms up and melts the ice away, I might have to get my boat in the water and do some early season kokanee fishing on open water. Either way, I’ll be waiting and ready.
Here’s the video from this trip. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel Fougere Family Adventures to learn more about fishing.