Webbsat,

Not sure if I'm going to head over today, if I do it won't be until later. If I do I'll post a report, if not I'll look forward to hearing yours. I have the same thoughts, leave the sleds unless......

Be Safe

Snow & Ice Weekend "Bucket List"
 

Hi fellow posters. Hockeypuck feels the need to head north from CT for a busy day at the lake. I'm trying to hit a quadruple, weather permitting, on Saturday Feb.9th. I guess it's kinda like the "Bucket List".

(1) Ice Fishing Derby - Just as a spectator, but you just got to love that winter carnival atmosphere.

(2) Dog Sled races - Never been to one before.

(3) Car Ice Races on Berry Pond - Never been here either, so I need some help here. I saw on their web site that they were postponed from Late January but to when???

(4) Wine'ing Butcher - Stock up on steak tips. This may be the real reason for the 450 mile round trip !!!

I would like to do this all in one day, so any advice or help would be appreciated.

Carry a big stick
 

If you are walking... carry a big stick... this is used to poke the slush, snow, etc in front of you before you step. You never know what lies ahead. If you fall in, the stick can be used across the hole onto the ice to give something to hold onto. Also do not walk to close to the people you are with. I am pretty sure the ice is solid... but one never knows where there will be a weak spot. The sleet covering can mask a lot of trecherous ice.

Good luck and Be Careful Out There!!

IG

Thanks IG,

We are sitting here deciding now, we will take all of the advice and be careful.

Another Day
 

Having been out there in all kinds of conditions... I would not go today. The problem is how difficult it is to walk in slush and the lack of others out there for a rescue.

The great late Island Guy and I walked to the broadside of Rattlesnake several years ago. We left from Rattlesnake landing going around the northern side. There was plenty of ice and packed powder to walk on. It took us 2.5 hours... in perfect conditions.

If you don't have slush, you have very slippery ice... you need spikes for your boots... there are lots of brands that slip over the shoe.

Here are some pictures of our trip back then.. I never did upload the first ones... but you will get the idea.

Pray for Snow for next weekend..
IG

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo....php?cat=15005

IG

I will take the advice, hope for snow and go next weekend. Thanks for the persistence to overcome my desire to be on the island.

Webbsatwinni:

That is probably a wise choice. Congratulations on your restraint! I almost said in my earlier post that if Island Girl is staying put you should too. However, I refrained. There is something to be said for experience and she clearly has some. Maybe next weekend will be more accommodating. Stay safe.

And my wife is happier, we have someone to watch the kids and we are going to dinner instead.

Everybody wins

Ice in the Broads
 

Went out to Rattlesnake yesterday and came back today via snowmobiles.
Major warning out there, actually broke through on the northern end of Rattlesnake, luckily moving fast enough to get out, lots of new pressure ridges today, the ice at the ridges are only a few inches thick, chopped a hole in the ice in front of the camp, only 5 inches thick (Broad side)
If you plan to walk out around the northern end to get to the Broad side of Rattlesnake, have your affairs in order, you'll never make it.
If you want to get to the interior of the island, the ice on the west side, (opposite Broad side), is about 7 inches, you can enter there and walk over the island, stay off the Broad's side and between Diamond and Rattlesnake!!!
With the warmer weather coming this week, I'm afraid to say that many unfortunate souls may break through during next weeks fishing derby. Was going to make a big event at the camp next week but I'm going to call this one off.
Be careful out there!

P & MA,

Thanks for the update, we wish it was different, but better safe than sorry. Glad to hear you are safe and that your snowmobile did not suffer the same demise as the Explorer in Gilford.

when will the 2008 ice out contest begin

Ice Out
 

Read todays article In the Concord Monitors sunday news

:D

I don't get the Monitor and I can't find it online. I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for. What is the article you're referring to about?

concord monitor
 

It was an article about the Ice out contest.for 2008

:D

Looking for ice cond. near Bear Island
 

I am very interested in using the ice to get to Bear Island with my scouts on the weekend of the 23rd. Are there direct reports of ice around the Mail Dock?

I had a report last week from Dave Hamblet at Y landing)that the ice was safe between y-landing browns and bear. Someone else reported they went from cattle landing to bear no problem. However, you will not be able to reach the mail dock. Ice eaters keep the shore line open till almost across from Browns on the West side. You have to go down about 10 houses then there is an area where there are no permanent docks and you can access the island. You also can not get on the ice at Browns or Y for the same reason. In the past we got on at the gray house on the point south of y-landing, but those people moved up year round now and I do not know if they are allowing access. You may also be able to get on at the barge landing north of the public lot at Browns. That is if Mason Marine did not leave their barge there this winter. Good luck and be safe! I'm going to make the trip over next week for the weekend at the cottage in the winter.

Hiking over to Bear Island
 

You can probably get on the ice at Browns where the Mason Barge ties up. If you call Brown's, I'm sure Sue will be able to tell you. It was available last year. Even if the barge is there, youll be able to get around it on sleds or on foot. With Scouts, I'm assuming you're on foot. Between Bear and Pine, just be wary of the ice closer to Pine Island. It's probably fine, but that's always a late area for locking in. An ATV went through the ice around there some years back.

Some years ago now, I used to hike across the the carry on Bear -- the narrow pinch point between the two halves of the island. You'll come out in the cove just south of Camp Nokomis. Could be a good test for your scouts with a map to see if they can find it! Again, depending on where you're going, that could save you time.

Also, depending on where you are heading on Bear (like towards Camp Lawrence), Cattle Landing may be a better entry point. There too, so long as your mindful of the aggressive use of ice eaters along there -- wouldn't want those electric bills -- it was safe through there two weeks ago with 10 inches of ice. I'm heading over tomorrow by sled and probably from Browns so I'll send you a private message if there are any challenges to getting on the ice there.

Glad to hear Scouts are getting out there! I'm the Scoutmaster of a Troop down in Mass. The first weekend in March I'm bringing a dozen of my Scouts over to Mink for some ice fishing.

With what looks to be different weather conditions compared to what was predicted last week, does anyone have a rattlesnake ice safety update?

Thursday Ice Report
 

Friends were on the ice today. Feb 7, 2008:

Conditions on the ice are very poor. There is several inches of standing water at the bottom of the marina's boat ramp. We went out to the peninsula and gunned it to avoid bogging down. We went about 50 mph out of the cove and conditions out on the main lake were just as bad as in the cove. We have about 6 " - 8" of new snow on top of about 3" - 4" of pure slush. The machines bogged down very badly. We started to go down to Alton Bay but we turned around and came back because the machines were straining so badly in the slush. We brought them home and put them back on the trailer. Very disappointing.

Honestly, it doesn't look at all good for riding around Meredith Bay. Even if we towed the machines to Meredith, the conditions there would be just as bad as they are here.
So, that's the bad, but honest, news.

Temps for the next 36 hours... 25 - 32 degs. And with the 8" layer of insulating snow on top of the slush, it's not going to freeze solid anytime soon. Bummer!!

Thanks Island Girl,

I'm still going to find a way to get out on to the ice at Meredith, as I believe it's where the NH F&G stocks the majority of tagged trout in the lake. Like I mentioned earlier, if we can't drive on, by the Rotary trailer, it'll be the 3rd year in a row that vehicles could not access at Meredith. That really sucks when you don't have a sled, and the bones are growing older.........

I may call my contact at the F&G today, to see if they actually stocked Meredith this year. If I find out anything, I'll come back to post it.

Good luck everyone, lets keep it safe tomorrow.

In another thread someone mentioned that the ramp in Merideth is only open from about 5pm to 8 am Saturday and Sunday.There will be no access during the other daylight hours.

Rainbow update
 

I just called the NH F&G. All of the Winni locations were stocked with tagged rainbows late last fall. They went into 4 areas: Alton, Wolfboro, Center Harbor, and Meredith. Because of it's size, Wnni got the majority of tagged fish.

Tagged rainbows were also stocked in Little Squam, Squam Mascoma, Massabesic, Ossipee, Wentworth, and Winnisquam. Bow Lake used to be stocked but they stopped it a couple years ago, when the water was drawn down so much. Hey, there could still be some monsters left in there. The tags don't have to be from this year :-)

I like the idea of 6 tilts at some of the "other" lakes, but your fishing for fewer tagged fish. Oh, one other thing, don't bring any bass, salmon, or browns to the scales. It'll probably cost you, especially for the salmon!!!!

Good luck !

Today???
 

So IG, did we go today?? Is it any different then conditions were last week? You must be chomping at the bit to set up the new camera.

BT

Ugh!!!
 

My sources told me to stay home... too much slush... I am very anxious to restart Snake Eyes.

I have to take one of my modems home here so I can set up and test the new camera. I have to exercise much patience. Mother Nature is just not cooperating.. I wonder how the derby is going.

IG

Day 1 was a major mess at Alton Bay and Wolfeboro. I didn't get up to Meredith. Very few trucks could get out on the ice, and I saw a bunch of them were stuck. 4 wheelers did a little better, sleds seemed the way to go. I ended up fishing just north of Wolfeboro, parking on the side of the road, and hiking our stuff out on to the ice. We could see our tilts from the truck, so we could go back to get warm.

All that rain you got earlier last week was still sitting on top of the main ice. Then you had about 6-7 inch's of snow over the past couple days, hiding the water :( Every step we took went right down to the water on the main ice, and the footprints quickly filled with water. We only got 1 flag, my buddy had a nice salmon on, but it got off, just as we were going to cut the line. I got zip !!!!

I was talking to a guy whose nephew drove a 4 wheeler to close to a dock (in some fog) that had an ice eater, last night. They went through, and one guy was still in the hospital today, from exposure. Then on the way home, we heard that a sled went in on Ossipee. Those were just two incidents, I'm sure there were more, and will be more, before the weekend ends.

I imagine the winners will be happy, but personally I would have rather seen the derby postponed until the ice is safer. Rotary puts out a message not to drive on the ice, but there is NO PLACE to park all of the pick-ups that had planned on driving on!!! I really hate to bitch because Rotary does so much for the community, but I think these were the worst conditions I've every seen for the derby, and I've been to a bunch of them!!!

IFish, you are right the derby should have considered a postponement. In recent years ice formation and safety for these dates has been a problem. Maybe next year, they should look at another date for the derby. I know they like the current dates, because it's kind of a dead week in the area except for the dog sled races. No super bowl or Presidents days, or school vacations to contend with. Another problem I have encountered is with the motels. You need to book way in advance to get a room and their cancellation policies (many 7 days or more) make it difficult to cancel your reservation without losing your deposit. So you end up coming up to fish in conditions like this weekend. Some will say it's not worth it. This year I chose not make reservations and play the weather game, as you might guess, I stayed home this year. On a normal derby weekend I would spend around $700 for motel, food, gas etc and maybe more it the wife goes shopping. We usually come with three other couples so you do the math.

Hey Hockeypuck,

This is exactlly what I'm talking about. The poor ice conditions, for several years in a row, are going to take a toll on the derby entries in the future. Older guys like me, are finding it too much of a hassle. Then you have the younger kids, the future of our sport. It certainly wasn't much fun for them. It was more work, than fun, just getting and staying on the ice. Are they going to want to go next year, or will they opt to sit in front of the computer, playing games? :eek:

I certainly don't have all the answers, I'm just trying to open up some discussion about moving the date. I wrote to Rotary before the derby began, and write to them again this coming week. If they don't hear from us, they might just think that everything is good to go!!!!

C'mon derby entrants, lets hear some of your stories, both good and bad!!

Yesterday, Saturday afternoon, I counted eight large pickup trucks spread all across Center Harbor bay, as seen from the hardware store parking lot. The bay looked a lot like a campground with bobhouses, camper-trailers, trucks, snowmos & atvs coming & going, and more trucks lined up to use the launching ramp. No one from the town was there to collect its' ten dollar, launch fee.

So far, have not seen even a single car or pickup truck out by buoy 3, just atvs, snowmos, and hikers.

Listening to the gasoline augers, it takes just 20 seconds to make a new hole. My $15, garage sale, hand-powered auger does it in about one minute, plus it's always easy to start, and just a little quieter.

An automatic fish tip-up jigger that runs on two d cells and a 104 degree hot tub, perched six feet up the embankment, is definately the way-to-go for me & this ice fisherman's best friend, Sam Adams! Definately, the country's best president!

Fatlazyless, thanks for the update. You're living the good life.

"Slush Report" and View from the Broads
 

Hi All,
I am passing along the "slush" report from the Broads side of Rattlesnake. Snowmobiles are working extremely hard just to carry one person in these conditions. What is most dangerous out here are the rifts. They just appear to be "wet" areas. There's more movement around them than we consider safe. Here's a view but it does not show how hard it is to get around. Most of the "marks" in this picture are slushy areas not snowmobile tracks. Only near the bottom of the photo are actual tracks. Two major rifts here go all the way across to Winter Harbor and the other shore and this fresh snow is covering up the danger signs. More cold during this coming week should help tighten things up.

DBA

Thank DBA,

We were planning on going to the island this weekend, but will all of the reports, we decided not to attempt it (again). Your description makes me glad we did not try, but the picture make me wish we did. Overall, I think we made a good choice. At this point, we are planning on next weekend and will see where that takes us.

Thanks for the great picture.

I went down onto Center Harbor at Leavitt Park Saturday morning to socialize and setup a couple of tipups. The parking area was a zoo, but I got dropped off by the wife so no big deal. As everyone has said, it was an absolute mess. Lots of vehicles on the ice in this area. Some were moving, some were parked, some were stuck. It wasn't just slush either...it was standing water. Unless you were wearing high rubber boots, your feet were cold and soaked within a half hour. If you were wearing high rubber boots, your feet were just cold. I spent most of my time standing on my personal "island"...snow the group had shoveled into an area the night before. Five guys spent Friday night in my friend's bobhouse. By Saturday afternoon three of them packed up and headed home. The remaining two spent the night at our place in Meredith. I wish I could at least say the fishing was good, but it didn't seem to be. No flags in our group and only one that I saw in that general area. Needless to say I passed on the fishing Sunday and spent the day moving snow around.

Still Slush?
 

Has the cold weather done anything to refreeze the slush over the past two days?

I'm sure it helped but the latest storm is supposed to dump a lot of rain tomorrow afternoon in central and southern NH and with that things will be back to slushy I'm afraid. I just hope it doesn't make things worse than they already are. It's such a shame to have all this snow and the trails in such great condition but with lake access being what it is there's no way to get to the trails for some us.

My favorite question
 

So, how bad is the lake and how bad would it be to get to rattlesnake on snowmobiles?

It depends on who you speak to, some people say "no problem", others say "I would not try it".

What does the forum think?

We went up yesterday (and we are still on the island). There was no slush that we saw and every thing was solid. Mostly snow covered ice but there were a few bare ice spots. All in all it was an easy trip around the ice. We are going to the carnival this morning as we have never been to it.

I will Post some great pics of the broads when I get home.

Webbsatwinni:

So how did your first trip to the island go? Did everything start up as expected? It certainly takes a while to get a house warm after if has been unheated in the dead of a NH winter. What do you heat with? I'd be curious to hear about your adventure and pictures would be great too!

It went great, we went over, started the heat, then went out snowmobiling. I have never been to the lake during the winter, so this was an incredible experience. Overnight it was a little cold, but that is why we have blankets.

The ice was fine, it was very solid everywhere we went.

Perfect weekend conditions for island travel
 

I crossed over to our camp on the South end of Bear Island Saturday and the weather/ice was perfect. I just walked over with the dog without any issues. In terms of heat our cottage is seasonal for everbody but me so it has no insulation and just a wood burning stove. I close off the room with the stove and it keeps the place warm enough to enjoy a weekend on the island. Everything from Mark down towards governors was solid again without slush. Thick enough for sleds but I would not take a truck out there.