A "slightly" fishy question..

MGWillia · 03-19-2015, 11:53 AM

As I drove along the lake this morning from Alton Bay towards the Weirs, I noticed a lot of Bob houses still out. Especially one just before Ames Farms. Some of them look a little "stranded" or at least pretty much cut off by thin Ice and open water along the shore. New to the winter thing here, I started to wonder. Do they lose them? Does it happen often? Are there requirements like with recovering a vehicle? There is another Void in my lake knowledge and now I must KNOW..

School me.

Woodsy · 03-19-2015, 12:26 PM

The rule is off the ice/lake by April 1st.... no exceptions. Any bobhouses left on the lake would get a rather visit from the F&G guys....

That being said... there is NO lack of ice on the lake

Woodsy

MeredithMan · 03-19-2015, 01:10 PM

MGW--

As said in the previous post, they need to be off the ice by April 1. The closer you get to April 1, however, the more challenging that removal can sometimes be, (e.g., that frozen access point that you used in January now has 10 feet of open water between ice and shore...

) And, if the lake surface has become a mixture of snow/slush/yuk, even with an ATV or snowmobile, removing the BH can be a Herculean effort.

Regarding your question of people losing bobhouses, my father and I learned that lesson the hard way, back when Ford was in office. We had been ice fishing for a number of years and my father finally decided to build a bobhouse. We put it out in between Governor's Island and the mainland, on the Weirs side of the GI bridge. As the season neared its end, the ice became glare and one Saturday night, the wind was howling. When we went to go fishing Sunday morning, our bobhouse was nowhere to be found. As the wind was still howling from the west, I could see that my father had a sudden realization and said, "OH Sh___!!" We drove down to the GI bridge and there was our bobhouse, "bobbing" in the open water at the bridge. We learned the hard lesson that one must secure his bobhouse to the ice!

MGWillia · 03-19-2015, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Woodsy

The rule is off the ice/lake by April 1st.... no exceptions. Any bobhouses left on the lake would get a rather visit from the F&G guys....

That being said... there is NO lack of ice on the lake

Woodsy

Oh, believe me.. I see the ice.. What I also see is lots of water starting to form where you would think things would be taken off the ice. And the Bob that got my interest up was fairly close to shore... (and the open water)... Just got me thinking

Rusty · 03-19-2015, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MGWillia

Oh, believe me.. I see the ice.. What I also see is lots of water starting to form where you would think things would be taken off the ice. And the Bob that got my interest up was fairly close to shore... (and the open water)... Just got me thinking

A picture is worth a thousand words...or so they say anyway.

03-19-2015, 11:53 AM	#1
MGWillia Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Alton Bay! Posts: 165 Thanks: 116 Thanked 128 Times in 46 Posts	A "slightly" fishy question.. As I drove along the lake this morning from Alton Bay towards the Weirs, I noticed a lot of Bob houses still out. Especially one just before Ames Farms. Some of them look a little "stranded" or at least pretty much cut off by thin Ice and open water along the shore. New to the winter thing here, I started to wonder. Do they lose them? Does it happen often? Are there requirements like with recovering a vehicle? There is another Void in my lake knowledge and now I must KNOW.. School me.

03-19-2015, 12:26 PM	#2
Woodsy Senior Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Weirs Beach Posts: 1,968 Thanks: 80 Thanked 980 Times in 440 Posts	The rule is off the ice/lake by April 1st.... no exceptions. Any bobhouses left on the lake would get a rather visit from the F&G guys.... That being said... there is NO lack of ice on the lake Woodsy __________________ The only way to eliminate ignorant behavior is through education. You can't fix stupid.

03-19-2015, 01:10 PM	#3
MeredithMan Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Bedford, NH; Meredith, NH Posts: 975 Thanks: 263 Thanked 820 Times in 337 Posts	Intro to BobHouses... MGW-- As said in the previous post, they need to be off the ice by April 1. The closer you get to April 1, however, the more challenging that removal can sometimes be, (e.g., that frozen access point that you used in January now has 10 feet of open water between ice and shore...) And, if the lake surface has become a mixture of snow/slush/yuk, even with an ATV or snowmobile, removing the BH can be a Herculean effort. Regarding your question of people losing bobhouses, my father and I learned that lesson the hard way, back when Ford was in office. We had been ice fishing for a number of years and my father finally decided to build a bobhouse. We put it out in between Governor's Island and the mainland, on the Weirs side of the GI bridge. As the season neared its end, the ice became glare and one Saturday night, the wind was howling. When we went to go fishing Sunday morning, our bobhouse was nowhere to be found. As the wind was still howling from the west, I could see that my father had a sudden realization and said, "OH Sh___!!" We drove down to the GI bridge and there was our bobhouse, "bobbing" in the open water at the bridge. We learned the hard lesson that one must secure his bobhouse to the ice!

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MGWillia (03-19-2015)