Ice-in Watch 2007-2008 - Page 2

SIKSUKR · 02-08-2008, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IFish

Thanks Island Girl,

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.
.

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.

IFish · 02-08-2008, 03:46 PM

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 !

Blue Thunder · 02-09-2008, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Island Girl

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

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

Island Girl · 02-09-2008, 03:08 PM

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

IFish · 02-09-2008, 07:38 PM

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!!!

hockeypuck · 02-10-2008, 07:47 AM

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.

IFish · 02-10-2008, 09:44 AM

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?

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!!

fatlazyless · 02-10-2008, 09:58 AM

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!

hockeypuck · 02-10-2008, 10:24 AM

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

DBA · 02-10-2008, 12:41 PM

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

Webbsatwinni · 02-10-2008, 01:19 PM

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.

hilltopper · 02-11-2008, 08:41 AM

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.

Gatto Nero · 02-12-2008, 01:37 PM

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

KonaChick · 02-12-2008, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gatto Nero

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.

Webbsatwinni · 02-15-2008, 08:09 PM

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?

Webbsatwinni · 02-17-2008, 06:52 AM

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.

secondcurve · 02-17-2008, 12:33 PM

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!

Webbsatwinni · 02-17-2008, 04:53 PM

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.

liberator211 · 02-18-2008, 12:33 PM

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.

02-08-2008, 03:46 PM	#102
IFish Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: North / Central Ma. Posts: 18 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	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 ! __________________ IFish

02-09-2008, 03:08 PM	#104
Island Girl Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Central MA Posts: 2,352 Thanks: 18 Thanked 535 Times in 179 Posts	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 __________________ Island Girl ....... Make Lemonade

02-09-2008, 07:38 PM	#105
IFish Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: North / Central Ma. Posts: 18 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	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

02-10-2008, 09:44 AM	#107
IFish Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: North / Central Ma. Posts: 18 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	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? 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!! __________________ IFish

02-10-2008, 09:58 AM	#108
fatlazyless Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 8,734 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 300 Thanked 1,005 Times in 733 Posts	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! __________________ ... down and out, liv'n that Walmart side of the lake!

02-10-2008, 07:47 AM	#106
hockeypuck Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Southern CT Posts: 169 Thanks: 19 Thanked 4 Times in 3 Posts	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.

02-10-2008, 10:24 AM	#109
hockeypuck Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Southern CT Posts: 169 Thanks: 19 Thanked 4 Times in 3 Posts	Fatlazyless, thanks for the update. You're living the good life.

02-10-2008, 12:41 PM	#110
DBA Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: By the Lake now Posts: 95 Thanks: 11 Thanked 27 Times in 4 Posts	"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 Attached Images __________________ living by the water....heaven

02-10-2008, 01:19 PM	#111
Webbsatwinni Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Lebanon Ct and Rattlesnake Island Since 2007 Posts: 610 Thanks: 180 Thanked 137 Times in 72 Posts	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.

02-11-2008, 08:41 AM	#112
hilltopper Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Meredith Posts: 724 Thanks: 25 Thanked 107 Times in 68 Posts	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.

02-12-2008, 01:37 PM	#113
Gatto Nero Senior Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Isola Gatto Nero Posts: 697 Thanks: 162 Thanked 263 Times in 81 Posts	Still Slush? Has the cold weather done anything to refreeze the slush over the past two days? __________________ La vita è buona su Isola Gatto Nero

02-15-2008, 08:09 PM	#115
Webbsatwinni Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Lebanon Ct and Rattlesnake Island Since 2007 Posts: 610 Thanks: 180 Thanked 137 Times in 72 Posts	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?

02-17-2008, 06:52 AM	#116
Webbsatwinni Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Lebanon Ct and Rattlesnake Island Since 2007 Posts: 610 Thanks: 180 Thanked 137 Times in 72 Posts	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. Last edited by Webbsatwinni; 02-17-2008 at 04:47 PM. Reason: mis spelled words

02-17-2008, 12:33 PM	#117
secondcurve Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 2,117 Thanks: 1,324 Thanked 559 Times in 288 Posts	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!

02-17-2008, 04:53 PM	#118
Webbsatwinni Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Lebanon Ct and Rattlesnake Island Since 2007 Posts: 610 Thanks: 180 Thanked 137 Times in 72 Posts	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.

02-18-2008, 12:33 PM	#119
liberator211 Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Westbrook, CT Posts: 17 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	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.