Ahhh, that's better...

[Minnowhead]

Fri
Dec 21
 
32°
26°
Snow Shower / Wind
Chance of snow:
40%Wind:
W at 22 mph DetailsSat
Dec 22
 
36°
26°
Snow Shower
Chance of snow:
40%Wind:
WSW at 14 mph DetailsSun
Dec 23
 
34°
23°
Cloudy
Chance of precip:
20%Wind:
WNW at 10 mph DetailsMon
Dec 24
 
31°
25°
Mostly Cloudy

[jiggin junkie]

Where is this?

[slabslayer]

That's for us, I've seen the same thing.  Hope it's right, wanting to be on ice by New years.

[deerslayern]

thats right. hopen to be on by jan 5th. lake eries gonna b a bust again but east harbor is gonna b good this year.

[slabslayer]

I know.  I can't believe with the Lake open, we're not getting snow off it.  I'm glad though, snow on a layer of skim ice can kill a lake.  We need a cold snap before any measurable snows!

[HardWater Junkie]

Dont look at the 15 day forecast on accuweather.

[slabslayer]

I just did.    They changed it!!  It's like deja-vu all over again.  If I don't get at least a month of ice fishing in this year, I'm going to go crazy!!

But, I remember 3 or 4 years ago it started like this and then in Feb it never got above 30 the whole month.  We weren't on ice until the last week of January, but the ice stayed good and solid thru mid-March.  It was one of the best ice seasons I've had.  Not in terms of length, but in terms of quality and quantity of fish.  Hoping for something similar this year.  I'm not panicing yet, just waiting for the ice to come and making sure my gear's 100% ready when it arrives! 

[HardWater Junkie]

If we dont get ice this year im going to be screwed. I have invested to much money into a few business ventures that revolve around ice fishing. If there is no ice or a super short season people are not going to spend money like they normally would.

[slabslayer]

You're right.  Dave and I were noticing that at the Fin show last weekend.  There are a couple things I wanted for this season but haven't bought yet.  If its only a 2 or 3 week season, I'll put that money into new stainless storage locker latches for my Ranger and other boat improvements and save again over the summer and if we have a good season next year, I'll buy the ice stuff I want.  Just seems like a waste to me to spend $1500 +/- on ice gear when I have everything I need.  If we're going to continue this trend of no or brief ice, I'd rather put that money into bass boat luxuries rather than ice fishing luxuries.  I boat 9 or 10 months out of the year and at this rate, I've ice fished 1 hour in the last 22 months. 

[HardWater Junkie]

Ive have always held out on buying a boat because i work 6-7 days a week during the soft water season. If this no ice trend continues I may break down and buy a small pontoon boat and drill a few holes in the floor so I can "ice fish" thru it. I could set up my hub shanty on it and have a heater in it so I can fish when its cold out but no ice. I can picture all the peoples faces when the see a pontoon with a ice shanty on the deck. LOL

[slabslayer]

Sounds crazy, but that's not a bad idea!  I've been out after crappies and had 2-3 inches of snow in my boat.  I'd have killed for a pontoon with a shanty set up on it!    Warm and toasty instead of wet and freezing.

[jaybird62]

we need lows in the teens  cold man cold

[HardWater Junkie]

Just looked at the 15 day again and as of tonight there is not a single day that the high is below 32 degrees. There is also only a handful of days that the low is below freezing. I sure hope that accuweather is wrong. Im not banking to much on there predictions because yesterday they were showing the 3 days before christmas totaling 6 inches of snow with 1/2 inch of freezing rain/ice. So I started to go into plow/salt mode and started getting everything ready to go. I looked at the forecast this afternoon and all of that had changed to sunny and warm weather. You would think with all the modern technology that we have today they could do a little better predicting the weather. I think that they are more wrong today then they were in the past.

[slabslayer]

I agree.  They never get it right anymore!  I just want to have an ice season, at this point I don't care it it's one month, 2, or 3.  I just want to get on some ice and use my gear!! 

[HardWater Junkie]

Just looked at the forecast again only 24hrs. later and it shows all good ice making weather starting friday and continuing to the first of the year. Hope this forecast is right.