Ice/Open Water Report - Island Grove Area, Saturday January 12th

[Vampire With Freckles]

Hi Folks:

Haven't had a chance to check out the site for a while but it seems "things" are about the same as always. It seems people are starting to become a bit anxious to get out on the ice ASAP like in past years.

Given the warm weather - today - I took a drive up to check on the ice conditions and/or open water situation around the Island Grove area to determine if there was any chance of launching our boat.

This is what I observed along Lake Drive in the Keswick area - there were areas with very little or no ice along the shore line, however, at the boat launch at Island Grove there was ice from the shore out beyond the end of the permanent dock for approximately 100 feet. The ice was not a solid sheet but I wasn't about to test the thickness of the ice. There was no wind and the open water was like glass.

While I was at the permanent dock I spoke to several people who had crossed from Snake Island earlier in the day and parked their boat just east of the permanent dock in Island Grove for a few hours and then I watched them cross the channel back to Snake Island.

Personally, I won't be heading out on the lake in a boat, walking or on my ATV anytime soon.

On another note, I recently returned from North Bay and apparently Nipissing was frozen over last weekend and according to the local newspaper people are catching more Walleye this year than the past 7 years combined. I personally spoke to someone at the local Canadian Tire store who had been out ice fishing just north of North Bay last weekend and we advised me he had caught a lot of lake trout over the weekend and in fact had just enjoyed eating lake trout for dinner (I think I cried when he told me about his dinner).

That's all for now, Nancy

[ThorahGuy]

Welcome back Nancy. Thanks for the on the spot report. Maybe the ice can freeze properly next week.