Well, here we are on the eve of the weekend so many have been waiting for. I’m pretty sure we have better ice than most in our region! We’ve been very busy at the shop today and we’ve see the most anglers hitting the Bay this season. As if it was the first weekend trucks hit the ice. And we’re not even close to that! This last cold spell certainly firmed up what softened earlier in the week. The below freezing temps are going to continue until Sunday when we’re going to see our next warm-up. We need to make as much ice as we can because the forecast Sunday through Tuesday looks like spitting rain, sleet and snow as temps reach the mid 30s daily. This last extended warm-up has now caused Saunders point to open up the size of multiple football fields and the escanaba river has blown out. The strong north wind is blowing those chunks back in and with the cold temps I’m sure anglers will be out on that jagged shelf again in no time. It just might be a short time. Ice conditions on the upper Bay look incredible! 6 to 9 inches from the narrows north of Gladstone to the top of the Bay. Ice cleats continued to be a must. It’s an absolute skating rink out there, with lumps. I get a number of calls after last night’s report inquiring, “should I bring ATVs or snowmobiles or side-by-side‘s” because of the mishap of one angler traveling in the wrong place. Bring them and understand there’s a half a dozen places on the bay you should avoid no matter how thick the ice is everywhere else. As we are all aware, there is no safe ice. But typically, when anglers get wet they’re in places notorious for dropping machines in and have no business being there. The bite continues to be steady, as mixed reports come in from “skunked” to “fished hard and got my limited of eyes. The perch bagged this week continue to be good sized.
Todays pic is of a snowless, rock hard Little Bay de Noc. Come and get it!
Increasing your odds,
-Blade