Conference wahoo::fishing

    Dan, there is a note that already addresses this issue.
    
    I'm not sure what note it is.  Wait a few minutes and one on the SMURFS
    (moderators) will wake up and point you in the right direction.
    
    							
    						The Legend
    
                           Who still awaits for his Co-moderator position. 

    RE:-1
    Let me warn ya. I'm buying an ice auger this week so we probably won't
    have ice all winter. We don't have snow whenever I buy a ski pass, as
    I did this year, so water skiing, golf and tennis will probably be the
    sports to take up this winter. -:)

    Although we've mentioned how the ice is doing in one of the othetr
    topics, I think we can devote a topic to the current ice conditions 
    in New England in order to make it easier to locate.  I'll put a
    pointer to this in the confernece banner.
    
    -donmac
    
    ps: legend, you could never be a moderator - you don't have a beard.
    
    

    I was up to my pace in Strafford N.H. last week. The small, protected
    ponds did have ice cover but I don't know how safe they were. The small
    brook across the street was ice covered in the pools but where the
    water was running it was clear. I don't think I'd trust anything below
    the Colebrook area yet.
    Jim
    

    Most of the ponds that I've passed in South Central/West NH have been
    frozen over. The ice doesn't appear too thick anywhere though.  
    
    -donmac

     I was told by my Father that there were people out ice fishing on Lake
    Winni last weekend in the Moultnboro area. 

>>     I was told by my Father that there were people out ice fishing on Lake
>>     Winni last weekend in the Moultnboro area. 


sick puppies!

	Boy, what a lousy season so far. I was ice fishing at this time 
last year on Lake Champlain. No such luck this year, the temperature has
been up and down like a YO-YO. Last night was down in the teens and tomorrow
is supposed to be in the mid 50's, not very good ice making weather! Looks
like a brown christmas is likely also. Burlington VT has a white Xmas 92% of
the time, but not this year.

I'll keep ya posted if conditions improve up here.

Bob

    I was in the north end of Concord N.H. on the 17th of this month and I
    saw a guy walk out to the middle of the pond. He would go a little ways
    and stop to kick the ice testing for hardness. He never went through
    but I could just see him going down for the count.
    
    
    Regards and Merry Xmas, John.
    
    P.S. The pond I stoped at was Turtle Town.

	San Ramon, Calif.	(10 miles east of San Francisco Bay)

	1" thick at my house this morning.  Just enough to freeze the 1" water 
line coming into the house.... 

	I can't believe it!!!!

	13 years I lived in Mass. without having to thaw the pipes before I
took my morning shower.  I move 3000 miles southwest to promises of warm
weather and sunshine and what happens......



	Where are my tilts????? 

Al

    Re: .8  A brown Christmas.....
    
>>                                                                      Looks
>>like a brown christmas is likely also. Burlington VT has a white Xmas 92% of
>>the time, but not this year.

    
      We received a "surprise" snow storm on Sunday night that dumped 8" of
    the white stuff on us. Last I heard, we were supposed to have received
    flurries Sunday night, but they were certainly wrong about that. Spent
    the better part of the day on Monday digging out. We certainly ended up
    with a white Christmas after all.
    
      As for the ice.... It never got above 20 degrees yesterday (Christmas
    day), isn't supposed to break 15 degrees today, and expect a "high" of
    15 degrees for tomorrow!!!! Should be makin' ice now.....
    
    -Ron-

     Hi folks! Well I'm not too sure where this note belongs but I figured
    this is close enough.
    
    I just came back from Vermont and a bunch of us were staying in a lake
    side cottage. Somehow the subject of lakes/ponds freezing over came up.
    Some of us were saying that the lake freezes from the edges in towards
    the middle and other people were saying that it freezes from the middle
    towards the shore!!
    
    So since you guys are so knowledgeable on ice fishing I thought you
    could settle this for us! Boy drink a little Tequila and you end up 
    arguing about anything...
    
    Thanks!
    
    Bass-O-Matic
    

    I'll give this one a try, just because I have my own theory
    and I am interested in others. In most cases, I find the shore
    ice thinner. My theory is that because the ice is closer to the
    earth and the earth generates a certain amont of heat, it freezes
    last. The deeper you go, the more COLD water is available to 
    insolate the ice from the earth, so the thicker the ice gets. There
    are other factors such as springs, currents, wind etc to throw
    in. This aswer should generate some responses.
    
    Cheers and a happy new year
    
    CHUCK O.

    	Driving by any half frozen body of water will show you that it
    freezes from the edges in toward the middle. I believe one side will
    freeze before the other. I can't remember if it was the north or south
    side. It has to do with the part which typically gets the least sun.
    
    	Ray

I disagree.

I believe that when the ice is freezing, it starts from shore since the water 
is shallower and subject to freezing first due to colder air temps.  Deep water 
takes longer to come down to freezing temps and therefore is thinner during 
the beginning of the season.

On the contrary, when the ice is melting at the end of the season, the ice 
in shallow water goes first since the warmer land transmits heat to the 
shallow waters.  Again, deeper waters take longer to warm up and thus the 
ice is last to go out in the middle of the lake.

-HSJ-

    I agree with HSJ,  The ice seems to form on the south shore first.
    also the ice freezes from top to bottom 8>)
    
    
    Les

If I remember correctly, the NW portion of any lake/pond warms first due to the
movment of the sun.  This is a BASS fishing tip I read somewhere.  Therefore,
I suspect that the SE portion would freeze first.  However, this may only
be valid for a one day cycle.

Tim

 Ice typically forms first on the southeast corner of a lake in the absence of
other factors. One of the chief factors that may interfere with this tendency
is the presence/absence of wind breaks and shelters. A sheltered cove on the
southeast side of a lake will almost always freeze first (unless there is 
running water emptying into the lake there or a natural spring, etc.) While
a complex equation, it is generally quite predictable for a given lake.

 The Doctah

    
    I was at A1 today at lunch and there is 1/2 to 1" of ice covering about
    70% of the open water at the boat launch. I checked the other end and
    found the same conditions. 
    
    
    			    Dave Campbell
     

    I fished Turtle Pond in Concord, NH last Sunday. Four inches close to
    shore, 3-3 1/2" in the middle. About a 120 acre pond, max depth 15'.
    AS cold as it's been since I'd bet on 8" by tomorrow.
    Took home 10 pickeral and some yellow perch. Is it true that there is
    an 8 pickeral limit/person in NH ?

	Measured 2 inches of ice on 65 acre pond in Strubridge, elevation 
about 800 ft. This pond gets a good amount of wind and is usually one of the 
last to freeze in the area. Although I think a 2" minumum is ok to walk on 
this pond has numerous springs and if you dont know where they are.....Splash

JR

RE -2.

	Pickerel. (Esox niger, Esox americanus americanus) The daily bag
limit for pickerel shall be 5 fish and there shall be no limits on lenght
or weight of pickerel taken.

	SOURCE: New Hampshire Fish and Game's 1991 Freshwater Fishing Guide.


	Hope that helps you keep out of trouble with the MAN.

					Ed (Get-the-net-ready)

    I fished Turtle pond in Concord NH today (friday), around 5 inches 
    near shore, closer to 3-4" towards the middle.  Caught a few perch and 
    pickeral.  Tried out the Lowrance with the portable setup, it worked
    well.
    
    donmac - who has been out on vaca for 2 weeks and only managed 1 day of
    ice fishing due to lack of ice...  

    Saturday- Deer Meadow, Chichester, NH.  5 inches of ice. A few
    pickeral.
    Sunday- Rocky Pond, Loudon, NH. 9-10" ice (No idea why so much ice)
    Pretty good pickeral fishing (kept 8). Might just try this pond again
    next week only try to get on the ice before 11:00.

    people were ice fishing on one of the small ponds in the
    Leominster state forrest on saturday...Not sure how thick
    it was, but I didn't feel it worth the risk...(it just froze
    over last week)...Went by Quinsigamond this morning and it
    was still completely open....
    
    Marty

     
       Went fishing sat Between South pond And Quaboag 
       Team Bob Caught A 24 Inch Pike A 14 Inch Pickeril
        And a 2 lb Bass
         There Was 4 inches of ice
           Big Bob

Malletts Bay in Colchester VT.  5" of ice...

Saturday:   COLD and WINDY!!!  2 of us caught 75-100 perch in < 2 hours. 
	    Everyone around us was nailing them! REAL TASTY!!!!!

Sunday:     WARM and SUNNY with a light snowfall. At least 50 ice skaters,
            6 ice boats, and mucho pedestrians (what a zoo!!). Fishing
	    was real slow, caught about 35 perch and 6 smelt in about 3
            hours. The fish were probably spooked by all the activity going
	    on above them.


	The outlook for the rest of the week is COLD, COLD, and more COLD.
The bays are mostly frozen and the ice is working its way out towards the
open water.


Later,

Bob

    Re: .27  Bays are mostly frozen (lake champlain)
    
    Maybe in the northern sections, Bob, but I checked from Shelburne bay
    to Thompson's point on sunday and they haven't started to freeze over
    yet.
    
    6" of ice on Lake Iroquois in Williston.  Caught about 30 smallish 
    perch.
    
    dave

    They were fishing on Sunset Lake in Ashburham, Mass yesterday on 
    4 - 5 inches of ice.
    
    I'll be out there next week-end.
    
    Jim

Fished Hopkinton Resevoir (aka Stumpfield) yesterday and had outstanding 
action.  Open water beneath the bridge but about 4-5" of ice 50-60 yds away 
towards the stumps.

Set up at 8:30 AM and left about 3:00 PM.  Had 45-50 flags, at least 75% of 
them from 8:30 to 11:30 AM.  Action was so fast that I didn't have time for 
a cup of coffee until almost noontime!  Ran out of live bait around 1 PM so 
we ended up using dead shiners that we retrieved from fish we caught.  Even 
they worked!

Totals for the day: 15-18 bass, 1.25-1.5 lbs, largest was 2.25-2.5 lbs.

lots of pickeral, largest about 20", and a bunch of yellow perch.

I can't remember another day with this much action and fun!

-HSJ-

      Most of the northern bays in Champlain have frozen over. St Albans
    Bay has 5-6" of ice, and is frozen out to Burtons Island. I heard re-
    ports that Missisquoi Bay has close to a foot of ice, although I
    haven't actually been up there to check it out. Went to Lake Carmi
    this weekend, and there was 6-8" of ice, and the lake is frozen all
    the way across. No vehicles, but a few shanties and quite a few people
    out fishing, even in the middle of the lake. We fished about 100yds
    off shore in about 8-12 feet of water and had a good 8" of ice. Not
    much action though, as we only had 3 northerns with the tip-ups in
    about 4 hours of fishing.
    
    -Ron-

    RE.30
    	   Just want to make sure people know that Joe means Hopkinton NH
    NOT Hopkinton Res. in MA!  The one down here is less than half frozen
    over and wont be ready for ice fishing for a while.
    
    							B.C.

    
     Thanks for that clarification Brain.
    
     By the way....
    
     Didn't know you were a rocket scientist?
    
     - Slammer

    Now THAT's what I call staying warm!  
    
    Ha!

    Does anyone know if Lake Sunapee in NH has frozen over
    yet ? How about Winnipesaukee ?
    
    Marty

 I hear some of the sheltered coves on Sunapee have some ice on them. Not
sure how safe it is though. report as of last sunday Same story on Winny, though
I heard some of the die hards are out around Meredith.

 The Doctah

    THERE'S BEEN AT LEAST 3 TO 7 ICE FISHING AT LAKE CHAUNCEY IN WESTBORO
    EVERY DAY FOR OVER A WEEK, INCLUDING AN ICE SHANTY YESTERDAY. IVE HAD
    AN INSIDE VIEW, FROM FOGGY'S, SO THE ICE MUST BE THICK ENOUGH. LOOK'S
    LIKE THE 19TH IS A GO! AT THE A-1. LIZZARD! WAKE UP TEAM LIZZARD, YOU
    NEED THE PRACTICE. PARDO! LOOK'S LIKE YOU LOST THE $5.spot You won.
    The ice will be thick enough, it has to be told the heavy weights from
    Pardo's Pals and Team Lizzard.
    The Warden

    RE.33
    	You're right Dave, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know
    enough to stay off half open ponds........ However, since a few people
    mentioned going there last week it seemed to me that there was at least
    a little confusion.  I don't get enough fishing time to waste it going
    to a partially frozen pond and I don't think most other people do
    either.  Just trying to save people from making a wasted trip.
    	Jeez, I even kept it short just for you.  What are you getting
    bored and trying to get me started?
    						B.C.
    
    PS  Hopkinton Res. (MA) didn't look safe this morning either.

    Over a foot of ice in Brindle Pond in Barnstead, NH on Sunday. Just
    about the slowest fishing I've seen,maybe the new snow cover has slowed
    things down.
    Folks are fishing the coves of Wini and the other "big" lakes. Two
    snowmobiles went in at Winnisquam and didn't come out, several others
    got wet but are OK. There is over a foot of snow on the ice now so new
    ice will make very slow.

    
    RE .30
    
    Joe,  Can you get a sled down the bank onto the ice at Stumpfield or
    	  would it be better to carry the bare necessities? 
    
    	  We'll probably try it this weekend.
    
    	  Thanks, Jim
    

Shouldn't be a problem getting a sled out there.  With all the cold we had 
last week, I'd be surprised if the gates weren't open yet.  If they are, you 
could drive out onto the ice providing it was safe.

joe    

    
    
    
               All this warm weather weather in the Northeast is
               N.G. for glacier fishing.Lake Urine looks like it 
               is opening up,but,the edges still look intact.
               I'll let one of ewe go first.
    
               Anyone in NY State have a report???
    
    
                                           The Keg

    
    
     so you want a reoport from NY?
    
       Well last weekend was  the big Sodus Bay ice derby, well they
    cancelled it this year because of lack of ice. 
      saturday the State Police hellicopter took 4 people out of lake O
    that fell through the ice, sunday the state police took 12 or 14 people
    out of honeyoye lake, and sunday morning the state police divers pulled
    a guy out that had gone through thursday night while snowmobilling.
    
       With the warm weather last week the people should of had enough
    common sense to not go out on the ice, the guy that was snowmobilling
    had on a life jacket when they pulled him out, man if your that afraid 
    of going through that you put on a pfd then STAY OFF THE ICE. 
    
      I stopped by a small creek close to my house sunday and they have
    been doing really well on browns,and steelheads, so I spent an hour
    last night getting ready for some fishing this sunday, I cant wait to
    have a nice steelhead on. I will be going after them with ultra light 
    tackle probably 4lb line and a ultra light reel. there were very few
    people there last sunday, I hope the same holds true this sunday.
    
      As far as lake O goes it doesnt freeze in the winter, just the bays,
    there have been diehards out in boats all winter here, the winds are 
    brutal, last sunday I went for a walk up the beach at sodus it was
    about 40 out but walking along the lake it was around 0 I wasnt dressed
    for it so I didnt go far, but talk about getting the itch to get the
    boat out............ gimme a snowsuit,wool gloves, and a fishing pole 
    and there wont be a fish around me thats safe!!
       Well Ive rambled on enough for now h*ll I could talk fishing for hrs
    but Ill spare ya, if any of you guys are out in the sodus area give
    me a shout Im a knats jump from there.
    
                             Lee 
    
       I CANT WAIT FOR WARM WEATHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    
    
    

 I'd like to see some ice out reports from anyone who has knowledge of ice\
open water conditions on the various lakes in NH.

 Having spent a few hours over the last weekend writing the important rules
and regs on the maps of various lake trout and salmon lakes/ponds, I am
interested in finding out where the open water is especially on the bodies of
water that are already legally fishable.

 Places I am considering fishing: Newfound lake, Big Squam Lake, Diamond ponds,
Big Dan Hole Pond, Nubanusit Lake, Pleasant Pond, Lucas pond, Willard Pond,
Lake Whittemore.

 The Doctah

    Nubanausit (sp?) lake ices out fairly late every year.  It is cold
    there and more protected than the bigger lakes.
    
    Whittemore is a brook & rainbow lake.  Don't you still have to wait
    until the 3rd saturday in april, or did they change that one?
    
    Mark,
    

 It's the 4th saturday in April (26th?) for trout ponds. And yer right, 
Whittemore is a designated trout pond.

 At this point I'm really chomping at the bit to wet a line. Especially
hearing that another noter caught such a fine trout. :-)

 I'm thinking of heading to the Piscataquog River in the near future, when it
becomes warm enough to cast. :-)

 The Doctah

    Anyone have any info on Newfound?  I was thinking about
    getting one last ice day in on thursday.

    Should I risk the drive all the way up there?

    George

     Big Squam Lake is out. Winnisquam is out. Winnepesaukee is out.
    Newfound Lake still has ice on it.
    
     The Doctah