Saturday, January 2, 2016

Houghton Lake Has Ice-Not Yet Safe

Day 55


For all of you ice angler's out there. The ice has finally begun to form on the lakes in our area. This is great news with Tip Up Town USA only a few weeks away. Whether or not the ice will be safe in time for TUT remains to be seen. The festival will go on either way as all of the rides, vendors and contests are held on snow covered land with the exception of a few, such as the ice fishing contest.

Late ice on the lake has happened before. A few years ago the ice didn't form up until the very end of December and TUT went on without a hitch. I'm sure I'll see someone on the ice in the next two weeks whether the ice is safe or not.

Unusually warm weather was the culprit a few years back. This year we set a new record for December average temperatures. Just over 40 degrees average for the month.

I don't ice fish so I'm not upset in the least. I look forward to an early spring and getting my boat back in the water at either Backus Lake or Reedsburg Dam area. I prefer fishing from my small two man boat. Over the last four years I have become very fond of trolling at Backus Lake. Partly for bigger fish but lately for any fish. The winter kill over the past two winters has been devastating to the smaller and shallower bodies of water.

Fishing has gone down so much at Backus there were hardly any campers there this past summer. One good thing though, the deer flies were almost none existent. Deer flies like to fly around your head and they bite. Mostly they bite my hands and ankles. Right through my socks! It's hard to catch fish when your constantly swatting at biting flies. I don't look forward to the flies but I have an electric fly swatter. Once you zap the first dozen they don't come back right away. So it's all good.

Anyway, the point is there's ice forming on Houghton Lake and a little snow on the ground. So ice fishing and snowmobiling aren't far away. Spring isn't far away either.

Until tomorrow,

Ken

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