Ice Holding Out Yet on Hopatcong

Here's Laurie's report today. Not surprising ice as yet holds out on Hopatcong, since the lake has no major streams leading into it. But now even Laurie is casting doubts about the coming week and March. That storm the other day might have been a turning point even for Hopatcong, ice melting with milder days, or who knows. Maybe the weather will turn just cold enough to make ice fishing possible next week, when I can get out on Tuesday, and I hope Mike also. All I know is that once those vertical striations weaken that thick ice, I'm not going out on it, and no one else should either, if there's not a four inch layer of hard and clear ice underneath striations working downward. 

That can be hard to judge, too. Four inches here? What about over there? It's much easier to judge safety on freshly frozen, hard clear ice four inches thick, because you can see any difference at your feet.

Laurie:

As of yesterday, there was still accessible ice on Lake Hopatcong. You will still need to watch along some of your shorelines. The ice in Great Cove was  just under 8 inches and on the Main Lake just under 6 inches  with access off the front of the dock. The Knee Deep Club had cancelled their contest set for Sunday Feb. 11 due to the heavy rain, although some guys were seen out there fishing in the rain and fog.  Their next contest is scheduled for March 4th. Not sure we’ll make that with the warmer weather forecast for the next week, but we will see. We still have bait and ice fishing tackle available and are open at 6 AM, 7 days a week. They have been catching some walleye on jigs and bait, along with some Hybrids and lots of yellow perch and pickerel.  I have also heard of several muskies in the low 40 inch range.  Please call the shop for up to date ice conditions. Have a great week...

Ice Breaker

Today's weather is what I call an ice breaker, because the forecast hereabouts for the next 10 days is not in favor of anyone attempting to get out on the hardwater. Besides, any lakes or ponds with streams entering them are sure to have seen major ice erosion, if not breakage and floe, resulting from the amount of precipitation. I crossed the North Branch on my way to work and it was up to the bank edge. Temperatures climbed into the 60's, and we may have more marks above 60 by week's end. The forecast keeps shape-shifting. Last I saw it, prospects looked good for the next Tuesday. (This coming Tuesday my wife is taking the day off on my day off.)

What a winter. Near-record cold some days, plenty of cold otherwise, but every time a storm system moves in--most times anyway--the temperature climbs and rain falls. I watched the NJ.com video of Zach Merchant (I'll place the link at end-of-story), and just loved the footage of him trudging through snow. You're not supposed to like snow as an adult, so you can call me a kid if you want, not much offense in that, because children have all the wonder and energy.

Had hoped to get out on RV Pond with Mike Maxwell. I was going to invite him, anyway. Such arrangements, in general, tend not to work out, but eventually, we always get out there.


https://roundvalleyfishing.com/2018/02/02/ice-fishing-zach-merchant/

Altered Tip-Up Placement Makes a Difference While Ice Fishing

Taillights in the darkness. I pass two vehicles pulled aside on State Highway 183, turn right into the driveway of Stanhope Bait and Boat, and get out of my Honda to see Oliver stepping forward. We went inside, surrounded by at least half a dozen men getting buckets filled. As we left--service was real fast--I asked the proprietor about ice fishing on Lake Musconetcong, situated immediately behind the shop.

"It's been good in the back."

I asked her about pickerel and she nodded yes, despite the chemical weed killer of fairly recent years, that they're getting caught.

After we made the left, me following Oliver's SUV, onto the road leading directly to Tilcon Lake access, we saw two or three vehicles pulled over, men getting gear together in the dark. Oliver pulled over, as if we would park. "I think there's a way to get to the back of the lake," I said. We continued on that road, Oliver following my Civic now, neither of us ever having driven further onward before. At a T-stop, we turned left, driving at least a half mile, light beginning to fill out shadows, the lake dimly visible through trees, until a pull over appeared and I could tell we were at the very back of the lake. We parked and agreed that I would follow an icy trail and find out if access is practical. It is. And as I had hoped, a short walk compared to the long haul from the main gate got us and our equipment down and onto ice, where I pull-started my power auger, cutting through that ice to be sure of safety, getting deep with the new blades. Then I measured about 10 inches of thickness.

So much nerviness about the ice fishing scene of late. The important thing is that we did it this morning. Judging by the forecast, it seems as if ice fishing will last into March. Oliver and I got out there cutting more holes, and as light increased, we could see all the way to the front of the lake, dotted by at least a dozen other people out there underway at trying to catch fish.

A couple of guys fished in earshot of us, having parked at the same pull-over, seemingly speaking Russian. Before we caught our first pickerel, they had caught three, carefully put back into the lake.

At first, I had run a straight line of tip-up placements from the corner where we entered all the way to out in front of an island, depths about 18-25, maybe 30 feet. Soon I took the auger and cut holes right up against the shoreline, not even five yards out, feeling my fish sense telling me that if anything would work, this placement would do it. And it did. The first flag went up where I most expected one might. Not a salmon in 10 feet of weedy water, no. The second flag went up maybe 20 yards from shore straight out from the right angle of that corner I mentioned. About 18 feet deep.

Pickerel seem to move off weedlines sometimes. Pickerel caught by the guys next to us hit about 50 or 60 yards from shore in deep water. I know pickerel cruise distance under the ice, because in the past, single fish have taken one shiner from a tip-up, and then a second shiner from the next tip-up placed maybe 10 yards or more distant. Will they leave weeds to take a shiner making vibes they pick up on their lateral lines?

We fished two hours and then I had to go do a long job shift. On our way out past the main access point of Tilcon Lake, we witnessed about a dozen or more vehicles parked, some men just then preparing to get out. 

http://littonsfishinglines.blogspot.com/2014/02/49-12-inch-musky-lake-hopatcong-ice.html

Looks Like Saturday

Laurie hasn't sent out a report, so not too many have been out on the ice, but she told me again this week it's six to eight inches thick at Great Cove. This is a pretty good season, since ice fishing's been going on since back in December. Other seasons have lasted well into March and whether this year's ice will last that long is yet to be seen.

Waiting on reply from Oliver Round. I want to ride up to Tilcon Lake Saturday. The lake is deep, mostly about 30 feet, and the shorelines drop steeply. We could have a problem with ice melt right at the edge. We could have any number of unanticipated problems, also, but I haven't fished for more than three weeks now, so I'm prepared to at least try.

Tilcon is not Hopatcong. Ice varies place to place. Plans Tuesday were to fish Hopatcong. Joe Landolfi apparently found he had to work to do at the last minute. We talked on the phone repeatedly and then lost touch, so he was surely busy. Had said he might be.

I could have gone alone. Mike was sick. But I got loads of writing done.

Ice Conditions

Interesting encounter at work today:

I said, "Have you been ice fishing?"

"No, not safe."

"I heard there's seven inches on Hopatcong."

"It's this thick." He measured about an inch between fingers. "I'm not going out there."

"I haven't been out, either."

So who knows. The pond aside of Route 78 is open. I haven't seen the pond nearby tonight, but another up on the hill still has ice cover. Laurie is a reliable source. She has seven inches at the shop as of yesterday, but what exists elsewhere on the lake is not the same. And she didn't specify ice conditions, besides the typical melt along shorelines.

I've said it before. An entire book can be written on ice conditions.

Trying to sleep last night, which I never did well, an image--among too many--broke in on my mind. Ice reduced to melt slush.

Safe ice is hard and clear. What happens during a melt, when warmth gets down beneath the surface layer made kind of gritty, is striation. Ice sort of rots, with vertical linear streaks of separation between ice and liquid penetration. I fished on ice, March 11th, 2008, with my son, striated downward four inches, with five inches of hard ice beneath that weakness. Carefully. Because I didn't want us to step where the safe margin might be compromised.

After striation goes all the way through, ice can reduce to slush floating on water pretty quickly.

That said, plans remain in place to ice fish Tuesday and the following Saturday. Secure plans, no. But plans. The weather forecast didn't holdout as predicted last week, and ice fishing this coming Saturday seems too iffy. The forecast as it stands now doesn't look good for the Tuesday or the next Saturday, either, but the Saturday, maybe.

Sometimes I look back on an impulse to take a risk, which later, when I rejected it, I felt unwise, and I think, even later, it might have been worth the effort.

http://littonsfishinglines.blogspot.com/2015/03/26-inches-of-ice-lake-hopatcong.html

Maxwell's Cortland Corner

Spoke to Mike Maxwell while walking Sadie. He might ice fish with me and Joe Landolfi on Tuesday, but what really got my attention was his fixing brakes on a car. If any of you ever need a vehicle serviced, Mike's Cortland Corner is a good option. Watching him work was a pleasure despite the cold, even though I didn't stand there through the whole operation. As Americans, we support small business primarily because the service is good and economical, and Cortland Corner is just that, at a basic level and therefore worthy. Litton's Fishing Lines operates under the motto, "An Angler Always Finds a Way," and just the other day, I contemplated these words, drawing out the fact that they don't apply to me alone. After all, I never wrote "The Angler Always finds a Way," as if to imply myself. Economic hardship is a bitch with a simple solution to her demands. Getting out there and doing work. Does a man depend on a written resume and recipients of it? No. Sometimes none of the likes make any difference, even if they should.

If any of you need mechanical work done, you can phone me at 908-448-8675. I'll relay the message to Mike.  

Ice News

Phoned Joe Landolfi on the way to work about possibly ice fishing tomorrow. I told him about the pond here where I live. Open. He shot back about Oxford Furnace Lake, telling me he was just on it, 10 inches thick. I told him I'm awaiting word from Laurie and would phone him at 9:30.

Laurie says ice is seven inches thick at the shop, so at least in the coves, Hopatcong remained safe though all of the mild weather and rain, and that includes one day about two weeks ago that nearly hit 70 degrees.

I know. It's not that I'm surprised. I've ice fished at 72 degrees. I know of others who have at 80 degrees in March. I'm just cautious. Conservative by temperament.

Plans also proceed for Oliver Round and me to ice fish another lake. I would emphasize that it's another lake, not Hopatcong, and ice conditions, for examples, vary from open water here in Bedminster, to solid seven inches at Hopatcong.

I told Oliver, having judged the forecast, things look better for the next Saturday, not this coming Saturday. That said, I've known all along it's likely this lake we plan on fishing is safe now, will be Saturday, as has been safe for more than a month. I just don't care to blow a morning followed by a hard work shift by getting up before five and then getting surprised.

That's more and less so, anyway. Last week I emailed Oliver and asked if he'd like to risk it Saturday. We didn't, though.

Phoned Joe at 9:24, left message, and don't expect him to get back tonight, though I said he is free to phone. I would have ice fished with him tomorrow.