ice hunting

This January 9 Larry and I set out to do some ice hunting. Our
fisrt stop was the North end of Walker which from a drive by
looked to be the better end of the pond. We got Permission from
Don Condon to cross his property and and made our entrance on
the NW side of the pond behind Dons garage. Hodge Podge
pretty much sums up Walker this season. The pond has set up
and been sunk severl times by the snow. Most of the North end
has been kept open by howling NW winds and just recently
formed a plate. We didn't get the luxury of a uniform set this
year as we did last season. We found a mixture of rough ice,
smooth ice, snow ice, black ice,and lots of lumpy ice .Seldom did
it take more than 3 good swings of the axe to strike water.

Larry kneels on one of the smoother lots of ice that we found on
Walker while performing his 3 swing and a few words to the ice
gods.

The axe measure ranged from 3 and 1/2" to 4 and 1/2" in most
areas we checked.Not quite the plate nor the thickness that I
was looking for. Looks like we'll be needing to purchase extra
locknuts and seat cushions to sail this ol girl.
Larry and I hiked back up the hill behind Dons garage, embarked
the truck and plotted a course for Toddy Pond.

As can be seen in this photo the Keebler Elves didn't plow the
public landing as I was hoping. I was able to follow my footsteps
in the snow from the previous visit so it made the walk much
easier. This piece of ice is like that new car that you have to
swing by and look at every time you get near the dealership. I
kept an eye out this time for the man in green but didn't see him
during this visit.

This is the view South from the boat launch at Toddy. A drive
down the West side of Toddy confirmed that this sheet has some
body to it. From a drive by it looked to be gray, pebbly surface
with a few shiny plates mixed in amongst it.

This ice was much softer than the ice on Walker. Three swings
with the axe would punch through it just off the ramp and with
in 50 feet from shore we were in two swing country. That was
the extent of our ice checking on Toddy, but we did continue a
fact finding mission at Duffy's Diner just across the road. We
were lucky enough to get a most friendly waitress that just
happened to be an avid ice-fishing lady. You find ice info in the
darndest places. We had a great lunch and a great exchange of
stories with lunker landing waitress.
Back to the truck and off to Craig Pond.

Craig Pond is always the topic of conversation amongst the local
ice fishermen so I thought while in the area we should pay it a
visit. The entrance road was a sheet of ice but it was well
plowed and looked to be heavily traveled. Lots of signs and
official type looking gates and locks. I hope I never have to saw
that log that the sign is bolted to. We snuck past the parking
area and on to the permitted launch area to get a quick peak at
the ice conditions.

At first glance it looked to be another snow bowl but Larry
spotted someone on ice skates far down the pond so we thought
it needed further research. We drove back to the designated
parking area, parked and walked the 1/8 mile back to the launch
ramp. I stopped and read most of the signs but I think I did miss
a couple.

We had to hike through a mess of frozen slush and snow when
first getting on Craig Pond. There were ice shacks peppered
along the shore line so it seemed the pond was thin in the area
we wanted to see most. An ice fisherman leaving the pond told
us the middle had just skimmed over a few days ago but they
had 6" around the shoreline. This common phrase was being
used around every pond that we had visited. "It just skimmed
over a few days ago".

Wanting to see for ourselves just how far we could get out onto
the shiny sheet we started spot chopping. Once again we were
on three swing ice but surpisingly we were getting 5"
measurments. It appeared to be a pebbled, snow ice but much
smoother than Walker. Not a bad looking sheet at all. We walked
and chopped our way well out into the darkest looking ice that
we could find and got consistent 5" readings. I don't think I would
have sailed this ice today but it is a sheet to watch for sure.
Launching and parking could be a little complicated on this pond
and it appears to be a favorite with the ice fishermen. I am not
sure if they fish the middle of this pond or not.

The next stop on our pond tour was just up the road on
Alamoosic Lake. Alamoosic has a well plowed ramp with hot
topped access all the way to the ice. It looked like it would be a
great pond to sail if it didn't have 8" of snow on it.

Greene Lake also had the just skimmed over look off the
Jenkins Beach area and other portions were snow covered.

It was great fun to get out and do some ice hunting with Larry
today. I think we both were taught some lessons today as we saw
the effect that three swings of the axe had on differing plates of
ice.

Kevin