I Dream Of Old Ice-Fishing Days

I dream of old-fashioned winters. Hard freezes that locked the ice to the shoreline on all sides with just enough wind to scour the snow away. There would be no worry about pitching through when the ice caves in under my feet.

The memories are still fresh and vivid even though my first ice fishing trip was taken about 60 years ago. It was on a little lake near Millington in Tuscola County named North Lake. My parents owned a small lot and kept an old house trailer there, and brother George and I visited the area often from January through March.

North Lake held bluegills, largemouth bass, sunfish and some pike. Ice-up came quick and hard that yeard, freezing the lake's surface, and within a week there was six to 10 inches of firm clear ice with a skiff of snow on top.

Early ice usually produces the best fishing.

The early-ice action always featured a good bite, and I'm hoping to be ice fishing this year by January 1. We triangulated the green weedbeds with three shoreline landmarks to mark our hotspots, and often could return to the same holes that we'd fished the week before. The 'gills and sunfish would still be there, and we often lowered a six-inch sucker below the ice near the deep-water edge of the weedbeds, and occasionally caught some nice pike.

That was then and this is now. I don't know whether anyone has been paying attention, but the last three or four years has featured much more wind from the east. Many of the smaller lakes around Traverse City are barely ice-covered now but there is little action. We need less snow and more ice. I wonder:

Are we in the middle of the global warming that everyone has talked about for the past 15 years. I'm not a scientist, and certainly not a meteorologist, but I am observant. I remember things about the previous years, and I see a pattern forming and it's one I don't care for.

The past several years has produced some rather dramatic changes in the Great Lakes and many inland lakes. The Great Lakes undergo a cyclic rise and fall of water levels over the years, and levels have been low for longer than normal. Several years ago many marinas had to dredge so boats could enter and leave their slips during the summer trolling months.

Low-water levels affect some lakes.

Look at the Betsie River where it flows under the M-22 bridge between Elberta and Frankfort. The water level is up a bit but Chinook salmon and steelhead runs have been relatively poor for five years, and part of the reason is low water in Lake Michigan. There is barely enough water flowing through the channel to allow fish to run upstream.

Several years ago Crystal Lake didn't freeze well and I did a story about three men (two from the same family) that broke through the thin ice. That they lived was a miracle. The ice stayed bad most of the winter that year.

We can take a long look at this year. The stage was set for some excellent ice. Cold weather, freezing temperatures and no wind set the stage in early December, and for two weeks the cold weather made ice every night.

Unseasonably warm temperatures and too much snow doesn't help lakes.

Then, the week before Christmas, it began to warm up. Our January thaw began in late December, and it shows little sign of making really good ice. A persistent low-30s temp yesterday and today is taking its toll, and as this is being written, four more inches of snow has fallen. Too much snow acts as an insulation, and prevents safe ice from forming

Deer are free to roam wherever they wish, and they still have access to numerous unpicked cornfields with several inchs of snow on the ground and what ice still exists. There is no need for deer to yard up, and this may result in a good winter for deerl survival. What is good for the deer is good for wild turkeys as well, but not necessarily good for winter ice fishing.

It also could bring on an early steelhead run, and put lots of fish in the river before it freezes over again. I've seen that happen, and many fish move upstream to winter over in deep holes. I remember once, many years ago when I was guiding, when the steelhead run was over long before the spring thaw began. People who waited until April 1 found few if any fish left.

The weather is changing. That much is obvious, and it is having an effect on many people who depend on winter sport for most of their yearly income. Baitshops will suffer if safe ice doesn't come soon.

The snowmobile industry is facing a loss of revenue as are northern communities that cater to sled riders. Downhill skiing, although I don't partake in that sport, is another business that faces tough conditions.

A lack of deep snow cover keeps winter hunters housebound. They feed their hounds all year in hopes of having good snow, and when it comes late, it is often spotty or we wind up, like last year, with more than 200 inches of snow.

Changing weather patterns do not help ice conditions.

The weather patterns are changing. Will this climate change continue? Who knows, but if it does, the economy of northern Michigan will suffer still another major loss. The stakes have grown higher the past few years, and people can hang on only so long before being forced to fold up their business and seek other employment, which all Michiganders know is nearly impossible with our nation's high unemployment rate at about 13 percent.

I try to avoid such doom-and-gloom columns, but the changing weather is talked about in every coffee shop throughout the north. Many people long for the old-fashioned winters, and I am one of them. This snow, melt, rain slop makes for miserable driving conditions, and it produces little fish and game action.

So, if I can enter a pesonal plea, turn off the overhead snow machine and gives us some hard and thick ice. There's enough snow, and in some areas, too much snow for bunny hunting.

The season can be saved by solid ice and good winter fishing conditions. The last deer season has about 10 days to go, and the deer aren't moving. So, perhaps the ice fishing can pick up some of the financial slack facing northern businesses.

How about two solid months of great ice fishing? We need a change, and one for the better would be welcomed.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors