The weather, she’s a-changin’

I dream of those old-fashioned childhood winters. Hard freezes that lock the ice to the shoreline on all sides of the lake, and just enough wind to scour the snow away and no worry about pitching through when the ice caves in under my feet.

The memories are still fresh even though my first ice fishing trip was taken about 65 years ago. It was at North Lake near Millington in Tuscola County. Our parents owned a small lot and kept an old house trailer there, and we would visit the area often from January through March.

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

Not many lakes have very safe ice. Use extreme caution.

The early-ice action always featured a good bite. We had triangulated the green weed beds with three shoreline landmarks, 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 would lowered a six-inch sucker below the ice near the weeds, and caught some nice pike on tip-ups.

That was then and this is now. I don't know whether everyone has been paying attention, but the last three or four years has featured much more wind from the east. Such winds often bring rain, and heavy rains make early ice treacherous and unstable. This winter is the mildest I can ever remember.

One wonders if we are in the middle of the global warming that others have talked about for 15 years. I'm not a scientist, nor a meteorologist, but I am observant. I remember things about the previous years, and I see a pattern forming that I really don't like.

The past several years has produced rather dramatic changes in the Great Lakes and some 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. Five years ago many Great Lakes marinas had to dredge so boats could enter and leave their slips during the summer months.

Check out the Betsie River where it flows under the M-22 bridge between Elberta and Frankfort. Chinook salmon and steelhead runs have been poor in this river for a few years, and the reason is low water. 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 ice. That they lived was a miracle. The ice stayed bad most of the winter.

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 November, and for a week it was making ice on small lakes.

No early winter this year. It was brown at Christmas.

Then, before Nov. 15 and the firearm deer opener, it began to warm up. It now shows little sign of making any ice after today’s all-day reasonably warm temperatures.

Bare ground is a common sight. Our opening-day snow disappeared by mid-day. The deer can roam wherever they wish, and they have easy access to green fields, unpicked cornfields, and open woodlands. There is no need for deer to yard up except in some areas that always get heavy snow, and this could result in an excellent winter for whitetail survival. What is good for the deer is good for wild turkey numbers as well.

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

The weather is changing. That much should be obvious to all, and it is having an effect on many of those who depend on winter sport for their yearly income. Bait shops will suffer if safe ice doesn't come soon.

The snowmobile industry is facing a big loss of revenue as are northern communities that cater to sled riders and skiers. These high gas prices will cause For Sale signs to be posted on many sleds this  winter. Downhill skiing also faces tough conditions without cold and snow.

A lack of snow cover keeps winter hunters house-bound. They feed their hounds all year in hopes of having good snow, and when it comes late, bunny hunting is pretty poor.

Downhill skiers have man-made snow but that doesn’t work for hunters.

Weather patterns are changing. Will this change continue? Who knows, but if it does, the economy of northern Michigan will suffer once again as it has for the past few years. The stakes are growing ever higher now, and people can hang on only so long before being forced to close their businesses and seek other employment … all too often, out of state.

I try to avoid such doom-and-gloom columns, but the changing weather is a major topic of conversation in every coffee shop in the north. Many people long for the old-fashioned winters, and I am one of them.

Rainy weather makes for miserable driving, and anglers and hunters find little solace in a winter rainstorm.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors