Lockhart Rd Ice, Ice on the West Side

Took my boys out for a few hours Sunday. We walked about 300M straight out from the end of the road and found 6-8" of good ice. There were lots of snowmobiles and ATVs out buzzing around, and several huts further out. Around 500 or meters off shore there is a pretty large pressure crack, I am unsure of the conditions directly around the crack.

Not much in the way of fish for us - the wind made it a task to get the shelter set up. When the wind is up, it's such a massive chore to go put new anchors in, break the hut down, move the kids and gear, then set it all back up again to try a new spot. We had to pick a spot and stick with it. Unfortunately, we picked poorly this time around!

You fished those winds yesterday? How old are your kids?
You faired well with conditions, could be chasing g your hut still...lol
Part of the learning experience, I try to fish a hole for 5 min to catch something before setting up. Tough when it's -20 with wind and kids.

We were out on Sunday, not yesterday thank goodness. Yesterday would've been miserable and pretty close to impossible!

My boys are 7 and 10. I have a fairly good setup process for wind - two anchors in the ice on the windy side before opening the hut. Learned this after a day when I was by myself and had to chase my portable across the lake on foot after it took off in the wind.

Very nice to get a good old fashioned Canadian winter this time around..

Ronzigator
Thanks for the ice report. Are we still able to park on the street without getting ticketed?

Yes, you can still park just past Woodlands Road on the north side of Lockhart. It's about a 200 meter walk back to the lake.

Thanks Ronzigator. Do you know if it's the same deal at the end of Mapleview Dr? I'm excited to hit LS, haven't been able to get there in 2 years due to the poor ice conditions

yup good system, always put down at least 1 anchor before popping any sides. I will always remember the time i saw a red ice fishing shack rolling down Penetang harbor while snowmobiling, then i saw two young guys about a mile behind running after it i chased it down for them and they were pretty thankful

I couldn't recall what the deal was with Mapleview, so just went for a quick drive to check. There are No Parking signs on both sides of the road from Fleming Blvd to the lake. Beyond that, there are no indicators of no parking along Mapleview, though there are a fair number of driveways you'd have to work around.

If you have a snow machine you may be able to park at the end of Warnica, just off of Mapleview, where there's a nice big turnaround spot.

Ice looks good off Mapleview for the distance I could see through the blowing snow. Just a heads-up, we've gotten the better part of a foot of snow since the weekend with huge winds, so there will be some nasty drifts to navigate. My plans to take my ATV out on Friday might have to be put on hold in favour of walking.

Much appreciated

Update to the parking situation - the town has posted the entirety of Lockhart as No Parking. Blame Mattamy and Parkbridge.Anyhow, you an park on Crescent, across the road from Woodlands.

Easy travel out there on the ATV today. I'm not sure where all of that snow blew to, but it's not on this side of the lake anyway.

Good bite today, saw some real lunker perch down there but only managed to hook a few midsizers. 6-8" of ice @ 25ft of water. The pressure crack closest to shore is frozen up, but there is a bigger one further out that I didn't see anyone cross today, so I'm unsure of its condition.

Ronzigator....do you know what the ice is like off Long Shoal? Thanks

I've seen huts out that way, however I'm not sure which route those people have taken to get there. There's a large pressure crack between the west side and Long Shoal, I'm not sure of the ice conditions around it as I haven't been out that far. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to potentially sketchy ice

I rather be called a wimp then a fricken idiot. Ice safety is something I don't fool around with either.

Anyway...thank you for all your info. I'll let you know if I make it out this weekend.

I was back out today for a couple hours, and there is a path out to Long Shoal from Lockhart that crosses the large pressure crack. I didn't cross it myself, but I rode over that way and watched two people cross it on a snowmobile with no problem. The crossing is pretty close to straight out from Lockhart. Lots of huts out there.

Best luck today was around 25' of water. Found a nice patch of debris and landed a dozen or so medium sized perch. Saw some monsters, but I guess that's why they're monsters, they know better than to take the bait.

ATV travel was slower today after more snow fell in the past couple of days. I could travel without too much trouble, but it was 10-15km/h in the denser stuff.