Simcoe slush

I keep hearing people talk about it but no one's provided any pics.
Can anyone throw up some pics so I and or others can evaluate if they can or can't
make it in and on the ice this weekend.

We talking 3?6?12? = inches of slush? More? People acting like it's bad but is it really?
Coming back from North bay and we had no issues at all out there with the snow.

Didn't hear anything about Taj (Casey) closing up shop so is it me or is everyone just
over reacting? I really wanna go out this weekend if possible after a very slow week
on North bay.

Was out there last weekend in the storm and going out now. Obviously lot of snow on top but under was a few inches of slush. Nothing crazy I noticed. But I couldn't tell if it was from me drilling and pulling out water or if the slush was just there to begin with. Either way I didn't really have any trouble walking out there other than the deep snow. Was at K-bay.

Nip freezes way sooner, and has had a fraction of the snowfall as Simcoe - it’s not the same. At some point you just have to go and see for yourself, if you really want to go out this weekend.

My friend has a hut 11km out on simcoe and dreads trying to get out there to rescue it, don’t think anyone has been there since the snows. He says 2-3ft drifts in places and mega slush. Whatever that means. He’s pretty hardcore though and even he says if you go off the trail you’re F####d. find an old trail to follow and likely get some fishing in without too much work. Go off the trails and who knows.

Sounds more realistic to me. Keep me posted sir.

@drew nipissing has had the same snow fall tbh..

This in vb
https://youtu.be/Nkc6gpndb80?si=TE6x33YCgRuoeMWr

The slush is a ft deep in some places under the snow.

What does it do the ice thats submerged under the water? Will it turn white and soften up? Just asking as we don't usually have to deal with what a little further up north dose.

Will be heading out Sunday from Port Bolster and will post about conditions.

The two direct reports I've received are snow cover between 3-4feet in drifts with slush averaging a foot. I have a wide track Expedition so hopefully will be able to get around without getting stuck.


As for North bay snow vs Simcoe, Enviro Canada is reporting 29cms on the ground at North bay airport, 115cms on the ground in Orillia (couldn't find decent data on a south Simcoe weather station). So almost 4x the snow on ground and the ice was arguably half as thick as NB (compared when we were up there 2+wks ago) which would lead to more deflection and slush.

Yeah... got out today and noticed lot of slush under the snow. I was on foot. But still had a fantastic time. Got my FIRST white fish ever! Finally mission accomplished. As for the slush... I knew we should have plowed the whole lake as soon as the snow hit.

I walked out from Lockhart Road this afternoon, I needed my snowshoes to make the trek doable while pulling my smitty. I found a snowmobile trail and walked on that as much as I could to get to my spot. Walking off the trails was a heckuva workout.

There were people out on snowmobiles buzzing around without trouble, but there is absolutely no way you'd drive an ATV on the lake right now and not get stuck. There are occasional spots where you can walk easily, but most spots are heavily drifted, and some spots are 30cm of slush.

The ice is weighed down by snow, so any time a hole gets drilled it creates a new slush patch. I used my snowshoes to pack down a pad for my popup and setup on that. The water came up about 10cm above the hole, so that packed-down snow base was great. Setting up on bare ice, you'd be up past your ankles in water at this point.

Had a great afternoon fishing for perch, though. I was out for 3hrs, caught about 30, with a handful of those being jumbos. Had to work hard to get them to commit. My best luck was on a white Mepps spoon. I've got a spot where there is a lot of cabbage on the bottom, seems to be consistently good.

If I'd checked the board before I went out today I'd have grabbed some pictures of the slush for you.

Gratz on the white fish

@Others Wonder if the snow dog will be able to keep traction on top or if it will
sink into the slush and get stuck. Guess we going to find out sooner or later.

Saw on FB this morning that Tim Hales is pulling his huts off. Too bad the start of the season was optimistic.

That's unfortunate. I was going to head out this morning but late last night decided to check this site to make sure the lake was good to go. Good thing that I did.

We made the mistake of going off the track on Wednesday and spent 8 hours on our own rescue mission instead of fishing. Didn't even get a line wet. We were about a kilometer North of Jackson's Point. Our machine is an old one and has a narrow track. Machines designed to float over the snow with wider paddled tracks and wider skis did better but they were sticking to the trails as well. We even watched an operator's Bombadier get stuck in the slush twice.

We were stuck in 2 feet of snow with 8-12 inches of slush underneath, depending on which part of the slush puddle we were in.

Hope this helps.

A shop of our trail after getting her out of the slush a few times but bogging back down again.