windmere ice

I think it was around 5 to 6 inches of snow in my area yesterday a tad southeast of lake Rosseau. I hope the insulation stops falling from the sky.

where i was had 4 inches on snow on lake and a little better for ice

I was up fishing in Muskoka on Friday and Sunday. I drove by Windemere on my way home to see if people were on the lake. There were 2 guys out there, on what I am guess very thin, inconsistent ice. I watched them walk around between holes almost like they were walking on their tip toes, and they were not not big dudes. It was wide open on Wednesday morning.

There is some big scary cracks you can also see that are very dark in nature not far off.

The lake we fished, we found between 3 inch and 9 inches. The ice at most had 3 inch of clear ice and the rest if, there was more was white crap. The strongest ice was in one area under some snow but was maybe 3 inches of clear. Other area's along pressure cracks that froze water cause of the cold there was close to 9in but still only 3 inch of clear. Fished Friday and it was cold all weekend. Went back to the same spot on Sunday and the ice thickness was the same. Wild how it did not make ice in these temps with no wind.

We spudded and drilled very regularly when heading out and areas we had not yet been on. There was a ton of slush. In some areas there was 2 to 3 inch of clear with 2 inch of white, then a 1.5 in gap and 1.5 inches of ice as a crust. Just strong enough so you did not break through on some occasions.

Even up north the ice is very behind and dangerous in a lot of cases. Be safe, spud, floater suit, gloves, picks, ropes, clean dry clothes and have a plan if you do go in. This year the ice is unsafe in many areas and not even close to consistent in area's that usually are.

Fishing was decent, well very slow, marked much but had higher expectations. Was nice to get out and it was so nice to feel those sun rays. Even on a brisk -14 day the sun warmed you right up.

Here is a photo I took Friday night at Windemere. You can see the guys but check the scary watery cracks not far off shore, check the next post and you can see them better. Cant see them well in this one, but looked nasty. Oh way, bubblers going full tilt too.

Zoomed in view of Windemere - Jan 29, 2021

Most of the fish were like this. Give you and idea of some decent in a bay near by but not much of it. Be Safe.

Thanks for the report hopefully our fellow outdoor enthusiast's listen to your words. Lots of fish to be had and they will be around when the ice isn't.

Those two dudes were my my dad and I. About 6 to 7 inches where we were. Good solid ice (definitely not on our tippy toes...haha) To the right in the picture (where you see the pack ice build up), it was wide open on January 13th. If you keep walking out beyond that into the main part of the lake, you're taking your chances!! One dude who was out there on Sunday drilled into 2 inches, whereas another guy not far from him was in 4 inches. Way too random

This week should hopefully solidify the big lakes (fingers crossed)

Good stuff! Coming along nicely

Did you catch anything while you were out there?>

The access to the ice looked sketchy....

Really slow up there right now. We went out Friday and Saturday and we only got 3 (all of your standard size that you get there), which is rare for Windermere House. Lots of folks out on Saturday and we didn't see much happening around us. I didn't see much on the graph either, which is unusual as there's typically small ones that hang around all day. It may have something to do with the lack of snow cover; we've usually done better there when there's less light penetration.