Travel conditions, Wondering about travel

[nobull]

Good morning all want to get out one last time 3.5 hours away can anyone help with lake conditions for atv travel out of Port Bolster area to perch grounds . Thanks & play safe

[Fishon]

i'm in the same situation. Coming from a couple of hours away. Trying to find out how much slush, snow, crust there is out of Port Bolster/ Pefferlaw/ Beaverton area. Can you get around on 4 wheelers yet or do you need a snowmobile? Nobody seems to want to reply (probably not many people been out lately). There must be someone from the area that can give us a report!

[Fishdip]

Someone pisted this on another site,hope this helps

[Fishon]

Thanks for the reply. I'm thinking of going on Monday. Hopefully someone can give a report on up to date conditions by sunday evening! Thanks again!

[Fishdip]

I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon

[Whynot]

Best way to get info on the conditions is to contact an operator. And if it happens to align with your accommodations, patronizing them with parking/bait purchases is a great way to say thank you.

Just spoke to Casey's Bait & Tackle and she said a good number of people went out on ATVs today and "nobody has called for a tow yet."

I'm sure (also hoping) a member later.

[moose1948]

Going whit Casey on Monday will let you know how it is like to go back whit my ATV and my portable hut after that.

[Grasshopper]

Not sure whether this is helpful or not……
I was out yesterday near Lefroy and conditions were excellent (except for the crazy winds).
Walking out was good but if you have cleats, I would highly recommend you have them on.
As for the ice, id say there was a solid 12” of dark ice followed by white ice on top (also solid).
The winds blew me a new hairstyle and the fish were turned off….
Had some lookers but not even a nibble.
Was out there from 7:00 am to 2:30 pm…..

[COSPER]

I was out yesterday at Virginia beach from 730 to 130 and had 3 perch swim by and not even a nibble
I think it must have been my worst 6 hrs ever on the ice

[jasonccccc]

went out with casey's today, the condition is good. The slush is basically gone. Ice thickness was almost 24 inches including the packed ice, at least that's how thick my spot was, this was near Taj's huts.

VERY SLOW!

By the time I done setting up, it was around 7am. Not much going on, small groups of dinks come and go, I managed to pick out 2 keepers out of them, and few small ones that I released.
Then as the wind picked up, they were all gone.

Around 2:30-3:00ish, there was a short window where the wind calmed down a bit, the schools of fish came back, but still tight lipped. Spoons, jigging rap, ripping rap,dead stick, tungsten jig heads, plastic baits, whole minnow, half minnow, minnow head, nothing really worked, they would just bump it! Out of all the things I tried, the dead stick got the most action tho. I dropped it all the way to the bottom, then the fish would hone in, and attacked the minnow but not taking it. I got 2 more keepers out of the chaos by accidentally hooking them. And if I lifted the minnow off the bottom by even an inch, they would stop and turn away, don't really know why. Packed up around 4

Even tho the fishing wasnt that great, it was still a beautiful day out on the ice.

[Fishon]

i spoke to a friend this afternoon that just got off the phone with his buddy fishing out of Beaverton and towards Port Bolster. He said there were a lot of slushy spots out there and he helped several ATV's that were stuck in slush.
I saw another friend of mine that texted someone he knows and he sent him a couple of photos of their ATV's stuck in slushy spots.
It sounds like there's not as much slush around Port Bolster until you venture beyond the huts. Then there's pockets of slush. These slushy conditions will be continuously changing as we see more warm and cold temps, until the snow renders down and the water gets a chance to drain off. We might need to drill some drain holes out there!
Also, all of the reports said fishing was very slow. I wonder if it's because of all the snow on the ice and the fish haven't really seen daylight in a month! That. might make a good topic for another post! LOL!
Hopefully conditions, and the bite improve real soon!
Thanks for the replies guys, keep the updates coming!

[Whynot]

Was out yesterday, launched from Casey's; me on a sled, buddy on an ATV (Polaris 500). Top surface was hardpacked, even looked like glare ice in some spots, with occasional snow patches (which were deeper once you got in the 30+ fow zone, especially near where cracks had formed and caught snow drifts).

Yesterday everything was firm enough to run ATVs no top, for the most part, and enough snow to keep sleds nice and cool. My buddy had no issues. Saw a few ATVs working hard in the deeper snow patches, but everyone was getting around it seemed.

But...

The surface is a false layer of compacted and frozen snow with a slush layer between the refrozen melt and the actual ice. Approx +4" of hard white ice on top, with a layer of slush 3-4" before the hard black ice (varied by a few inches tbd location). There's enough of a void that smaller perch would try to swim in the gap between layers (and slush your hole )

With the warmth coming this week and possible rain next weekend the lake conditions will be completely different. Lots of ice, that shouldn't be an issue, but we're gong to transition to spring run-off season quickly, with conditions and shore access changing daily.

[Fishon]

Thank you so much for the DETAILED, up to date report! That's pretty much what I was expecting to here. I'll be traveling by ATV, I think I better wait for this warmup to render down the snow and slush. We like to fish all over in that deeper water towards Thorah Island. It wouldn't be a veery enjoyable outing if we were getting stuck. I have a friend that's fishing Tuesday and Wednesday, he'll give me an update when he gets back.

How was the fishing for you ?

[Whynot]

Fishing was slow but we managed enough in the bucket for a feed. 35ish fow, tried a few spots.
Lots of dinks on camera, they came in schools but weren't super aggressive. However, if a jumbo came into the zone it usually hit straight away.
Few herring and even a couple smelt.

[mukluk]

Thanks Whynot for the update on conditions both travel and on fish.