Ice or Lack of it – 25 Feb

Had to spend part of the day down in Coralville this morning, so I thought I would post what I saw as I drove by a few places.

Mehaffee Bridge has open water for about a half mile from just above the bridge down past the ramp and the first cove on the opposite side. The ramp itself is still iced in pretty heavily, but if we get a decent breeze that should open up pretty fast.

West overlook is completely open and clear of ice. The tube is not putting out nearly as much water as it was last week, and it looks pretty fishable (although I can’t vouch for the presence of fish in there).

Curtis bridge is open for about 400 yards downriver of the ramp, the ramp is open, and it’s open above the bridge as far as I could see from the 965 bridge. There were at least three boats just above the bridge. Coves between the bridges and Northwest of the 965 bridge (by the road over to Brecht’s Ranch) were still iced in, but I could not see any large chunks floating.

MacBride Causeway had about 150 yards of open water on the East side, ice on the remainder of hte South arm looks questionable.

I put the troller batteries in the boat, now I just need to get a new cranking battery and she’s ready to go.

I checked the main ramp at Macbride Thursday afternoon–the ice there looks pretty skeevy. Right by shore, the top couple inches is really mushy, and a few whacks with the spud bar brought water up. The stuff farther out over deeper water was probably in better shape, but it didn’t look great, either.

Along the west end of the north arm, the ice was in better shape. It was still hard and dry on top, and I couldn’t get any water to come up no matter how much I hit it. I am guessing it is better than that ice by the main ramp because the main ramp catches a lot more sun in the afternoon. I did find one spot on the north arm where the water must have pooled last weekend, and it really ate in to the ice. There I brought up water with a couple good blows from the spud bar. This spot was really easy to see in the day time, but in the dark you wouldn’t see it until you were on it. That is bad, because it is right on top of one of the good brushpiles on that end of the lake. I saw a couple other spots like that, but I didn’t go right up to them and check them.

I don’t have the time today to drag out the shack to catch a few small bluegills and the odd crappie, which is all I got last weekend on Macbride. If the weather forecast is right, there won’t be any safe ice on Macbride by next week. Since I don’t have the time or gas money to make one more trip to Minnesota before spring break, it looks like my ice fishing season is done. Now I have a couple weeks to kill before I get my boat out.

Its pretty interesting, that is, the little things you start to notice when you move someplace new. Today, I headed up to CC to fish below the dam on the Wapsi for a few hours early in the morning. On the way up, I passed several farm ponds still covered with ice. Now, I can in know way vouch for their integrity, but they were as ice covered as any farm pond can be.

This afternoon, I was a good husband and took my wife (still no baby) and mother-in-law down to Kalona to the quilting supply shops in the Amish country. From around Oxford and south to Kalona, all the farm ponds we passed on the backroads were sporting open water. Once I passed Coralville on the way home, above the Iowa river valley, and you started getting into iced-over ponds again. Interesting how a mere 50 miles can make a big difference in the climate.

I’m there, Vike. What “Joe time” there is these next few weeks will be spent cleaning out the tackle box and prepping the boat for the upcoming festivities on the rivers… ‘Tis time to put the ice sled away.

Regards,

Joe