Clearwater by Annandale ice

I talked to the bait shop on the lake(BJ’s) and they claim to have 4″-6″ out there as of yesterday at noonish. There was an atv that went by earlier in the day on the ice…

Dont get that carried away folks(atv), but it sounds like a place worth fishing to me.

Be careful! Clear water is always moving. There is a ton of current out there. Take a spud if you go.

I agree Chris.. I dont go anywhere this time of year without the Millacs Chisel smacking the ice every few feet.

If anyone out there is looking for a good chisel, you have to check those out closely. No other chisel compares to them and you can easily penetrate 3″ of solid ice on a good smack. Its much safer exploring when your chisel does its job easily and there is no excuse not to constantly check the ice thickness.

I picked up my chisel at Fleet farm. I checked into them and there are 3 different models that I know of. One is a small chisel(30″), the next is a 50″+ one piece, then there is a heavy duty 2 piece chisel. The heavy one I had would go through about 4″ of ice(got stolen). I have the one piece mode now that is a bit lighter(what the store had).

And no, I am in no way affiliated with Jiffy(who makes chisel), but its an excellent product that I would recommend to anyone looking for a GOOD chisel.

That first hole by bj’s can be good for crappies and gills up shallow. Does bj’s still rent houses?

Mike I believe they do but will get a confirmation on that for you..
But yes you guys are correct Clearwater is a dangerous lake for newbies in the summer and winter. This lake has alot of structure and when one may think it is deep it is shallow. Winter time you will find heaves in the ice but that is not the only unsafe areas beware of the narrows on the NORTH end many cars have gone thru over there.

Mike~
Just got off the phone with BJ’s they will have one house they rent out and they said a week in advance notice. They will set the house out in the area you wish to fish and must stay on Clearwater lake cannot be brought to any of the other chains connected. Hope this helps. Otherwise you will see me out there alot this winter..

My brother and I went through the ice on the boat ramp next to Mc Brides. We both have never been there and were coming back in and decided to go up the boat ramp since we had the trailer with the ice houses on it. No one said anything about that culvert (I noticed it as I was swimming)- Luckily we were close to shore and my Bro’s Girlfriend’s friends got the wheeler out and no of our fishing stuff was ruined. Well the wheeler will need some work. Nice first time out. It could’ve been worse.

Yeah besides the culvurt there the river is not to far off either your best bet would have been to enter the lake from BJ’s yes he charges but the water is a bit cold for swimming. Later when the ice is better there is no problem with the landing there at McBrides I snowmobile thru that culvurt with no issues.. Glad to hear you made it out ok and hopefully the wheeler will survive with a little blowing out thawing out and a new plug..

Lesson learned

That sucks Ebass.. glad everything got out.

On your weeler.. if you got water in the oil.. better go pick up a case of oil.. change it and run it for a short period of time between changes.. keep changing it until you dont get any more air bubbles.

I assume the motor was still running when it went under.. keep your face clear when you pull out the spark plug.. the water in the cylander can be under a lot of pressure! (old faithful).

I have put atv’s under water a few times.. never by going through ice. If its ever possible, try to kill the ignition before it goes down.

I have always gone out of BJ’s.. I know nothing about any of the other access points during the winter time.

Thanks Fisher Dave! It’s my brother’s wheeler and his buddies were taking it apart that night. Of course his cell was on the wheeler so I can’t call him to see how it is. It was the best place to fall through – sucks that it happened, but glad it was there instead of the abyss.

The fishing was alright around dusk. Nothing big, but a couple of pike, crappie and some lil walleyes kept things interesting.

We wanted to fish clearwater this weekend but opted to hit other lakes without current. She needs a few more cold days to thicken up.