Last Ice 2020

[New User Name]

It's time to have that talk in the southern third or so of Iowa. 

We still have good ice in Linn and Johnson Counties. I was on a pond of several acres in size by Iowa City last night. The shorelines were a little soft after the warm weather, but I kept my boots dry and got out to about eight inches of good ice over the deeper water. There were a couple of inches of mush on top of that. Fishing was so-so.

I was on a different pond, also in Johnson County, on Friday night. That has a decent amount of runoff going through it, but I was still surprised to find only six inches of ice, at best, over the deep water. No way I would try that one again after the highs in the fifties the next two days. Too bad, because there are some nice bluegills in that water.

The foot of snow predicted for today missed us completely, so who knows if the forecast for the next week is right or not. If it is right, our ice season down here will be done in less than a week. More highs in the fifties forecast for Saturday and Sunday, followed by rain and highs in the fifties on Monday and Tuesday.

It does look like the temps between now and Saturday will mostly maintain what we have for safe ice, so I am going to get out once or twice more around here. Then I have to see how far I have to drive after this next weekend.

[Ice_Fly_Guy]

Most places are still in pretty good shape around Sac county.  You might want to change the year in the topic to 2020 😁

[New User Name]

 

[Mr.Seaguar]

Check the forecast. Lots of 40s in there. Whole state will be done before you know it.

[jstfish]

Time to get the long rods out  and put the snow plows away !!!!!

[Ice_Fly_Guy]

There's still 18" in some places around here.  I think we're good for 2-3 more weeks in certain spots.

[Unclegillhunter]

Time to get the long rods out  and put the snow plows away !!!!!

Please! Go ahead and get your long rods out but please wait on the blower! Put it away and you are tempting fate!
Keep it safe! JDL

[New User Name]

There's still 18" in some places around here.  I think we're good for 2-3 more weeks in certain spots.

That's what I'm  hoping for north of here. Snow instead or rain, and highs in the forties. A foot or more of ice will last a while under those conditions.

But our ice is toast here in east central Iowa and anywhere south of us the first part of next week.

[Kevin23]

River backwaters here around the QC had 13" on Sat. Buddy fished sunday and said when he left just before dark the top 1/4-1/2" was soft. I'm sure it will be "safe" for another 2 weeks at least. Takes a lot of sun power to melt through 8" or so of ice, we had it for one day and since then its been partly sunny and just over freezing. I doubt we've lost anything really since sunday. Lows below freezing for the next few days will help. Unsure if I'll get out again or not, had a pretty good season so not real upset about it coming to an end. I predict at least the end of march before you are launching any boats in the lakes around here. Unless you have a ramp on a north end and can fish a little bit of open water.

[Mr.Seaguar]

Boy was I wrong. Now there are 50s and 60s in the forecast. Better get out there if you are going.

[IceAddict87]

Packed all my stuff up today, as far as total fish caught this was one of my worst seasons so far. Fished one tournament and did ok but otherwise the fishing was nothing great. It sure would be nice to get a good season here in central Iowa one of these years. It’s been awhile since we’ve had one. There is always next year! Always have fun though!

[jstfish]

Yep i think its its official now , we can put the snow blowers and snow plows away !

[New User Name]

I had six to seven inches of good ice on a pond in Johnson County Friday night, with no problems getting out there. Pretty sure that would not be the case now.  Caught some bluegills, but the usual late ice bite did not really happen the last week or two.

At work in Cedar Rapids this morning, the north shorelines on the ponds here that caught the sun all day this weekend are open for several feet, and the south shorelines don't look real good.

I fished a backwater by Prairie du Chien on Saturday. At least 14" of good ice, and nice solid shorelines. Occasional small perch during the afternoon, and a wave of small bluegills right before sundown.

And that will probably be it for my ice season. No time to get out yesterday or the first part of this week, and then finding firm shoreline ice anywhere close to Cedar Rapids is going to be difficult.

The Mississippi is not supposed to come up much this week yet, so I could probably get on the backwaters up around PDC again through the weekend, but if all I catch are thumb-sized perch and 5" bluegills I don't know that it would be worth the trip.

Good to hear, I guess, that I was not the only one who did not have a great ice season. I had some good days of fishing, but no really great days of fishing. Probably another reason to call it good. 

[New User Name]

The pond I walked on in Johnson County nine days ago was completely open yesterday, so I broke out a long rod and fished the south end. No luck.

The ponds here that weren't completely ice-free yesterday are surely all open today.

Lake Macbride had a fair amount of open water around the edges yesterday. Depending on how much rain we get that might be all open in a few days.

More generally, while there may be some safe ice remaining in northern Iowa after tomorrow I am not going to waste any time trying to find it.

See you all in December. Or November. November would be nice.