Author Topic: Ice out at 3000 feet  (Read 4259 times)

Offline Skywagon

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Ice out at 3000 feet
« on: May 04, 2020, 06:49 PM »
Today I brought the boat and plane out of hibernation. Though most of the lake is still covered with ice, there is open water from my house on north for over 3/4 of a mile, plenty of room to run the boat around and enough distance to take off with the plane. After giving the dog a ride in the boat, there was time to take the bird out for a shakedown flight. The plane was almost full of gas, so on a whim I decided to run up to the cabin to check out the ice situation. The cabin is located between Sioux Lookout and Pickle lake, near the Miniss water system, 120 miles by road from home, or a little over 70 air miles, I can fly it in 50 minutes.

When I flew over the cabin, most of the lake was still ice covered, but because of the water flowing out the end near the cabin, it was partially open, but not nearly enough room to land, so I took a picture and headed back home.

The first picture is of the lake the cabin is on showing the water flow. The second picture is going over Lac Seul. Minitaki and most of the lakes of any size in that area are still ice covered with ice.




Offline RStock521

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2020, 10:22 PM »
Very cool, thanks for sharing!

Offline Unclegillhunter

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2020, 05:42 AM »
Great way to social distance! Thanks for sharing!
Keep it safe! JDL

Offline Skywagon

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2020, 07:26 AM »
The wind shifted overnight, ice floated in and covered my escape route.  When the ice starts moving like this, I know it won't be many days before it is gone.  I saw a small lake trout lake from the air yesterday that was open, plan on slipping a small boat in there tomorrow and try to catch a couple.




Offline Fry Flier

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2020, 09:54 AM »
Very nice, thanks for sharing.
May your tip-up spool while your flag raises with hopes of landing the big one.

Offline jedhead

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #5 on: May 05, 2020, 06:36 PM »
That's pretty cool, flew out of Ear Falls 2 years ago, beautiful area . Tremendous walleye and pike fishing.

Offline perch chacer

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2020, 07:44 PM »
I would guess when you live and fish that far North you need a float plane, must be cool to fly around up there over the wilderness.

Offline jedhead

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2020, 07:08 PM »
I would guess when you live and fish that far North you need a float plane, must be cool to fly around up there over the wilderness.
my guess is best way to get around up there, gotta love it!

Offline Skywagon

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #8 on: May 07, 2020, 06:10 PM »
I would guess when you live and fish that far North you need a float plane, must be cool to fly around up there over the wilderness.

Ear Falls is a long way from NJ, which outfitter did you use and which lake did you go too?

Offline Skywagon

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #9 on: May 07, 2020, 06:38 PM »
I would guess when you live and fish that far North you need a float plane, must be cool to fly around up there over the wilderness.

I don't "need a float Plane", but it sure as heck opens up a lot of opportunities when you have one.  As jedhead can testify, when flying over N/W Ontario, there seems to be about as much water (lakes) as land and there are not many roads, north of my cabin there are none, from there six hours by small plane is polar bear country.  For a some of us it is a huge candy store, always wondering if there are fish in this lake, or that, when flying over, does anyone fish there? an endless supply of places that beg to be fished, the plane is part of the package that allows that to happen as well as speeds up the travel time.

Offline perch chacer

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #10 on: May 09, 2020, 03:02 PM »
Skywagon, do you put skis on the plane for the Winter, so you can land on the lakes?

Offline Skywagon

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #11 on: May 09, 2020, 06:02 PM »
Skywagon, do you put skis on the plane for the Winter, so you can land on the lakes?

No I don't put skis on, but most people in this area do.  My plane is a 5 place, it is fairly heavy and if I were to get it stuck in slush it would be a major event getting it out, so rather than risk that, plus the hassle of switching to skis and no easy way to get it in the hangar in the winter, I just leave it on floats all year.  I belong to our local flying club, we have a Piper Cub that is available for rent to the members on floats in the summer and skis in the winter, so there is always that option for skis, or else just go with a friend.

Here is a picture taken right after I built the hangar in the small bay by our house.  I have a rail system for the plane and boat to get them in the hangar, as you can imagine, there would be no easy way to pull the plane in if it was on skis, if there was I might consider it.  Note: I did erase the tail numbers in photoshop before posting this picture, just because I thought it prudent.



Offline perch chacer

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #12 on: May 12, 2020, 05:07 PM »
Can you drive to your cabin by vehicle or snow machine in the Winter?

Offline Skywagon

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #13 on: May 13, 2020, 06:31 AM »
There are no roads to the cabin, it is water, or air access only.  In winter we can get there by snow machine down bush roads and trail from the main road, it is a little over a 30 mile trip.  Winter is the time to move material, this February we hauled in truss's and all the lumber needed to build a new storage shed.





Offline perch chacer

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #14 on: May 15, 2020, 11:46 AM »
What kind of fish are in the lake your cabin is on and do you ice fish it?  Are there other cabins on the lake?

Offline Skywagon

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #15 on: May 15, 2020, 09:00 PM »
Walleye and Northern are the main species, no lake trout, I only fish it for walleye.  I don't ice fish the lake much, as the walleye bite usually isn't all that good until later in March, so that does not leave much time until the walleye season closes (usually around the 15th of April).  There is one other cabin on the lake, it is a couple of miles from mine.  The people who have the other cabin come in the fall to moose hunt every year, but may only come once or twice a year at the most to fish.  The lake is remote so nobody else fishes it, not an uncommon occurrence in this area, there are so many lakes that the hard to get to ones are not fished, or at least not fished a lot.

Offline perch chacer

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Re: Ice out at 3000 feet
« Reply #16 on: May 18, 2020, 12:06 PM »
Thanks and have a great Summer.

 



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