IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Illinois => Ice Fishing Illinois => Topic started by: bassin140 on Feb 02, 2021, 11:56 AM
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Looking great for Illinois ice as the polar vortex will make its way deep into the country. The extended forecast should give us safe ice clear to march.....fingers cross!!!
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It's definitely looking good. I'm just glad all the snow around here melted off/through the ice. Starting over from open water or skim is a lot better than a cold shot with snow covered, crappy ice.
I'm guessing we'll be solid enough to walk again locally by Saturday evening or Sunday, and in real good shape by the middle of next week.
*added 2/3 530am*
Everything that was open water is skinned back over now, so I'm pretty hopeful for an outing on Sunday with the Friday/Saturday forecast looking so good. 5° and calm here at 4am.
(https://i.postimg.cc/V5x68Sbx/IMG-20210203-055015.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/V5x68Sbx)
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looking like an extended season this year. ;D
ordered a new flasher yesterday since one of my old ones has to be sent in for repair
think i better get the heater out today and make sure it still works, gonna be a bit chilly next week
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Ha. I always use the heat. I hate fishing with gloves on, and my hands get cold easy, so heat is a must for me. I'm ready to roll as soon as the ice firms up again.
Glad I loaded up on fuel last season. I still have about 5 quarts, so that should get me through the rest of the year. I can fish an entire day sunrise to sunset on a quart, and most days I only go for 3-4 hours.
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Vortex shmortex. Cold air dropping in from the arctic, but suddenley we need special bling phrases. ::)
Gonna chill down a bit here in the southern banana belt.
Saturday NightPartly cloudy, with a low around -15 Northwest wind 8 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.
SundayMostly sunny and cold, with a high near -4. Northwest wind around 8 mph. Dangerpus windchills.
Sunday NightPartly cloudy, with a low around -14. West wind around 7 mph. Windchills of -38.
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Vortex shmortex. Cold air dropping in from the arctic, but suddenley we need special bling phrases. ::)
Gonna chill down a bit here in the southern banana belt.
Saturday NightPartly cloudy, with a low around -15 Northwest wind 8 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.
SundayMostly sunny and cold, with a high near -4. Northwest wind around 8 mph. Dangerpus windchills.
Sunday NightPartly cloudy, with a low around -14. West wind around 7 mph. Windchills of -38.
I'm a solid 300mi south of the cities by latitude, and we're looking at lows between 0 and -10 from Saturday through next Thursday. We were back to open water holes on Monday, so this is just what we needed around here.
We haven't had a day below 5 degres all winter here, and sub-zero in Febtober is fairly uncommon, so I'll take it, regardless of what they want to call it 😝
Our ice has been spotty and marginal all season, so this is a fantastic turn of weather.
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I'm a solid 300mi south of the cities by latitude, and we're looking at lows between 0 and -10 from Saturday through next Thursday. We were back to open water holes on Monday, so this is just what we needed around here.
We haven't had a day below 5 degres all winter here, and sub-zero in Febtober is fairly uncommon, so I'll take it, regardless of what they want to call it 😝
Our ice has been spotty and marginal all season, so this is a fantastic turn of weather.
I am also quite a ways south in shelby county.....where you at?
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I am also quite a ways south in shelby county.....where you at?
Iroquois County, but I've done some fishing on both sides of the state line. We've had fishable ice off and on since Dec 29th, but it has been marginal at best. 4.5" is the most I have found all season, and a lot of water has been skim or not near enough to walk on.
Even the ice I've fished has been back and forth between fishable and death a few times with the temps on such a rollercoaster. I stepped through once a few weeks ago.
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Snowin' and blowin' like a 🐄 down here right now. Predicting blizzard conditions (close to it already) and then the -15 below with the highs of -3 below...must be that Polar Express bearin' down on us.❄❄ ::)
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/04/weather/polar-vortex-snow-storm-blizzard-wind-chill/index.html
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It's mid 30s and raining here. Supposed to shift to snow for a while this afternoon, then clear off for the temperature crash tonight... I'm just hoping the forecast is close. They've been pretty bad on the temperature predictions around here this winter.
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It's mid 30s and raining here. Supposed to shift to snow for a while this afternoon, then clear off for the temperature crash tonight... I'm just hoping the forecast is close. They've been pretty bad on the temperature predictions around here this winter.
Sending help....I'll turn the box fans on and point 'em yer way. ;D
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I'm just glad all the snow melted off/through the ice the other day. Even if they undershot these temps by a fair margin, we should make pretty good ice over the next week.
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Can't wait! I may burn a couple vacation days next week...
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it is pouring rain here, should get rid of the remaining crappy ice
its gonna be go time next week, looking forward to it
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Can't wait! I may burn a couple vacation days next week...
I'm probably going to use one next Friday, too. We get President's Day as a holiday, so that would give me a 4 day weekend.
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Just had an extremely rapid transition from rain to snow around 1:45pm. Big wet flakes, and the temp is starting to drop. It was 37° at 1... 35 now. Wind is kicking about 25mph, too.
*added 2/6/21 1030am*
Ice firmed back up a lot faster than expected. I fished from 730-9 this morning on a pond that was around 1/2 open water on Monday. The ice varied from 2-7" but it was pretty decent quality ice. I ended up sitting over 4FOW on about 5 inches. The bite was pretty steady, but super light. I iced 6 gills and a sunfish, and missed probably a dozen bites. It was 1° when I got setup, and 12° when I packed it in to come home.
(https://i.postimg.cc/mtgfbnHc/IMG-20210206-103008.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/mtgfbnHc)
(https://i.postimg.cc/hJ7KKmTX/IMG-20210206-070747.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/hJ7KKmTX)
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Fished from 930-1230 on a private lake today in Knox County. Slow bite.
9" of ice.
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I took my boy back out to the same pond from 330-sunset. Ice was 6" over 3FOW. Bite was slow. I got one decent crappie and 4 dink gills. He landed 2 decent gills, so he was happy.
(https://i.postimg.cc/nXyFtX27/IMG-20210206-161954.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/nXyFtX27)
(https://i.postimg.cc/s1jVydYn/IMG-20210206-153357.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/s1jVydYn)
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Out on a pond now. Bite is very slow... lots of lookers, not many takers.
*added 2/8*
Ended up with 10 dink gills. They all hit between about 830-945am, then they shut right down again and just passed by the baits again. I packed it in and went home around 1030am.
We got about 2" of snow overnight, but it is fluffy powder, so it won't hurt the ice. Probably will slow the thickening down signicantly, though.
(https://i.postimg.cc/FYZZn535/IMG-20210207-055716.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/FYZZn535)
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i thought i was looking forward to this cold weather!!! lol
really cant go today or tomorrow but gonna check a spot or two this afternoon, i am guessing 6 inches at least on a couple small ponds.
plan to fish wednesday but i've never had much luck when its this cold
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Through March eh? I hope you're right but I wouldn't count on it. Things can change rapidly.
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i thought i was looking forward to this cold weather!!! lol
really cant go today or tomorrow but gonna check a spot or two this afternoon, i am guessing 6 inches at least on a couple small ponds.
plan to fish wednesday but i've never had much luck when its this cold
The ponds I was on this weekend were both small, and they had 3-7.5" depending on the spot yesterday. Picked up about an inch over what they had Saturday. If this snow blows clear so they can build faster I think part of one of them may end up with a foot by the weekend, because it is thickening up super fast.
I'm going out in a few hours after work, so it will be interesting to see how much more ice they have put on since yesterday morning.
*added later*
Fishing was crap, but the ice is building nicely. I sat on a small pond with 8" for a couple hours. 3" of white ice on top of 5" of good clear stuff. Lots of fish moving, but not many biters. Setup and takedown in that blowing snow sucked, too.
(https://i.postimg.cc/PPVZjTL5/IMG-20210208-142401.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/PPVZjTL5)
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Went out tonight, since it was warmer today than it will be for the next 5 or 6 days.
Got SKUNKED!
Had 2 bites from 430-730.
6" of ice.
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here comes the BIG SNOW!!!!!!
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Went out tonight, since it was warmer today than it will be for the next 5 or 6 days.
Got SKUNKED!
Had 2 bites from 430-730.
6" of ice.
I got skunked on a pond yesterday evening... 2 bites. Went over to Willow Slough in Indiana for a few hours and never even got a bite. Heading to a pond that usually produces in any weather now.
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Not great for fishing here...no bites. Not one nibble yday. And the cold won't let up. -15* this am, and fcast for the week..........sure doesn't look like southern Minnysoda to me. I'm staying home! If I want frozen fish, I'll open the freezer! 🐟 :-\
Saturday
Night
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around -17. Wind chill values as low as -36. Northwest wind 6 to 9 mph.
Partly Cloudy
Low: -17 °F
Sunday
Sunday: Mostly sunny and cold, with a high near -7. Northwest wind 9 to 11 mph.
Cold
High: -8 °F
Sunday
Night
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around -22. Northwest wind 3 to 8 mph.
Partly Cloudy
Low: -22 °F
Washington's
Birthday
Washington's Birthday: Mostly sunny and cold, with a high near 1. North wind 3 to 5 mph.
Cold
High: 1 °F
Monday
Night
Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around -15. Calm wind.
Mostly Cloudy
Low: -16 °F
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It isn't going well here, either. I haven't even seen a fish yet, and this pond always has schools of gills cruising, even when they aren't biting.
A few other sets of bootprints in the snow since I was out here though, and they carpet bombed the ice with holes.
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Had 6 straight days of single digit highs and double digit lows. As usual, fishing stinks on these really cold snaps here. I'm a little tired of the bitter cold as it's not conducive to moving around much, at least for me. Little warm up coming Tuesday and I'll welcome it.
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Weather is great here today, fish just aren't moving this morning at all. The barometer is dropping, too, so I figured they'd be feeding.
(https://i.postimg.cc/w7rN63sb/IMG-20210212-115206.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/w7rN63sb)
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Well, it isn't much, but finally signs of life. Dropped a little jigging rap down and this goofy little sucker smacked it.
(https://i.postimg.cc/YG838kyK/IMG-20210212-115556.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/YG838kyK)
*added later*
Fished until 2pm and got 7 gills, but 6 were dinks. The fish were really moving slow, and biting light. I watched several look at my bait, then swim off.
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A balmy -6* here and snowing........❄❄❄
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A balmy -6* here and snowing........❄❄❄
9° and flurries here, but the bite is a lot better than yesterday. Gotten 8 or 9 so far, and a few have been decent fish. Still hitting lightly, but way more bites in 90 minutes today than yesterday in 8 hours.
(https://i.postimg.cc/XZ3WVz0F/IMG-20210213-081212.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/XZ3WVz0F)
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9° and flurries here, but the bite is a lot better than yesterday. Gotten 8 or 9 so far, and a few have been decent fish. Still hitting lightly, but way more bites in 90 minutes today than yesterday in 8 hours.
(https://i.postimg.cc/XZ3WVz0F/IMG-20210213-081212.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/XZ3WVz0F)
Keep yankin' and crankin! I'm holed up for the duration..........got one waldo yday. That was it. :icefish:
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It slowed down right after I posted that. ::)
I'm gonna stay out until 10-1030. Told the kiddo I'd take him sledding after lunch today, but I'll be back out tomorrow morning.
It's still not good fishing, but sure a notch or two up from yesterday. On a good day I can pull 20-30 gills, and maybe a bonus largemouth, crappie, or catfish in a 2-3 hour sit on this particular pond. It has been hit a lot more than usual this winter, though.
Starting to run low on heater fuel, so that is a bit of a concern... I've burned up a lot over the past week, and nobody around has had any in stock lately. Gonna hit a couple stores on my way home and hope they got some back on the shelves.
*added later*
Ended up fishing until 10:15am, but never even had a bite after 9 or so. They just shut off like a switch. Saw a lot of fish, but they wouldn't touch anything. Ended up catching 9 gills, but 6 were dinks.
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Fished Banner Marsh tonight. Ended up with about a dozen crappie and a handful of gills. One 15" bass, too. Moved only a few times because of the cold. Hitting the home pond Monday.
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On my way out the door to go see if the bite is any better on the same pond today.
(https://i.postimg.cc/k6V05ZqR/IMG-20210214-061018.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/k6V05ZqR)
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Blowin' a tad thin out there today fellers....think I'll just be fishin' a nice beef roast outta the crock pot! :P
(https://i.postimg.cc/JsdPLg6s/DSC05788.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/JsdPLg6s)
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The wind is what is nasty here today. It has been picking up since sunrise. The drag back to the car isn't going to be fun later.
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yeah, the weather is nasty but the main reason i dont fish when its this cold is there is rarely a good bite in the small ponds and lakes i fish in arctic cold front high pressure conditions
when temps moderate toward the end of this week i will be hitting it hard until ice out
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I fished the pond until 1030 and ended up with an even dozen gills that were mostly dinks, and one really nice punkinseed. Lost a decent largemouth on the bottom of the ice, too.
(https://i.postimg.cc/NKc1hqYP/IMG-20210214-080136.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/NKc1hqYP)
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fish the fronts, we've got a pretty big one passing to our east tomorrow. if we get another 4-8" it's gonna make foot travel tough. i'm gonna tidy up my gear and get out tomorrow evening.
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It just won't go away over here.............. >:(
Fair
-22°F
Humidity 69%
Wind Speed NW 6 mph
Barometer 30.50 in (1038.0 mb)
Dewpoint -28°F (-33°C)
Visibility 10.00 mi
Wind Chill -38°F (-38°C)
Last update 15 Feb 6:54 am
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9° here. Warmest it has been in several days, it's supposed to get clear up to 15° by afternoon. I was gonna go this morning, but I was up really late dealing with some stuff so I just woke up like an hour ago. I haven't woken up that late in years.
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Weeeee! 🌴
(https://i.postimg.cc/XpR6Y561/IMG-20210217-061823.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/XpR6Y561)
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Fished the home pond tonight from 430-630. 25 crappie, 2 red-ear, and a yellow perch. Felt good to get out for the first time since saturday!
6" of ice.
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I've been out a couple times this week and it has been really slow, just caught a handful of dink gills each time. I'm still seeing a lot of fish, but haven't been able to convince much to bite on anything I put in the water.
The ice has gotten a lot of slush on top since last weekend and the edges are starting to get soft, but still 4-9" out on the sheets, depending on which pond I'm on. Hard to believe it is suppose to be around 40° by Monday....
(https://i.postimg.cc/TL6L2BKT/IMG-20210219-064440.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/TL6L2BKT)
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Hit the home pond again today from 1-4. Caught 35 and my buddy added 17.
What a slushy mess!
5-6" of ice.
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I just made a new post about the weather and slush. I was on 10" today, but tons of slush on top and rapidly softening edges. I jigged up 12 gills this morning. Most were dinks, but I did land a few decent 7-8 inchers.
(https://i.postimg.cc/F7HwZ56f/IMG-20210220-101651.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/F7HwZ56f)
(https://i.postimg.cc/F7C8CCtT/IMG-20210220-073555.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/F7C8CCtT)