Author Topic: Polar Vortex 2021  (Read 6402 times)

Offline bassin140

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Polar Vortex 2021
« on: Feb 02, 2021, 11:56 AM »
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!!!

Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #1 on: Feb 02, 2021, 12:02 PM »
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.


Offline IlliniIce

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #2 on: Feb 03, 2021, 08:26 AM »
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

Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #3 on: Feb 03, 2021, 08:29 AM »
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.

Offline Rebelss

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #4 on: Feb 03, 2021, 08:38 AM »
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.
“The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation”  Thoreau

Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #5 on: Feb 03, 2021, 08:44 AM »
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.

Offline bassin140

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #6 on: Feb 04, 2021, 08:25 AM »
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?

Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #7 on: Feb 04, 2021, 08:30 AM »
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.

Offline Rebelss

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #8 on: Feb 04, 2021, 08:52 AM »
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
“The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation”  Thoreau

Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #9 on: Feb 04, 2021, 09:01 AM »
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.

Offline Rebelss

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #10 on: Feb 04, 2021, 09:04 AM »
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
“The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation”  Thoreau

Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #11 on: Feb 04, 2021, 09:08 AM »
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.

Offline Arquero3d

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #12 on: Feb 04, 2021, 09:18 AM »
Can't wait!  I may burn a couple vacation days next week...
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Offline IlliniIce

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #13 on: Feb 04, 2021, 09:30 AM »
it is pouring rain here, should get rid of the remaining crappy ice
its gonna be go time next week, looking forward to it

Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #14 on: Feb 04, 2021, 09:33 AM »
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.

Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #15 on: Feb 04, 2021, 01:55 PM »
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.





Offline Arquero3d

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #16 on: Feb 06, 2021, 03:53 PM »
Fished from 930-1230 on a private lake today in Knox County.  Slow bite. 

9" of ice.
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Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #17 on: Feb 06, 2021, 05:50 PM »
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.




Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #18 on: Feb 07, 2021, 07:33 AM »
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.


Offline IlliniIce

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #19 on: Feb 08, 2021, 10:08 AM »
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

Offline taxi1

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #20 on: Feb 08, 2021, 10:10 AM »
Through March eh?  I hope you're right but I wouldn't count on it. Things can change rapidly.
I live in the midwest now but have fond memories of fishing in New England as a kid.

Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #21 on: Feb 08, 2021, 10:19 AM »
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.


Offline Arquero3d

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #22 on: Feb 11, 2021, 09:04 PM »
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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Offline happyheber

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #23 on: Feb 11, 2021, 09:35 PM »
here comes the BIG SNOW!!!!!!
PIKEMAN99's avatar

Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #24 on: Feb 12, 2021, 11:06 AM »
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.

Offline Rebelss

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #25 on: Feb 12, 2021, 11:35 AM »
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
“The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation”  Thoreau

Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #26 on: Feb 12, 2021, 11:47 AM »
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.

Offline esox_xtm

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #27 on: Feb 12, 2021, 11:48 AM »
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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Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #28 on: Feb 12, 2021, 11:53 AM »
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.


Offline zcm_82

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Re: Polar Vortex 2021
« Reply #29 on: Feb 12, 2021, 11:58 AM »
Well, it isn't much, but finally signs of life. Dropped a little jigging rap down and this goofy little sucker smacked it.


*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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