(Gets on telegraph, beep beep beeep beep) Yes, for whatever reason, independence day is one of the films that came to mind when this happened.
Anyway, every winter, I take a few vacation days as kind of my own personal winter vacation, as well as the last time I'll be sane until after tax season. It's great, with no family, no girlfriend, no angry bosses, nothing to get in the way of my plans. I used to spend it skiing, but in more recent years, I spend it all ice fishing. Well, sure enough, I'm taking wednesday, thursday, and friday off this week. I've been looking forward to it for awhile, assuring myself that I would have safe ice. Unfortunately, the 15 day forecast did not look very promising for any winter activities. I couldn't hide my frustration, but eventually learned to accept that I would have to do something else. So, I got the soft water poles, boat, and fly rod back out, and began to plan things out. Maybe I'd troll some of the lakes, after all, there would be no long lines at the boat launches, as there are in the summer months. Maybe even head to Erie and catch some leftover steelhead. Also, I TEMPORARILY (no telling me how the ice gods are going to smite me, please) put the shanty, auger, and hardwater stuff back in the shed.
Well, sure enough, the forecast began to change. The 50 degree days slowly dropped into the lower 40s, and the predicted rain disappeared almost completely. To my astonishment, I drove past one of my favorite lakes yesterday, expecting to see all open water after a brief warm up. Instead, it was almost all covered with a couple of inches of ice, that even stood up to me throwing a rock. The temperatures in the coming week look decent for making ice (with the exception of Wednesday), and after that, it drops down into the lower 30s, with frigid nights.
The moral of the story? If you're tired of not having ice, simply make plans to do something else, put the hard water equipment away for a bit, and you will have all the ice you want.
