x3, or whatever, on fishing the shallow wind-blown shorelines as soon as the ice is out, especially when the sun is hitting that shoreline as well. Waxies work great for panfish, with cut bait working for catfish. But enough talk of ice-out fishing...
I was out on a pond in southern Linn County this weekend. I had 6" or so of ice once I got away from shore, where there was maybe an inch of new stuff. I only had to step out a couple feet to get past that. This pond does not get a lot of runoff.
Another pond that has pretty good flow going in to it had several feet of open water around the edges. I have never been a fan of walking the plank, so I had to pass on that one.
Looking at the forecasts, if we get past today with the warm temps and wind we should be alright for a little while yet on at least some water around CR. I doubt that we will still be ice-fishing anywhere here March 1, though, like we have been doing in some past seasons.
Even if we get a cold February, and right now there is no deep freeze on the horizon, we have not built up the ice we usually have this time of the winter to keep us going in to the first part of March.
