IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Iowa => Ice Fishing Iowa => Topic started by: IceAddict87 on Oct 22, 2018, 07:32 AM
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What is everyone’s best guess? I’m hoping it’s around Christmas for me. Winter forecasts have been favorable and this fall has been one of the coolest I can remember for quite awhile. Soil temps are already below 50 for a good portion of the state.
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I’m going to guess right around the first of the year here in central Iowa. Right around Christmas for the northern part of the state.
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I could care less how soon we get good ice, i just hope it sticks around for quite a while.
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Hope for early that stays. Too often you get good ice then warm weather and then you have junk ice for the season!
Keep it safe! JDL
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Here in dubuque. I’m thinking first or second week in December I’ll be on a couple of inches! That’s my prediction!!
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I'm hoping I can make it up that way at least once this year
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I would think any day now...be careful out there!
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This weather is quite the tease. ;D
The warm-up/return to normal temps for mid-November keeps getting pushed back another day or two, and the ice gets just a little thicker on the small ponds around Linn County each day.
No ice around here is remotely safe to walk on, unless you are a duck, but the cold temps keep sticking around and I start thinking that just maybe we will have safe ice sooner than I expect.
Not gonna happen down here, but I have to wonder if some small waters in the north part of the state might not be ice-fishable by the first part of next week.
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If the snow would have missed northern Iowa I probably would have made a drive north today and started checking ponds before I got to Waterloo. I bet I would have found good ice by the time I got to New Hampton.
As is, based on the current forecasts I am going to have to wait at least two weeks before making that drive.
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Definitely going to be fishing soon. Deer hunting is gonna be a bit on the chilly side this year!
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I saw a very thin skim on some backwater on Red Rock this morning.... Put the deer to rest and its gonna be GAME ON SOON!!!
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I just hope we could get some safe ice on red rock this year. Fished it a couple times last year and when it’s on, it on down there!
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Now!!
Thursday Nov. 29th fished Clear Lake,,, 4-6 inches ice thickness but some thinner spots could be seen, even a bit of open water.
Friday Nov. 30th fished Lake Hendericks,,, 6 inches solid ice,,, open water (as expected all season) over by the areator and flock of geese.
Don't know what effect this rain and predicted snow will affect things.
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Now!!
Thursday Nov. 29th fished Clear Lake,,, 4-6 inches ice thickness but some thinner spots could be seen, even a bit of open water.
Friday Nov. 30th fished Lake Hendericks,,, 6 inches solid ice,,, open water (as expected all season) over by the areator and flock of geese.
Don't know what effect this rain and predicted snow will affect things.
This week looks like we are headed in the right direction in central Iowa. Headed up near okoboji the 14-15th for some family Christmas’. Hopefully get to go fishing then!
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Looking at the forecast for the week hopefully Sunday!
Keep it safe! JDL
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The forecast is pretty cold, followed by really cold and then some more pretty cold.
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I just ordered some bait from vados......Hope to be dropping a line in Mill creek this coming weekend.
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I too, just ordered some maggots from Vados--shipped today, and I'll get them Tuesday (tomorrow). Not sure if we'll have fishable ice down here in SW Iowa around Glenwood, but with these really cold temps (highs in teens and low 20's, it might be possible by weekend.
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The northern half or so of the state should be in pretty good shape by this weekend, barring a bunch of snow.
Down here by I-80 and points south things will be a little sketchier. Pretty big difference in the low temps coming later this week between say, Mason City and Cedar Rapids.
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Bait came today and is in great shape. Very happy.
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Bait came today and is in great shape. Very happy.
Never had a bad batch from Vados. Some usually survive in my fridge into the summer.
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Forecast lows for Cedar Rapids the next five days: 20, 8, 13, 15, 16. Highs in the mid-thirties today, then nothing above freezing through Sunday.
Forecast lows for Clear Lake, IA the next five days: 12, 1, 3, 9, 8. Nothing above freezing.
It is a two-hour drive from the north side of CR to CL if you don't stop for anything. It is of course normally a little cooler in Clear Lake on any given day, but the difference between the forecast temps for the two cities right now is a bit more than normal for whatever reason. That is why I am not sure about safe ice down here for this weekend.
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I've been fishing the last several days (retired) ;D I live in Shell Rock. North of here has 6 inches of fishable ice most areas but not all. South of here gets sketchy fast. Cedar Falls, again depends on exactly where you are, I was on 3 inches today.
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I checked a couple of decent ponds in Cedar Rapids yesterday and this morning.
Yesterday they had maybe .5 of ice at the shoreline.
After the lows of about 10 last night, those same ponds had maybe 2" of ice at shore. No more than 2".
2" might be enough for some guys, but I am neither skinny enough nor brave enough to try it myself. ;D
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Fished 4" on my pond yesterday in SE Iowa - I wouldn't go on it at all after tomorrow
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4803/32415349238_f3449e9685_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/Ror8ZG)
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I checked a couple other small ponds by Iowa City on Saturday afternoon. I didn't think it had gotten quite cold enough to make things safe for fishing on them, and I was right.
These ponds had a fair bit of runoff going in to them, and I found less than 2" of ice at the shore.
I haven't had a chance to check anything since. The ice on those ponds probably thickened up for a bit after Saturday, but I am not going to bother looking at them now after temps warmed up yesterday.
Looking at the forecasts for the rest of December I have a hunch we will not be ice-fishing down here until New Year's. Might be a ways in to January before bigger waters around here like Macbride are safe.
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Saturday I fished at robin's lake off from Ellis in CR about 2 1/2" there. Sunday I found 3" on MacBride on the East face bank just before exiting the main park just down hill from the 2nd to last parking spot. I drill 15 holes with the furthest being about 30 yards out. Monday fished MacBride off sailboat ramp and to the East with a steady 2 1/2" . Tuesday went off the cottage ramp at MacBride to the South found 3" there. Started heading towards the power lines but the ice wasn't to stable there do to the sun and rock shore line's. A co worker said he had 4" Sat. on his pond by interstate 80. I wear a flotation suit so I'm willing to fish skinny ice. ;D
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All for some slimy little fish
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I might try 2.5" of very good new ice, but am less likely to do so the older I get.
I'm glad people got out and back safe around here, but with the temps around here over the last few days that 2.5" or 3" of ice was probably not the strongest stuff. Not sorry I passed on it.
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40+* for the next 5 or 6 days here in the Grinnell area so we're probably done for a bit. Had 4-5" on most places I fished this week but those could get sketchy by the weekend. Hopefully will get some cold temps as I'm off from the 22nd to the 2nd! May have to head north sometime.
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Prolly after the first of the year. Oh well, guess I will have to go north.....
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(https://i.postimg.cc/RJQfqkgc/image.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/RJQfqkgc)
I hate to say it, but got out for the first time today....life's been bizzy....I'd say There was at least 8-10in.
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With forecasts of above 40 degrees for 8 days and couple of the days to hit 50, are we going to have ice fishing before Feb 1?
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With forecasts of above 40 degrees for 8 days and couple of the days to hit 50, are we going to have ice fishing before Feb 1?
Im seriously starting to doubt we will even get on the ice on the bigger water around the QC. Mostly skim and open water then 15 days of above freezing highs coming up
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I don't put much stock in weather forecasts once they get beyond a week out; they are little more than guesses.
But based on those longer-range forecasts, the earliest we will be on the ice in east central Iowa would be three weeks from now.
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I drove by a "borrow pit" along HWY 218/27 yesterday (Jan 2) just south of HWY 3 (think Waverly IA) open water over 1/4 of it. Yet 20 miles south guys are on a few ponds but other ponds are unsafe. Personally, at this point in time, I would want to be some where north of HWY 18 to feel completely safe on a lake I didn't know well. YMMV
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I think you will start to see some boats on the water soon, anchor tight and flasher over the side
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Unless we get a bunch of snow early next week, there should be plenty of good ice pretty much everywhere in Iowa very soon. ;D
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As funky as the weather has been this year, this could be one of the longest ice seasons ever at Okoboji. They've been icefishing since early November.
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As funky as the weather has been this year, this could be one of the longest ice seasons ever at Okoboji. They've been icefishing since early November.
First day ice fishing for me was 11/13 and could have gone every day since. 1st time ever this early for me, must be that global warming. Some of the perks living in N.W. Iowa. Hopefully it doesn't last like last ice season, late April.
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I think it is safe to say pretty much anywhere in Iowa will have good ice by this coming weekend, unless you have a lot of current, geese, or a warm-water discharge in the immediate vicinity.
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I think it is safe to say pretty much anywhere in Iowa will have good ice by this coming weekend, unless you have a lot of current, geese, or a warm-water discharge in the immediate vicinity.
Might warm up to the 40's this weekend! Should be a great weekend to get out on the ice. Saturday and Sunday will be my first days out on the ice this year. What a swing. It's going to hit -30 tomorrow and we will be in the 40's on Saturday.
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I was out on backwaters last weekend and will be out again this weekend