IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
New Hampshire => Ice Fishing New Hampshire => Topic started by: hockey611 on Mar 15, 2022, 09:21 PM
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was planning to try and get in a last trip camping on the ice this fri-sun up on 1st lake. the weather looks like hot trash! Anyone been up that way know how much ice was on the lake recently? Temps in 40s and rain possible fri sat and sunday. not sure if im forcing a potential bad situation hahaha. thoughts??
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I’d be less concerned about the ice conditions and more concerned about camping in the rain in the ice. Not sure how much experience you have camping on the ice but the key to the game is staying dry. And with rain for 3 days that sounds impossible. All you need is a decent wind coming your way and stuff starts floating
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have a lot of experience camping on the ice. been out in a lot of nasty conditions. will have tarp over the hub and if need be set up on shore. Hard to say just how much rain is coming as weather reports up there are always iffy. Just wasnt sure what the base was now and how quick the thaw could be with this system. waking up to 6 inches of water in the tent isnt fun either, been there done that haha
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I’d say shore would be a decent idea. I’d give treats and treasure a call for conditions
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I can see out on the ice being legal for “camping” but can you just pitch a tent anywhere on land? Not busting balls but…🤔
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1st is probably one of only a few places left in NH you could get away with not having the entire surrounding water be someones front lawn. That would really be a last resort for me if the ice conditions seem bad and ton of water on top. I like to jig from my bed :D
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Not sure why you would trip all the way up there not knowing the conditions this time of year. I'd hit something closer and drive the hour back home. I'd rather drive and sleep in my bed then wake up to 6" of water in my hub any day.
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because with the business i own, wife traveling for her work and a 10 month old I take what i can get (which isn't much lately) I have this weekend as a last go and 1st is my favorite spot to fish lakers and camp. Rain is worse farther south as well so that wouldnt help anyway. will make it work, its what it is. Last camping trip up it was -40 up there lol. Just me and the dog per usual :)
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let us know how it goes, looking to camp on a 1st ct lake next winter
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because with the business i own, wife traveling for her work and a 10 month old I take what i can get (which isn't much lately) I have this weekend as a last go and 1st is my favorite spot to fish lakers and camp. Rain is worse farther south as well so that wouldnt help anyway. will make it work, its what it is. Last camping trip up it was -40 up there lol. Just me and the dog per usual :)
:clap: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Headed up next weekend for a couple days to close the season down. Hopefully it'll still be fishable.
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I was on lake Francis today
20" of ice near the boat ramp
Got a call yesterday from the dam operator and he said they were planning on raising the water level on Francis substantially this weekend and I should move my shanty away from the shoreline because that usually floods the worst...
So I went up and pulled my shack because I live an hour away
There is plenty of ice and the edges weren't even flooded yet
I would say an experienced ice camper would be just fine
Be aware of soft spots where shacks were set up
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I was on lake Francis today
20" of ice near the boat ramp
Got a call yesterday from the dam operator and he said they were planning on raising the water level on Francis substantially this weekend and I should move my shanty away from the shoreline because that usually floods the worst...
So I went up and pulled my shack because I live an hour away
There is plenty of ice and the edges weren't even flooded yet
I would say an experienced ice camper would be just fine
Be aware of soft spots where shacks were set up
It would be interesting to drive up Tuesday and see how much it was raised. I fished a week ago (March 10th) and I was surprised at how much they'd drawn the lake down.
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Good luck up there.
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(https://i.postimg.cc/FdShgFpT/D3192-B1-F-95-A6-479-F-9-CE2-E7-F7-C7-B3-B274.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/FdShgFpT)
Update***
Well we survived haha. Iced probably 20+ lakers. Nearly all were with small jigging raps. Fish seemed to be either fired up or real negative with the weather patterns. Negative fish could get some on small tube jigs but had to really work for em. Average Size was on the better end this trip though. Biggest was about 25in, lot of 18-20.
Ice was 20-24 inches. Water everywhere on top. Friday with the warm few days it was like a river running down the hole when you punched one. Saturday downpours and heavy wind all day. Things firmed up a little but holes were not freezing back over. I’d be careful about that coming up. Edges were ok. There’s a top layer of about 6-12 inches of white ice that is holding for now but who knows for how long.
It was a tough trip but great to end out season on some nice fish 👍.
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It seems strange that the dams would be holding back water with the anticipated melt coming, but they are doing it. Moore Reservoir has come up at least 6-7 feet in the last 2 days and really wrecked the edges. The fat lady has sung !
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Connecticut lakes were extremely low last season. Maybe their trying to keep the levels up.
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With the serious drought 2 years ago and last year not much recovery I was wondering why they don't let them fill back up?