ONEIDA LAKE DIEHARDS THREAD 2013/2014

[Nysportxman]

Might help a little when it's all slush & soaked snow, however the down side is when the slush crusts over when the snowshoe breaks through and sink some you will repeatedly get the shoes caught on the underside of the skimmed over crap.  Can ocassionally start to or even trip you up.  Gets very annoying, tried it once.  Made it out 50 yards, took them off with some choice words.

Will really depend on the surface day you're going.

Makes good sense.  It wouldn't hurt to own a pair bein a walker and all.  I know it would've helped out this past weekend!

[Rugburn]

Just take your time on the walk, think of how good the exercise is for you! Need a break, take one. What is the rush? Perhaps check some near shore spots? You never know.

[Rugburn]

Lots of styles to choose from. Large person = large snow shoe. I spray the bottom of my snow shoes with silicone to prevent icing. I have 4 different pairs, PM me if anyone wants to give them a try. Our family likes to hike on the Finger Lakes trail in the winter, wouldn't do it without the shoes.

[ICE-ADDICT]

By friday evening 10-14" of slush, Saturday morning barely a crust over it maybe 1/2".  Most of that will soften back to all slush Saturday during the day.  Saturday night colder so that's when we'll get the 1-1.25" skim across the top of the slush for Sunday morning.
No machines, Sunday skim will be just strong enough to hold up your foot as you raise the other out of the slush, then kerplunk that one breaks through repeat the process.
The positive though on the walk out it may be strong enough to support a jet sled or shanty (as long as no smitty so the weight is dispersed more)  The million dollar question is "Is it going to soften enough Sunday day that on the way back in you wish you had the smitty?"

Depending on how many holes are drilled & cracks are open the next question is how much will the ice float & drain water or will the slush sink the ice more?

Looking at the 10day forecast by the end of next week it will be great conditions, just drilling through 22-28".

I'd have to say your pretty spot on with that bud......Just one variable, how much rain will fall in total? That WILL be the ultimate factor in the end, not much = DISASTER!!  A GOOD inch over a couple days = a quick melt down and mend!

[Nysportxman]

By friday evening 10-14" of slush, Saturday morning barely a crust over it maybe 1/2".  Most of that will soften back to all slush Saturday during the day.  Saturday night colder so that's when we'll get the 1-1.25" skim across the top of the slush for Sunday morning.
No machines, Sunday skim will be just strong enough to hold up your foot as you raise the other out of the slush, then kerplunk that one breaks through repeat the process.
The positive though on the walk out it may be strong enough to support a jet sled or shanty (as long as no smitty so the weight is dispersed more)  The million dollar question is "Is it going to soften enough Sunday day that on the way back in you wish you had the smitty?"

Depending on how many holes are drilled & cracks are open the next question is how much will the ice float & drain water or will the slush sink the ice more?

Looking at the 10day forecast by the end of next week it will be great conditions, just drilling through 22-28".

Just curious, do you guys build your smitty so that they can be taken apart or are they all fixed?  When I get done with mine I plan on using it under all conditions except for the one you mentioned above (needing surface area).  In that case, I'll just break it down, throw it in the shanty, and tow the shanty tub.

[DeadEyez]

  yeah that is kind creepy isn't it, you know what I meant.


Just finished catching up, glad your sons ok Jim.

[SNAGGER]

so....I know this is a pretty open ended question but I think it would be interesting to hear what everybody thinks about the outcome.....

When all is said and done by say Friday afternoon, what do you think we will be looking at conditions wise?  I'm thinkin' about 10 inches of wet slushy stuff, BUT, and this is a 2 part question, do you think the top layer along with the moisture content will be adequate enough to freeze pretty solid when the temps drop again?  I'm not so sure about that second part, hard to tell if the melt down will be substantial enough.....

  All depends on wind, wind is your real snow eater, heavy winds when its warm and she'll loose a lot.


 My prediction:   5-8 inches of slush Saturday morning with a small crust , plus humps where the drifts were from last refreeze and this one.. Told my buddy Jimmy too wait til sunday night for a total refreeze Monday.

[kc_]

Just curious, do you guys build your smitty so that they can be taken apart or are they all fixed?  When I get done with mine I plan on using it under all conditions except for the one you mentioned above (needing surface area).  In that case, I'll just break it down, throw it in the shanty, and tow the shanty tub.

I built mine at first so I could take my sled off the smitty. Got tired of going back and getting the smitty when I made a small move. So I mounted the skis to the sled in what I call a drop down smitty. When pulling out to my spot I have the sled elevated on the smitty skis. When I get to where I want to go I pivot the sled down to the ice. Here is a link to pics. Go to the next page and see how I added wheels to the equation:

http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=103927.980

[NiceFishDad]

By friday evening 10-14" of slush, Saturday morning barely a crust over it maybe 1/2".  Most of that will soften back to all slush Saturday during the day.  Saturday night colder so that's when we'll get the 1-1.25" skim across the top of the slush for Sunday morning.
No machines, Sunday skim will be just strong enough to hold up your foot as you raise the other out of the slush, then kerplunk that one breaks through repeat the process.
The positive though on the walk out it may be strong enough to support a jet sled or shanty (as long as no smitty so the weight is dispersed more)  The million dollar question is "Is it going to soften enough Sunday day that on the way back in you wish you had the smitty?"

Depending on how many holes are drilled & cracks are open the next question is how much will the ice float & drain water or will the slush sink the ice more?

Looking at the 10day forecast by the end of next week it will be great conditions, just drilling through 22-28".

Man I am confused now! What the heck should I use now? Oh yeah I don't have a machine, guess I will walk!

[NiceFishDad]

It was prob one of these ! Iv been fishing Oneida for years and I'd have to say catfish is the hardest pulling fish through the ice!

Wow great Fish.

[pimplepounder]

Was gonna make a run up to fish this weekend but looks like i will wait.Dying to get back the ice but don"t like to waste my time around here

[pooch2543]

Just getting off the bay. Glad we stayed got out about 11 and ended up with 6. Biggest is 28inches. Wind and snow like crazy. Have to have a sled wheelers were getting stuck. Pics to come late tonight . Did I say that I'm moving up here? Amazing fishery

[Hookinup]

Nice job Pooch...Patiently waiting for the pics!!   

[bart]

Just getting off the bay. Glad we stayed got out about 11 and ended up with 6. Biggest is 28inches. Wind and snow like crazy. Have to have a sled wheelers were getting stuck. Pics to come late tonight . Did I say that I'm moving up here? Amazing fishery

Dang! Looking forward to the pics!

[bart]

It was prob one of these ! Iv been fishing Oneida for years and I'd have to say catfish is the hardest pulling fish through the ice!

Nice fish! Doesn't help much, but a really nice FISH!

[bcons]

It was prob one of these ! Iv been fishing Oneida for years and I'd have to say catfish is the hardest pulling fish through the ice!

I'm drooling more over the ice conditions that day than the fish!
Nice catch none the less

[Christo571]

Just getting off the bay. Glad we stayed got out about 11 and ended up with 6. Biggest is 28inches. Wind and snow like crazy. Have to have a sled wheelers were getting stuck. Pics to come late tonight . Did I say that I'm moving up here? Amazing fishery

Diehard. Nice job pooch

[Lakeside41]

I have been following the thread for several weeks. We were finally going to make a trip up to a camp on Fisher Bay this week. Did not make the trip due to everyone's reports. Thanks for sharing advice and reports it saved us some gas money and pain! 

[Zpotter]

Dang! Looking forward to the pics!

X2

[filetandrelease]

well went out with fish for pike today little breezy, picked away all day at the perch ended up with 45 from 9.5-13", very moody had to play the game with them , snow conditions were much better than yesterday , it may not end up as bad as we were thinking a lot depends on the the amount of rain we get , with the weather forcasts I'm looking at short warm spell and some rain with cool temps at night might not be so bad , just keep our fingers crossed

well done pooch  :thumbsup:looking forward to the pics

[fish4fun8]

looking forward to those pics to heading there in a couple days myself ,hopefully to get one bigger than the one I put on the wall last yr 11.3!!!!!

[filetandrelease]

I'm drooling more over the ice conditions that day than the fish!
Nice catch none the less

me to, wish the conditions were like that now , but that is a nice cat well done Zpotter

[kingfisher22]

Nice job Pooch.  You getting fish all day, or primarily early and late?  We got set up at 3pm yesterday and had the first by 4pm.  Just wondering if it's worth the effort to get there at 10 or so.  I don't really want to get up at 2am to fish first light.  It's just too much for me when I have to go to work the next day.

[filetandrelease]

almost forgot nice release on the old girl Kingfisher

[rapala47]

Just getting off the bay. Glad we stayed got out about 11 and ended up with 6. Biggest is 28inches. Wind and snow like crazy. Have to have a sled wheelers were getting stuck. Pics to come late tonight . Did I say that I'm moving up here? Amazing fishery

I'm looking to maybe head up there on Thursday and getting away from Oneida, never fished the Bay before, where are you getting on ?

[kingfisher22]

I'm looking to maybe head up there on Thursday and getting away from Oneida, never fished the Bay before, where are you getting on ?

I can't help you with that question because I'm getting on at my friend's house.  However, there are 2 public boat launches with plenty of parking for machines.  There is the State Launch just over the Chaumont River bridge on the left past the NAPA store and there is Long Point State Park.  Long Point is probably 20 miles past the Chaumont launch.  There is also a small state launch in Three Mile Bay just over the bridge.

[SNAGGER]

   After looking at the weather, we might burn down too bare ice by late Saturday.

[RTXGuy]

   After looking at the weather, we might burn down too bare ice by late Saturday.

Going to go quick Friday with 30mph winds and high of 47F.  Doesn't look like too much rain but should settle it down to something alot more manageable.

[SNAGGER]

Going to go quick Friday with 30mph winds and high of 47F.  Doesn't look like too much rain but should settle it down to something alot more manageable.

  In the 90's I rented too a lot of Tug hill snowmobilers, 5 days out they would ask me how much snow we would have for riding the following weekend, I used to make predictions, back then no computers or models, I based my predictions off how many hours of strong winds we were gonna have and how many hours above freezing...it was in the 80's today in Oklahoma, 60 too Iowa, and 50 too Chicago, won't take much too raise temps to mid 50's near Oneida Friday morning with no snowpack in the Midwest now, you get big winds, even if only for 6-8 hours, you'll burn that snow too water.

[Racer268]

Nice job Pooch.  You getting fish all day, or primarily early and late?  We got set up at 3pm yesterday and had the first by 4pm.  Just wondering if it's worth the effort to get there at 10 or so.  I don't really want to get up at 2am to fish first light.  It's just too much for me when I have to go to work the next day.

Kingfisher,

Check PM's.