Any ice on erie?

[icefishindave]

Hey guys I,m trying to find out if there is any good ice?I have a 31/2 hour drive and have a hard time trying to find out if there is good ice.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[wojo]

Not On Erie Yet It will be a while at the way it is going now !! I heard on the 6:00pm news here in C' town that some one from Middle Bass called one of the local TV stations saying there was ice between the Islands ? I am assuming he was meaning Between South & Middle Bass ?? But I also heard The Ferry was still running ?? Will just have to go check it out for myself soon ?? Maybe Sunday ? I only have 1 1/4 hour ride to Catawba.

[swantucky]

Plenty of ice on Erie!!  I will follow you out!

We are still WEEKS away from getting out there.  Brest Bay did not have ice as of yesterday.  We need a good 3-4 days of near zero to even get the gear ready.

[Gator-Bait]

only ice is in frig between the gin and tonic water!!! truth

[swantucky]

The forecast has got my fingers crossed.  I need to close out bowseason before next week.  The ice is coming!!

[psychobubba]

The forecast has got my fingers crossed.  I need to close out bowseason before next week.  The ice is coming!!

wazz up swan ? when we fishing ?

[wojo]

Nothing yet ! I was at Catawba today. Very little ice even in the Marinas. Sandusky was mostly open. We have a while I'm sure !!

[swantucky]

wazz up swan ? when we fishing ?

As soon as we get some ice.  The forecast is still looking good.  I will keep you posted.

[p.c.icenut]

Just got back from a ride around Catawaba  4:45 pm Thursday
We've gained alot in the last 2 days even with the wind .
Still a few small holes near shore off the point , but for the most part , everything from Mouse to South Bass looked froze . Everything from Mouse to Kelley's is open .
From the State park looking west looks froze  in . Hope we don't get the rain . Could maybe , hopefully , be fishing  Feb. 2 .
 It's going to be a bumpy ride again this year . Looks worse and long then last year . A little rain could help with that . Just got to keep the wind down .
  I WILL keep you posted of any good news .

[CMFISH51]

I was in port clinton and from what i could see driving down lakeshore drive, it was frozen as far as i could see...

the ice was in on monday, blew out tuesday with the heavy winds....the ice from earlier this week had much more shove ice and ice jams...hopefully if will be better.....it can only get better i guess?  keep me posted PC icenut...hoping to get out soon...will be on Lake Simcoe next weekend, so i guess i gotta wait two weeks to hopefully get out on the big pond...

[p.c.icenut]

Friday , Jan.25 , 5pm . >>> Back from Catawaba .
I'm going to start with the east side . There's still mostly open water from Catawaba to Kelley's . But atleast there WAS some ice that had formed out there . The bad news is , that open water now goes clear around the North side of Catawaba . On the N.S. , it looked to be  open 1/2mile wide .  But atleast today it was just an open strip & not pockets . Those are what scare me . The pockets  that WERE out there , were froze shut .

There was an air boat that went fishing out of the state park . Stopped 1 1/2 mile and had little muddy water . Then went 3 1/2 miles and found desent water . 3 guys , 2 fish . Not worth walking yet .
 The ice was 3 to 5 inches thin . Not much for a safe day on Erie .
Rumor has it , Someone at South Bass was going to get a couple shanties out . Said to be 6" to 8" out there .
 I was told we WERE NOT fishing at this time last year .

[p.c.icenut]

  Sunday Jan.27
The east side of Catawaba looks to have a coat of ice . The bad news is that the open water on the north side is bigger and more of it . That opening now runs clear around to just off the State park , then runs to the portage river and on over to Camp Perry .
 There's air boats going off Pebble beach & the state park . I know someone that was north of green island yesterday . 3guys , 11 fish . Today the boat that came in to the park : 4 guys , 10 fish .
The water is clearing up , but the ice isn't getting any thicker .
Now we're not soppose to get as much rain , but they changed all the 20's ( temps.)  to 30's for next week .

[fathead]

i hear that catawaba is the place on erie for hard water eyes. live up by buffalo ny looking for info on ice and lodging any help greatly appreciated thanx

[wojo]

i hear that Catawba is the place on Erie for hard water eyes. live up by buffalo NY looking for info on ice and lodging any help greatly appreciated thanks

I would not get to excited yet   I was at Catawba today and unless you own a Airboat I would not bother coming from Buffalo yet ? There are a lot of places to stay If & when we get ice. The are the Chain Hotels like Holiday Inn Express or the Fairfield and the Closer to the fishing Is Beach Cliff Motel a little Mom & Pop Style place. They have a website too.  Watch here or any other site to see if we get safe ice before coming !

[p.c.icenut]

Yes !!!!  I was going to list all the motels & numbers but , just wait .
 Getting a room around here is not a problem , and they love ice fishermen . They'd love to see ice . Prices are half what they are in the summer .
The main route to Catawaba is St.Rt. 53 . There's 3 BIG motels on that road alone . I can think of 4 more in Port Clinton . I'd say the people that fish on the ice at one time is less then 1200 . And most don't stay all nite , aleast at a motel .

I just couldn't bring myself to go see all the open water today , but I went acrossed the Bay bridge , then came back alittle over an hour later . The ice was snow covered on the over . And the way back it was ALL! gone     There was 3 guys at the old bridge , and 3 shanties at Cristal rock . No one at the coal dock .
 Now there's rain on the way & and high about 49 tomorrow . Then we get highs of , 26,30 , 33, 34, 32 . Those are good temps to keep ice , but we don't think it's enough to make ice . We see .
 You can see , sometime (gees) , the ice cover at http:/coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/ Do not put the www in front of it .

[bladebait]

p.c.icenut - how big are the airboats? Have they given you any info on the ice thickness where they are fishing? The reason I ask is because my buddy has an airboat we ice fish on up there. Doesn't seem that the ice would be thick enough to support the weight of the boat. Anyhow, thanks for all the great posts regarding the lake conditions!

[p.c.icenut]

I can't believe you've never seen them . U must'da not fished here . U can hear them coming for miles . They've got car motors . Look just like the ones in the Florida EverGlades , only build on boats , instead of platforms . The ice was 4 to 5 inches . But they go acrossed open water too . I'd say they're atleast 20 foot long . The only thing that stops them is when the ice pushes together and builds a ridge .

We haven't got much of any rain here , but it's rained in Crawford County . So more muddy water on the way .

P.S. I need a job to pay the internet bill so I can keep making these post .

[bladebait]

p.c.icenut-everything you said about the airboats is right! They also suck down some gas too! I guess what I was trying to say is that the airboats are too heavy to sit on 4-5 inches of ice. The guys must be fishing in the boats.

The other thing that stops them is engine trouble. Stranded out in front of Camp Perry a few years back. About 80 yards of open water between us and the shore 5 miles away Brad Leyda to the rescue in his beast of an airboat at about 8:30pm that night. We murdered the walleyes that day but that's not the part of the trip I remember the most

[p.c.icenut]

I've heard it from 2 different people . One from someone that was on one , the other an owner . Niether would lie to me . doesn't really matter now . I'm sure it all gone now . I bet it's piled up so high at the state dock , you can't see the lake . 60 mile an hour winds last night .

[Gator-Bait]

Come on cold weather Brrrrrrrrr

[p.c.icenut]

Jan.30 2:20 pm.
 I just got back from my ride around . I was amazed to see ANY ice . There's big sheet ,or flows swimming around out there . Mostly on the north side of Catawaba .
On the horizin I could see atleast 4 footer landing on the flows .
The east side is wide open ,and there was so little ice at pebble beach you could put a boat in .
 At the state park , for those that saw the line where open water started ; well it's still froze to there.  It's just busting everything up & pushing toward shore . What I'm saying is it's all shove ice for about 250 yards .
The water is almost brown , and the lake is down 2 or 3 feet . There was hills out in front of the state park where the ice is sitting on bottom .
 From Kroger's to Camp Perry I could see no ice floating anywhere .
If it does make ice the next 2 nights , the 6 inches of show coming Friday will slow down it making any more .

[wojo]

Dam This Sucks !! we where So Close And now This. They said water levels In Buffalo where Up 5' so just do the Math on what we have in the western Basin !!!

[swantucky]

I'm dissapointed but not surprised, that wind was howling.  It also did a number on the ice up on Brest bay.  I am losing faith quickly.  Anyone hear if any of the ice around PIB survived the blow??  Not that it really matters as muddy as the water is.

[fathead]

the water level  top out 10 ft over normal 2nd highest on record
blew out all the ice here too.  was hoping catawaba was spared guess not
ice surged over ice boom and loaded up the niagara river.
wish the big E would freeze good luck in your part....

[pole_smoker]

I have a pic from ten thirty this morning at the jet dock on pib how can I get it up here? It is looking to the NW. I have heard there was ice around 5 inches or so in the triangle but probably got cracked up. cant really see that well that far out or confirm anything, any one else have info?

[John_Boy]

Hey Pole
In order to post pictures on here you must first get an online photo storage account . I use photobucket.com . It's free . Once you get that set up and all your pictures uploaded  all you have to do is click the  insert image tab . copy and paste the address into the center of the[ img ]bracket , pretty simple really .
I hope this helps . Theres also a help section in the forums for loading pictures .
Here's a link for photobucket .
http://photobucket.com/register.php?link=topmenu
                                                                                                   

[pole_smoker]

Thanks, Just wanted to post the one pic of the PIB ice, but its not that big of a deal. Thanks for the info. I will be sure to keep that in mind if I choose to post more, however I am watching Dick Goddard as I type and the forecast doesn't look like it will let me post any pictures of some ice eyes anytime soon. PS

[p.c.icenut]

 It's Friday 7pm
Just so you know , the wind is blowing again , atleast 20mph , with gust that sound like 35 or 40 . I haven't even wasted my time checking the lake . I can see from town there's no ice . The bay is still froze , but it must have moved 50 yards , judging from all the ice piled up at the bridge .

[fathead]

the lake not looking to good for ice  but our 10 day forcast doesn't show a day high over 30 hope the ice builds fast for all on erie.

[p.c.icenut]

the lake not looking to good for ice  but our 10 day forcast doesn't show a day high over 30 hope the ice builds fast for all on erie.

I just got a call & was told , even with the 14to18 foot waves yesterday , from town you can see no open water > Even the last place to freeze , the mouth of the Portage river .(YES, the forecast for yesterday was for 14to18) But Saturday the water was so muddy you could walk on it . I walked to S.Bass to see what they were doing up there . hehe