when will S IA have good ice?????

[BellyupFeetdanglin]

Driving around yesterday and today and nothing looked very good.  Everything is dark as can be.  Stopped in at the Albia bait shop and they said only 1 person has been in there w/ plans to fish.  That was yesterday.

What's this snow going to do to our ice making?  Guessing it might be a while yet???  Didn't even have a chance to get out last week.  Wondering when??  Any thoughts??

[goody]

Well, we were on our way to a "driving on 12mile" winter until 2 weeks ago...go figure.  I know Southern farm ponds have been fishable...fished 4" of honeycombed ice in Ringgold county (SW IA) last week on friday in 40* temps, but that was iffy.  Before that it had been really good though.  With this snow, any weak ice that is there will probably not be much good all winter.....that sucks.

goody

[Kolby]

Some of 3-mile is fishable , I checked the ice around the main road bed area Sunday, it was ok out to about the treeline, then got very iffy, lots of thin and OK spots.  Needless to say I did not venture out to the road bed.  I would think with Monday and Tuesday's temps it would be close?  This snow may ruin that lake for the rest of winter   Let's keep our fingers crossed for mostly freezing rain below highway 34 - That's what I heard on the radio a couple hours ago!!

[iceman480]

When its been cold long enough

[goody]

THis snow is bad for ice no doubt....and I would agree, 3mile is probably done for the winter unless we get some kind of melt then week and a half worth of days where the highs are around 20 and lows in the single digits/low teens....we are running out of time for that scenario though.

goody

[BellyupFeetdanglin]

Guessing Rathbun can only be worse than 3 mile ?

[ice_man28]

Hey guys. Im from Agency here. I was just on farm pond today,4 inches of that snow, then 2 inches of ice underneath. Not too good. I only ventured out 3 yards from the bull rushes in 2 foot of water next to the weedline. Caught a few gills. This is a bass pond though, so the bluegill that are in there are considered bait. Lots of 6 and 7lb bass in there. released 30 weighing between 7 and 8 lbs in the summer. a few line breakers also. Any clues where the bass go to this time of year?

[BellyupFeetdanglin]

fished some ponds S of Indianola that varied in thickness.  4", 2", 2-3", also found some soft spots where it wasn't more than an 1 1/2" thick.

I'd like a little more ice, did manage some fish for the pan though.