How long to wait?

[hardH2Onut]

I stumbled upon a nice 40 acre lake yesterday that is accessable by foot only.  The ice was scary at best (1.5" white ice, 2" layer of slush and 1.5" clear ice and 1" of snow on top).  It has been reported to be a great fishery but was unable to search the lake due to the ice conditions.

My question is with a forecast of 22/3, 22/15, 22/12, 24/17, 30/24 for the next 5 days, how long do you think I should wait to make the mile trek back to the lake for safe ice? 

The lake is not spring fed, deepest point is 25 feet and has very little incoming stream influence.
Thanks,

[djkruszewski]

at those temps i would give it another 3-5 days and then walk it and check.  depending how much snow there is and are going to get, you might have to wait until next weekend.  it's only mid December and you do have another 3 months before it actually starts to warm up consistently again.  good luck and be safe out there!

[XII Outdoors]

I'd give it at least a week if not more.  Always better to be safe that sorry.  Good luck to you and be careful

[Mr.Vexilar]

Call me nuts, but me and a buddy were on our favorite lake yesterday afternoon, there was a top of 3" of ice, and most spots were 2-2.5, only difference for me was there was NO SLUSH, and the ice was real dark hard ice.  Just use you best judgement