I was fishing up in Westford yesterday on 10-12 inches. The ice is mostly frozen slush, so as the weather warms, it will start to break up and get mushy.
I was lucky enough to not have to bring the power auger, and I used the hand auger sparingly.
There were quite a few older holes that had a thin cover that I could break thru with my foot.
Although it was windy, the fish were biting pretty much the entire afternoon.
I will begin to move to open water fishing as the month progresses, and the weather warms.
All in all, it was a fantastic year.
I hit a few derbies, won a little $$ and met some great fishermen and women.