ice out pictures....almost

We took a boat ride today and snapped some pictures. The lake is at exactly 1310 level so it is three feet below high water mark. The level has come up about ten inches in the last two weeks. We didn't have much trouble getting around on the west side but did have some really thin ice out by Petes that might be out by daybreak. There was some ice in a few other areas like Moss Creek and by Popple island but for the most part you could get around pretty good. About 80% of the lake is out. The whole lake should be out by the end of tomorrow I would guess. I picked today to go out. I though Robert Boston had today picked for ice out for some reason. I was wrong anyway. Great day for a boat ride. warm and sunny. Looks like Trav won the ice out game. I'll check tomorrow to make sure he won.

From left to right here they are:

1. Standing on the south portion of Eagle's Nest island looking south toward Weiner Island.
2. The stump field out in the middle looking west toward Crane creek in upper left and Crystal Lake entrance in the upper middle.
3. Looking north at Birch Island
4. Creeper Island(the small island just south of Hay Creek Narrows) looking southeast toward Little Petes
5. Sitting on Cedar Tops looking west toward Horseshoe Island

Ty,

Water level looks low or is that about normal for this time of year?

The water is always at it's lowest at the end of March/early April. If we don't get rain it might not be at high water by opener but we have a lot of time.

That second picture really shows how lucky some people get driving over that stump field. You can see one of the stumps sticking up and when you get closer you can see a bunch more a couple inches under water. Yikes!

That is discomforting ! Ack.

Ty, do you fish that stump field very much ?

I do catch walleyes on occasion from that spot and I usually see one good muskie a year there. Overall I would give it a poor rating as far as how well I've done there with an excellent rating as far as potential.

Ty - Is that stump more out in the middle where those tall reeds have been growing the last few years or is it more in the path of where boat traffic would be?

I normally go pretty fast through that area - Never knew anything was there.

It is exactly right in the middle of boat traffic.

Warm Water, Warm Water, Warm Water.

No Whammies, No Whammies, No Whammies.

Sorry, trying to channel some good luck. After missing payout on a bracket by one point, I could go for a good win here.

Trav

I helped a couple a few years ago where they drilled a stump on that bar and their front battery tipped over and shorted out and caught the front compartment on fire. Then the guy grabs the fire extinguisher and nothing happens. That is when I could see the smoke and the woman was waving and yelling for help. I got there as fast as I could and handed them my extinguisher and he got the fire put out. He had some burns on his hands but other than shaken up pretty bad they were alright. He said I have been through here tons of times and never hit anything. I told him there is a big stump bar right where we were at in the center of the channel and when we looked over the side of the boat we could see bottom real easy. I told him to stay to the right third heading towards crane creek from the big water.
That is a bad spot because so many people run right over it and it still has stumps, not just sand and weeds.

Corey Meyer

and also brings up a good point to check your fire extinguishers!