Ice Out

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

Thanks for the summary BretRobert1. Ice out predictions/guesses will close at 7:00 pm Friday, April 18, 2014 and then we wait. 8"-14" of snow is predicted by the time that Wednesday's storm is over I'll try to give a final total.

Some forecasts are calling for temps in the 60s nest week, so it should be interesting!

[mkoeh475]

Looks like my guess was a duplicate as well. I'll change to 5/5 at 8AM

[Loweboy]

May 8th.at 8:00am

[mooselegs]

May 8th.at 8:00am

ice out.....May 6th 1:06PM 2014

[mooselegs]

ice out ....May 6th 1:06PM CST 2014

[sureshot612]

OK all 1 more day to guess, Bret great work , Im going to stick with my date because I see its going to be sunny and 60.Well I didn't say when.The webcams show a whole lot of snow.good luck to all.

[Nick Kanauz]

BretRobert1, well done!

Hey Nick (Kanauz), how's that April 5th guess working out for you?

Hahaha, HRG (not to worry folks, he's family)

Yeah...That's me brudder for ya...got sentimental and changed the date from my original one HRG! Anyhow, the TFF is only just over 3' down now... and rising fast! Here's hoping you don't find your "favorite" stump this year!

[BretRobert1]

How much snow did you get in Mercer yesterday?

[St Croix Kid]

A friend tomd me they had 13" as of this morning

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

Snow reports around the TFF range from 12"-14". A big warm-up is predicted starting Saturday so the water level should come up quick. Hopefully this will cause the ice to break-up like a scene from "The Hunt for Red October"! LOL

Happy Easter everyone.

[MuskieRandy]

Drilled a hole yesterday, out a ways from shore. 22" of solid ice. There are shoreline areas that have exposed slush, but there's 22" of solid ice under the slush.

[MuskieRandy]

I'll double post here, as nobody seems to like the Ice Conditions "sticky" thread. As of April 20 2014, 19" of ice out from shore. 17" near shore. Wow! 3 inches gone in 2 days! Careful out there!

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

The ice is getting blacker with areas of open water along the edges of some shorelines. The bay at Donners Bay is mostly slush with some open water at the launch. There are some open pockets where the otters are poking out there heads waiting to raid angler's minnow buckets. LOL Rain is forecast each day this week with lows above freezing, but highs only making it to the mid to upper 40s.

The Flowage is nearly at full pool and the discharge from the dam is close to 3000 cfs.

[The Tiny Fisherman]

We got about two inches of snow and it's still coming down. At this rate ice out won't happen until mid May.

Speaking of Otters, these two sure are in love,

[MuskieRandy]

Maybe we should start worrying about flooding too! The flowage is coming up like crazy. It appears they opened the gates from 300 cfs to about 3000 cfs, but it's still coming up. yikes

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

That looks like open water to me Tiny! LOL A lot of open water by Murrays Landing. The boat launch is open and navigable per Guide Jeff Robl. This strong North wind should keep pushing out the ice in the Big Water toward Beaver Flats. Also open water by Lake of the Falls. It appears there will be some fishable water by Saturday, but not an official "ice-out".

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

Here is what we have as of today per reports by Guides Jeff Robl and Bobby Orr.

Murrays Landing: Open water due to the discharge of the Manitowish River. Jeff's son reported "open water as far as he could see" from the landing.

Lake of the Falls/Sturgeon Bay Landings: "Open today from the falls to the first island. Still a clog between the 2 islands, but an open path to The Hideaway if the wind doesn't shut it again. Sturgeon Bay is a no go. With a bit of wind it may open from The Hideaway to Sturgeon Bay."

Fishermans Landing: Iced in, but open water beyond the landing.

Springstead and Sportsmans Landing: Both iced in tight today.

Temps in the upper 50s and low 60s are predicted starting Sunday, May 4th through Wednesday, so things will be better next week.

Ice fishing is not recommended this weekend as ice conditions are deteriorating quickly. It is not worth a fish!

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

The shoreline on Lake Bastine is open for about 50 yards. The ice in the center is black with open water pockets.

The old Idle Shores Resort on the south end of the Turtle River has black ice with open pockets, but there is open water to the north towards Pink Rock.

Sportsmans Landing is open for about 150 yards. One boat launched there on Sunday and was fishing the open water.

The walleyes on the north end by Murrays Landing were hitting in 10 - 15 fow on jig and large fathead minnows.

Full ice out shoud be sometime this week.

[Don Pemble]

Just a little note from Don's Guide Service, launched my boat today from Fisherman's landing with no problem as there was no ice to speak of, but coming back after a few hours of fishing it was completely iced in again, all this black ice had drifted in and I had to use my boat as an ice breaker, made an excellent video. All this ice that drifted in should all be gone by morning. Fishing was very good and worth the trouble of breaking through a couple hundred yards of ice.

[waldowillie]

Attachment 21931The "official" ice-out time should be soon.

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

Cry of the Loon Resort emailed me this message at about 2:00 pm: "For the most part ice is gone on Lake Bastine. The few remaining floes are weak and should be gone within the next few hours."

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

I am awaiting the official 2014 "ice-out" declaration.

The contenders are:
mooselegs: 5/6/14 @ 1:06 pm
Eye-in-mind: 5/7/14 @ 4:00 pm
Loweboy: 5/8/14 @ 8:00 am

Tom 502 reprted on another site that the Springstead landing is nearly open today, 5/6/14.

[sureshot612]

Well thanks Don and Scott for the reports. Don where can we see that video , And Scott thanks for the report on the ice conditions we will be up around the 14th do you guys think the fishing will be a little behind due to the long winter. counting the days

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

Sureshot: The video is on the Wisconsin DNR website. They have a interactive help section where you can ask where on the site to view it. I'll leave the fishing predictions to Don Pemble. He has a few more hours on the water then me!

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

Ice-out has been declared by our official, Jim Blum, to be at 10:00 am on May 7, 2014. The winner is mooselegs and he should send me a pm with his mailing address.

Thanks to everyone that placed a guess or followed along, and to Jim for being our ice-out official.

Best of luck to everyone this open water season.

[sureshot612]

Scott is that the video that Don made about breaking the ice .

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

Scott is that the video that Don made about breaking the ice .

No it's not. I misunderstood which video you were talking about in your post.

[sureshot612]

on 5-5 Don posted that he made a video about breakin ice, I just didn't know if he posted it.I enjoy videos pics. and webcams.I can always pick things up, it helps with keekin in the know,its great that some post more then fishin it bugs some but helps others.I think that we all enjoy the TFF so lets all share.from campers to cabins we all need to come home safe, and if we get the word out we can get more folks to enjoy the TFF, like back in the day.

[Don Pemble]

The video I made was short lived, accidently deleted it after showing it to a group of friends.

[The Tiny Fisherman]

/Flambeau Fluffy agrees with Jim, the did go out at 10:00 am, 05/07/2014. Would have update right away yesterday, but my computer was all screwed up.

Catch the big one,

[sureshot612]

Well we are looking to get some great food ,fishin,and friends so lets all enjoy the TFF and get past this hard winter . Looking to meet some new friends.Its a spring needed by all

[mooselegs]

just saw your message scott.....wife and I were out of town for the past 2 weeks...

Scott....I did send you a PM.

Planning to fish the TFF May 26th thru June 2nd.....can't wait. The TFF is a special place and have been fishing is for the past 15 years.... Life doesn't get any better than being on the TFF.....

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

mooselegs: Please see my reply to your message and congratulations!

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

mooselegs: Please email me at reinhard624@hotmail.com