Category: Ice Conditions & Weather Reports

Dry as a bone on a wind-blown bay, with only partial sun and wind chills below freezing. Ice conditions continue to be exceptionally good. Landings are holding up so far and should remain passable. Dropping into single digits tonight will keep the ice solid throughout the weekend. Some trucks continue to launch off the Red…

 After pounding rain for 12 or more hours, cold temperatures finally transformed the precipitation into dry snow. The cold temperatures, combined with extremely strong winds, turned what was 3-8 inches of standing water last night into a flat surface across the Bay, as though a crew had been out with leveling compound and finished with…

It’s a Little Bay de Noc kind of day out there—alive and kicking! The landings have suffered severely from this recent warm snap. Shallow water at The Yellow Gate landing failed to do its job of supporting a Subaru coming off last night. It almost made it, but missed it by not much… This is…

A foggy mist and 38° just before the next weather event is set to hit Little Bay de Noc. ‘Water-covered glare ice’ best describes travel, as most permanent shacks have been moved to the landings until the storm passes and temperatures drop below freezing again. The landings will be the main issue going forward. Once…

On Friday late morning, we experienced complete calmness at one point on the bay—a serenity not often felt out there. It was the calm before the storm, as shortly after that brief period, winds howled beyond the typical windy day on Little Bay de Noc. If that’s your thing, the 40 mph gusts were perfect…

An unfortunate picture tonight—not the kind of double we like to see. Butler’s Island has a reef extending northward off the point, with a half-mile of shallow water reaching into the bay. FYI: Nobody was physically hurt in these two incidents, except for their pride. Two ways to end up in the drink are confusion…

Water on the ice after yesterday’s drainage was minimal by this morning. However, by later in the morning, above-normal temperatures made for another sloppy day on the bay. One more night barely above freezing, and then the mercury begins to drop in our favor again. This warm weather pattern has certainly increased the feeding activity.…

As anticipated, the fishing is picking up with the warm weather. It’s far from slamming, but it’s a start. There are sloppy spots of slush and several inches of water on the surface of 20 or more inches of rock-solid ice. The standing water could be gone soon if the toilet bowling continues. That’s right—water…

What a difference a day makes.”On Sunday afternoon, a machine on tracks was the only way to traverse the bay as snow depths were reaching the point where some speed was needed to get anything on tires through without bogging down or getting stuck in a drift, or worse, hung up in a deep shack…