just seeing if the blog is still up ??? pt

lake temp +5c ,,, from ric and deb ,,, nov 16th 2010

Lake is open

Its official the first boat went by here 18:30 on 14th. The ice is also gone in Bigstone Bay.

Ice Update

Out playing in the boat yesterday,can now boat around Queer-pushed some ice but made it into Moore Bay,open water to Eagle Pass. Still cannot get passed Cat Island-made it 1/4 mile North into Hades from Hall's Gate before getting stopped by ice.
The Manitou and Andrew Bay still have ice. Winds are E 20km and gusting this morning and SE 25 and gusting this afternoon-this will break up a lot of the mushy ice.Pushed ice but managed to boat around our Island.
Didn't realize till we got home and put boat on lift but the ice ripped out the drain plug-bilge pump could not keep up and we had ice in bottom of boat!!
Still sticking to my April 17th date of boating out.

Ice

Took this picture 13:00 April 06/10 beside Red Bouy # E27. That is as far as we could go(cannot boat around our Island) In past years when we make it this far it is usually another week before we make Bare Point. Heard Bigstone Bay is still solid and no open water in Moore Bay as of yesterday. The Prop Shop should do a good business this year with the low water. The Geese have moved on and no new sightings.
I don't expect much change in next couple days-will head out again on 9th. Double left click on image to enlarge picture-the underneath side of ice was so sharp I cut my finger pulling it out of lake.

Spring

Sorry no new pictures,plane is down for service. I have my aluminum boat in the water and have run it but there is 40' of ice stopping me from getting to the open water.I think 2 more days and I will be able to get past the narrows. We have some cool nights coming -9 this will "make ice" and set us back a little.
Heard people are boating from Town to St. Helena Island to fish.Still sticking to my prediction of boating out April 17th.

Spring Thaw

Took this picture of French Narrows (Dorian Island foreground)from 500' heading South.There were 12 geese swimming in open water.
Quad travel has come to an early end down here,there is a huge crack in ice cutting across our ice road from Queer towards French Narrows.And too much open water between Queer and Pipestone. The open water from the Elbow has almost reached SE tip Queer.The couple of cold nights last week caused pressure ridges to form on entire lake,the ice was so loud it woke us during the night.
There were a lot of people out fishing on North side of Scotty's.
The only new wildlife sighting was March 24th we had 4 European Starlings in feeder--1st time ever.Our forecast has changed several times for next week but still calling for double digits for highs and above freezing for lows,with a mix of sun and rain-either way good for melting ice.
Best get those boats tuned up should be boating in April!!

town trip

Made a trip to town by quad,followed the ice road to Rocky Narrows and cowboy across to Bare Point.There are some open water patches along edge of road(you could troll the length of them) From our place to 12 Mile Portage there are 4 pressure ridges but can still cross them by Quad. The melting seems to have stalled with cooler temps.No new wildlife sightings in the area.