Syracuse.com - CNY ice fishermen eager to get out; hopeful of safe ice

[HuntingNY-News]

Ice fishermen often compare notes, and those in the know check out websites such as iceshanty.com, where anglers keep each other updated on conditions. They know, for example, that the season is in full swing on the St. Lawrence River and on North Country lakes such as Black Lake. Watch video

Alex Doughty held his small ice-fishing rod, slowly jigging a small fluorescent lure tipped with a wax worm through a hole on the ice on the Eaton Brook Reservoir.

“I got one,” he said, quickly standing up and pulling out a plump bluegill. “Now, that’s a nice a fish.”

Doughty was confidently standing on five inches of ice Tuesday morning — a rarity these days in Central New York where die-hard ice fishermen are eagerly awaiting the arrival of safe ice on large lakes such as Oneida Lake, Otisco, Skaneateles, Owasco and Cayuga.

Each year, several small, manmade reservoirs in high elevation area in southeastern Madison County, are among the first to freeze — places such as Eaton Brook Reservoir, DeRuyter Reservoir, Tuscarora Lake, Lake Moraine and the Lebanon Reservoir. During the past two weeks, knowing ice anglers have taken advantage of the three to five inches on those waterways.

However, Doughty, like many others, can’t wait for such popular spots as Big Bay on Oneida Lake to freeze with three or more inches. The warm temperatures and rain that characterized January this winter delayed most of the local ice fishing scene.

James Daher, co-owner of Mickey’s Bait and Tackle Shop in North Syracuse, said his customers are getting edgy. One was waiting in his car for him as he opened up the bait shop Monday morning. He questioned Daher about what he knew about Big Bay.

“He went out there to check it out and called me,” Daher said. “He said there was only about two inches of ice and he was turning back. However, he did say there were 4-5 other people out there.”

Early this week, Daher said he tried to steer customers away from Oneida, recommending smaller ponds and lakes instead — places like the small Madison County lakes and Cazenovia Lake. Two inches of ice is borderline at best, he said, and anglers who chance fishing on that much ice risk falling through.

Staff at the Cornell Biological Field Station at Shackleton Point keep track of the freezing of Oneida Lake each year. Randy Jackson, senior research associate at the field station, said all indications are that there will be an ice fishing season on Oneida this winter, though probably a late one.

He said once in recent memory, during the winter of 2001-02, Oneida Lake failed to freeze over and there was no ice fishing season. Another year, it did not freeze over until Jan. 23, with the season not getting under way in earnest until February.

Tuesday’s rains, temperatures in the 40s and high winds weren’t good for ice formation on the lake, Jackson said. However, freezing temperatures on Wednesday, Thursday and today will likely turn things around.

“My guess is that they’ll be on Big Bay by this weekend,” he said.

Even if a decent, secure sheet of ice does form, will it stay?

“Yes ... unless it continues to be in the 40s and 50s,” he said.

Ice fishermen often compare notes, and those in the know check out websites such as iceshanty.com, where anglers keep each other updated on conditions. They know, for example, that the season is in full swing on the St. Lawrence River and on North Country lakes such as Black Lake, where ice was reported to be 8 to 10 inches thick recently.

Central New York is a different story.

Nathan Damanski, of Cicero, was out on Cazenovia Lake Tuesday morning, where it was a “solid” three inches. He fished for about an hour and a half, caught three bluegills and left when the heavy rain started.

Scott Shupe, a director for the Oneida Lake Association, emailed Monday morning that “there are three idiots out in front of Chapman Park right now (over) 8 to 15 feet of water.” Shupe wrote that skim ice formed on Oneida Saturday night and broke open Sunday.

“I doubt the ice is ‘tight’ and can’t be reliably safe,” he continued. “I don’t know of anyone who could perform a timely rescue. I recommend that the diehards wait for a week of sustained sub-freezing days.”

That’s easier said than done by someone who hasn’t been bitten by the ice fishing bug.

“I fish all year, but I can’t wait for the ice to come,” Doughty said. “I would stand on the shore and throw ice cubes into the lake if I thought that would help.”

The 4-40-4 rule

Some websites and advisories say that ice two to three inches thick can safely support one person. But not all ice is made equally. Some is solid. Some is honey-combed. Some is cracked. Some is over moving water and thus weaker.

James Daher, owner of Mickey’s Bait and Tackle in North Syracuse, uses “the 4-40-4 rule.” He prefers going out when the ice is “at least four inches thick, the temperature is 40 degrees or less, and you have at least four other fishermen around you.”

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog