02-19-2014, 09:34 PM
Although I had been on the ice a couple of times this year and enjoyed it.....It really isn't my preferred method of angling. With warming weather and deteriorating ice conditions, I have been studying my calendar almost daily trying to guess when the ice will be off Utah lake.
After 40 years of participating in the spring walleye spawning run I recall that almost always I have caught my first walleye (generally a precocious male) no later than St. Patricks day and often sooner than that. Since the weather has been unseasonably warm I started to think that the ice might be off much sooner than mid-March.
This afternoon with building northwest winds popping the stars off the flag and the air colder than a stepmothers kiss, I headed to Lincoln beach in hopes of seeing moving ice. Alas, it was not to be. There is certainly some stacked up ice including at the island, but nothing of any significance yet .
The lake is very shallow with enough land mass sticking above the water to land a DC 10 at bird island. I would say the lake is about 3 to 4 feet low. Not a good sign! Very little water coming in from the Provo River, but with a decent flow entering from the Spanish Fork river.
Past the orchards along the entrance to Goshen Bay there is quite a bit of open water that might be a harbinger of things to come if the winds continue.
Predictions? I would say that I'll have caught a walleye by St. Patricks day and maybe earlier. That is a sure thing providing there is enough water in the lake to launch my boat. Ice off? Not by the first of March!
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After 40 years of participating in the spring walleye spawning run I recall that almost always I have caught my first walleye (generally a precocious male) no later than St. Patricks day and often sooner than that. Since the weather has been unseasonably warm I started to think that the ice might be off much sooner than mid-March.
This afternoon with building northwest winds popping the stars off the flag and the air colder than a stepmothers kiss, I headed to Lincoln beach in hopes of seeing moving ice. Alas, it was not to be. There is certainly some stacked up ice including at the island, but nothing of any significance yet .
The lake is very shallow with enough land mass sticking above the water to land a DC 10 at bird island. I would say the lake is about 3 to 4 feet low. Not a good sign! Very little water coming in from the Provo River, but with a decent flow entering from the Spanish Fork river.
Past the orchards along the entrance to Goshen Bay there is quite a bit of open water that might be a harbinger of things to come if the winds continue.
Predictions? I would say that I'll have caught a walleye by St. Patricks day and maybe earlier. That is a sure thing providing there is enough water in the lake to launch my boat. Ice off? Not by the first of March!
[signature]