Last Ice in SE Iowa?

I suspect this weekend will be the last one to feature much safe ice in southeast Iowa. High temps next week are supposed to be around fifty, and that will do further damage to ice already hurt by the rain we have had. I haven’t been out to check anything, but I still feel safe hitting (finally!) some of my out-of-the-way spots on Macbride Saturday and Sunday. Next weekend I’ll be in Minnesota, and then I’ll put my ice-fishing gear away until Thanksgiving.

But, that is OK. The Bellevue/Clinton/Dubuque opener is in two weeks, and the ice should be out on the Coralville flood plain by then, too.

It will be a sad day in Iowa!!!!!

We will missed the Ice until the freeze cometh again!

There was at least a foot everywhere I drilled yesterday on MacBride, with most places have 18″ or more. Last night’s lows certainly didn’t hurt.

I suspect there will be at least another week, if not two of safe ice. It always seems that if the overnight lows are below freezing, that ice sticks around for quite some time.

I was out on Macbride Saturday afternoon. I too found around 20″ of ice wherever I drilled. It held up better(and was thicker to start with) under the rain and warm days than I thought it would.

I found one of my out-of-the-way brushpiles, but found the same problems with high-pressure front fishing cited in the newest Macbride thread. Nothing much bit at all until about 5:00, when the Macbride bluegills started hitting. I did get a few nice crappies mixed in with them. Whether I will have the time to hit the ice in SE Iowa again remains to be seen…