Ice Thickness anyone?

[Alsobig]

Does anyone have any Ice Thickness to report... Anywhere on the lake... Heading up this weekend to do some Ice fishine and wanted to know how much Ice is on the lake in different places....

[MAXUM]

Read in the paper today that the ice is an average of 8 to 10" thick. Some areas are probably thicker as some pictures posted on this site showed folks driving on the ice last weekend.

[Mink Islander]

I walked in from Cattle Landing early Saturday to Mink Island. Had 9-10" of black ice at Cattle Landing. Closer to 10-11" of black ice on the north side of Mink where I was fishing. Conditions will be great for the Derby -- just hoping the wind dies down. Saw quite a few sleds/ATVs over the course of Sat/Sunday around Bear and on the Broads side of Camp and Jolly.

Sight of the weekend was a pair of large hawks (at least I think they were hawks) circling around Mink on Saturday. Not sure what they were -- definitely not Bald Eagles, but large for hawks. Looked like a male/female pair. Pretty cool.

Did a walk-around of Mink north of the carry. No home damage noted. Ice eaters all working. Did see where the Co-op had cut down some trees on the cove (south) side of the island. Must have been done since Thanksgiving. Some cutting over on the west side as well where the underground cables come up so it could have been a continuation of the clearing the Co-Op was doing on Bear in the fall. The moonlight over the islands was also really awesome last night. Very clear.

Hiking out Sunday, saw much more activity over by Meredith Neck and Meredith Bay has a lot more bob houses. Now if I could just have a little more luck fishing -- very quiet weekend. Maybe it's the full moon....

[20mile]

Moultonboro ice is 10-12"

[Alsobig]

Thanks for the input... was up on Paugus Bay many sleds and only a few Bob houses... saw one Car venturing out on the Ice about 1000' feet from the channel... Crazy mo fo if I say so myself.... :eek:

[MAXUM]

I was in Moultonboro bay on Saturday riding the sled around, conditions were excellent for riding, although there are a few good ice riffs out there so be careful as the ice thickness can vary near them. Stopped a few times to check the ice and it was uniformly 10+" thick. There were several folks driving vehicles out on 19 mile bay, Wolfeboro bay and Winter Harbor.

Ice conditions should be as suggested excellent for the derby. A little bit more snow this week would make it even better as there are areas of wind blown bare ice, so riding without a picked track across the lake should be done with some caution.

[Mee-n-Mac]

While it must be pretty thick in Alton Bay (see other thread (http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4224)) to support the cars, trucks and planes, I don't think it was all that thick just 20 ft from the edge created by my circulator. :rolleye2: More seriously, do fish congregate near the open water in winter ? The guy in the pic below was far away from any bobhouse and so I figure he must have had a good reason to go out of his way.

[Weirs guy]

The guy in the pic below was far away from any bobhouse and so I figure he must have had a good reason.

Yes, BEER. At least thats what I base my tip up positioning on. :D

Weirs bay looks to have at least 6" of good, black ice. I can't be sure as I haven't drilled any holes yet, but based on the look of some of the pressure cracks I'd say thats a safe low ball estimate.