Quinte Fishing

El Nino has had a huge affect on our 2016 season. The ice is a very inconsistent 2”-5” and can change abruptly within 50 yards. The area’s that have 5”, have 3” of white ice and 2” of black. This is the worst ice possible… next to no ice!

There are two major factors influencing the inconsistency in the ice pack:

1) Current

The current stops ice from forming in negative temperatures. It also eats away at the ice from the bottom up. Due to the warming trends that we are experiencing all of the major rivers flowing into the Bay are exceeding normal flowage and rushing making the currents stronger then normal.

2) The Snowpack

This past week we received as much as 12” of snow on certain sections of the Bay. Strong winds have made a golf ball effect on the ice (patches of snow, then ice). The snow acts as a great insulator and the spots where the snow is deep has made some very thin and soft ice.

We follow Accuweather very closely. They are usually spot on with their long range forecast. I have used this program for years and trust it without question. They have stated that 22 of 29 days in the month of February have highs above the freezing mark. The coldest night for the whole month is -15. With the snow and tempratures forecasted, I have low hopes that the current ice will hold, and almost no hope that it will build new safe ice.

That being said, our guide team will continue to do daily systematic assessments on ice conditions with actual boots on the ground. We use technology and theory to assist us whenever possible, but at the end of the day, our practices are based on real time facts and years of experience.

We pride ourselves on our program and our “run and gun” style of guiding. This allows us to stay on active schools of fish throughout the entire season. This is how we put 50 10lb+ walleyes on the ice last year. We need to have access to our Argos and Atv’s to guide the way our program is designed. This has been a constant in our abilities to ensure our guests go home with that new personal best season after season.

Here at QHWS, the first and foremost priority is the safety of all of our guests as well as our guides and scouts. Safety trumps money and good times… every time.

We sat down and had a meeting with all of our guides, and after much debate, we have reached a unanimous decision. We have decided to cancel all of guests coming from considerable distance. We are letting all of our short distance guests know that it’s “day to day” on whether or not we will be able to get on safe ice. We have come to this decision that ice conditions can become unsafe within the time it takes long distance guests to travel here. Again, collectively as a guide staff, we have all come to the same conclusion that due to ice conditions we will not be able to provide our guests with the full QHWS experience that is expected of us.

All of us here want to be out on the ice doing what we love, but under no circumstances would we ever jeopardize the safety of our guests or guides.

In conclusion we will still be booking guests from February 16 until March 1. These dates are potential bookings and we will have to continue to monitor the situation.

Please feel free to call me to discuss anything mentioned above. However I will not give ice reports simply due to the liability factor. Please play safe.

_________________
Brandon Ouellette

Quinte Hard Water Specialists
Wingfeather Outfitters
Silver Water Wheel Lodge

http://www.quintehardwaterspecialists.com

Been crazy bad season hope it gets better but cant see it..feel bad for you guys as this is your job...ive been on bay everyday for awhile last couple weeks or close to it..and since the beggining its been real bad go from six inches to two in a ten foot span.. Decided i better get the wife out on some safe ice oday before its gone so took her to moira.. Where last night there was almost seven inches of fairly good ice four was gd black amyways...well took her there at lunch today and cant believe what was going on.. Where the river comes in the west side its made like a ramp and half the water flowing was flowing onto the ice.. I watched almost four inches of water was on the ice on more then half the lake within an hour decided i would walk out the other side where there was huts walked thirty feet out with spud was fine took my last poke and all of a sudden everything cracked and dropped six inches...i went back to shore told wife no way over the next hour we watched it get so bad the corner of a perm hut had dropped through and two guys had parked there qauds on shore together walking ropes out to tie there huts up with hundreds of feet of line just so they coukd get the line to shore to there winch and drag em in as they had no other way to do it...ive never seen ice like this year in my life...u guys have made a very respectable decision and makes your company that much better...hope things look up but thinking better just pull boat back out with looks of this month

Brandon,
You and your team need to be commended for looking out for your clients safety..........
Congrats