Warmer Winters Ice conditions

Red · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2017 8:31 pm

Is anybody else concerned about these warm temperatures....i know some people don't like the cold winters... but can this really be good for the environment... not sure what all the ramifications of it will be ...oceans ,lakes ,rivers rising ... hotter summers ...ice cap melting and many more things that will change the landscape ...I'm not a scientist so not sure what will change but I have seen winters changing for several years
Last several years I have noticed a diffrence in the ice on the Bay of Quinte but the last 2 are nothing like I've seen in my 30 plus years of fishing here
The fishery has been up and down in Quinte over the years ...I catch my share of fish ...I have had one 12 fish day another 8 fish day this year but a few skunks too .... certainly not as constant as years past ...but can't help but wonder how the warm temps affect the fishery...any thoughts

Parksy · **Posted:** Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:55 am

I was going to ask if any long timers remember a year where you couldn't get out safely in the last weekend of the season. We all know the start is a crap shoot but I always assumed that you could count on fishing everyday in Feb if you wanted too (uh, maybe not the 14th if you know what I mean.. :wink:

) . Strange days....

Hutchy · **Joined:** Thu Dec 29, 2011 6:06 pm **Posts:** 399

Well I ain't that old but, it was only about 35 years ago when I worked in construction I would get laid off the end of November and I would be on the ice before Christmas or if it was slow ice just after Christmas and walleye season ran to the second week of March the same as pike and we were ticked that we had to stop fishing because there was still plenty of ice to drive a car on. There were more cars than snowmobiles and ATV's hadn't been invented yet, the Trent river looked like a subdivision was built on it with roads all through it and well out into the bay. Towards the end of February the ice could be as much as 28 - 30 inches thick easily. I don't ever remember having a winter where ice was sketchy about getting onto it by first week of January but it gradually got that way by the mid 1990's.

charlie464 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 24, 2017 7:34 am

Hutchy wrote:

Well I ain't that old but, it was only about 35 years ago when I worked in construction I would get laid off the end of November and I would be on the ice before Christmas or if it was slow ice just after Christmas and walleye season ran to the second week of March the same as pike and we were ticked that we had to stop fishing because there was still plenty of ice to drive a car on. There were more cars than snowmobiles and ATV's hadn't been invented yet, the Trent river looked like a subdivision was built on it with roads all through it and well out into the bay. Towards the end of February the ice could be as much as 28 - 30 inches thick easily. I don't ever remember having a winter where ice was sketchy about getting onto it by first week of January but it gradually got that way by the mid 1990's.

I remember those days , good times

Hutchy · **Joined:** Thu Dec 29, 2011 6:06 pm **Posts:** 399

Great times! I posted a picture of the river back then on here years ago.

jelleyra · **Joined:** Wed Oct 12, 2016 7:39 pm **Posts:** 7

MAN!!! your making me feel damn old now!! I remember years back I had a Jimmy Blazer and used to drive right out to the Trenton bridge and drilled my hole and fished out the door in the comfort of it and back in those days could get away with a few cold ones while at it!! ( sheesh) don't tell no one!! Now as I'm typing this I'm debating to uncover the damn boat tomorrow!! Talk about such changes ( weather, ice ) over times!! yeah!! getting older!! now where did I put that cold one!!

Hutchy · **Joined:** Thu Dec 29, 2011 6:06 pm **Posts:** 399

jelleyra wrote:

MAN!!! your making me feel damn old now!! I remember years back I had a Jimmy Blazer and used to drive right out to the Trenton bridge and drilled my hole and fished out the door in the comfort of it and back in those days could get away with a few cold ones while at it!! ( sheesh) don't tell no one!! Now as I'm typing this I'm debating to uncover the damn boat tomorrow!! Talk about such changes ( weather, ice ) over times!! yeah!! getting older!! now where did I put that cold one!!

And by the jimmy blazer you mean the actual real truck, not the little piddly ones of 1987. :lol:

Red · **Posted:** Sat Feb 25, 2017 7:33 am

Im not that old

I have fished the Bay for a little over 30 years I also remember the days when it was safe to drive vehicle's from Huffs Road to Deseronto for lunch .....or from Quick Short Road all the way to Thompsons point and down towards the cement plant ...the villages of huts all the way down the reach and around the Bay....now portable huts have changed that ....but there is not enough ice in a lot of areas to safely walk let alone drive .
I know we have warm years and cold years but this trend the last 2 years has really made me think ... I also remember when early ice was before Christmas ...fishing is up and down but I feel I can't get to the areas I would like to more all the time because of ice conditions
Times are changing

jjz · **Joined:** Mon Nov 01, 2010 11:18 am **Posts:** 231

No doubt that the overall temp is increasing globally but as crappy as the
last two ice seasons have been the two before that were awesome from a ice fishing perspective. And as cold as I ever remember. Will it help or hurt the fishery? Who knows, mostly likely be some impact short term but long term nature seems to adapt pretty and long after the 7 billion or so two legged morons wipe themselves out of existence there will still be fish and animals surviving Iam sure.
Whenever we get a warm winter like this people seem to think it's all coming to an end but I remember as a kid a few different years in the early 80s walking to basketball practice in shorts and tee shirt in Feb. if you are freaked out about a 1-2 degree average temp change imagine what the people thought 10-12k yrs ago as we were coming out of the last ice age. They probably sh@! Themselves.

Superdad · **Posted:** Fri Mar 03, 2017 7:50 am

On Wednesday, March 1st, I went out to Hay Bay to pick up some stuff at my trailer and drove to the trailer.

There was NO snow around the grounds AND Hay Bay was WIDE open. We've been there camping for 21 years and living in the area for 25 years and I have never seen Hay Bay open on March 1st - always ice covered...

People may refute the global warming but something is happening and it's a lot warmer and it is having an effect on the fish.

We will just have to solve the question - "How do you catch fish now?" We've done in the past when Quinte appeared to be shutting down. Only 7 - 8 years ago, no one could catch a fish using the old methods of drifting and jigging. A change of tactics was needed and everyone has adapted, looks like we're going to have to do it again.

David aka Superdad

Trannyman1 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 04, 2017 7:04 am

This was my 41st season on the ice on Quinte. I remember many times driving from Trenton to Zwicks Island down the Bay. I sure as hell wouldn't try that since 2000. Many years in the 70s & 80s we were on the ice as early as Dec. 3rd to the 5th. We would close the season out at Onderdonks the last week of March. That's when we caught a released those big sows until your arms were sore. It was great to see the MNRF close that fishery in the month of March.
I had a permanent hut in Trenton and one at Bayside. We were always driving from one to the other.
I remember 84 was a big ice year. We had to get extensions made for our augers about mid February.
I think those big ice years are over.

Al

Hutchy · **Joined:** Thu Dec 29, 2011 6:06 pm **Posts:** 399

The pressure cracks were a little more extreme back then as well. When ice that thick expands it is quite a show, I remember them being 4 or 5 feet high, slabs 10 feet across and you had a hard time finding a place to get across.

teppy · **Posted:** Sat Mar 04, 2017 11:39 am

I think it's all cyclical, soon enough we'll be back to colder winters.

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Warmer Winters Ice conditions

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