Ice out - warning!

[Sk8man]

Many people frequent this site and some are new to fishing in general, boating, or fishing in Winter or early Spring conditions.These comments are directed mainly to them but also apply to the rest of us as well.

 

The early season fishery can be very exciting and many posts recently have accentuated this coupled with the brutal long winter we have had this year. It is understandable that everyone is poised like race horses waiting to get out of the starting gate and go after the browns and early kings and whatever else can be caught in the shallows of Lake O and the Finger Lakes.

 

Ice out and the days and weeks following it as the ice cold water is warming up are indeed  exciting times but they are also the most potentially dangerous of the season. Each year folks drown, need to be rescued or have so called "lucky" scrapes with danger on the water. Some folks go out there in the excitement either totally unprepared or ill prepared for the conditions they are entering (e.g. not wearing life jackets, or not even having them aboard, outdated or absent flares and signaling devices, no back up means of propulsion should their engine give out or run out of fuel, not properly dressed for conditions possibly leading to hypothermia especially with unexpected rain etc.

 

Those folks most eager often take chances and over ride their common sense and good judgment by going out there as if it were summer and launch full tilt out of the chute wide open headed to their intended spots. They fail to perceive or else over ride their survival concerns in he excitement and fail to notice big ice floes in the channel behind them or out on the lakes proper feeling that they can navigate around them, they don't think about the fact that ice can be one of the most destructive forces on Earth and it routinely takes out metal boat hoists, and docks and strews the remnants around like straw in the wind. The rivers that empty into the lakes during melting and overflow situations empty their contents into the lakes which can be anything from small sticks or boards with nails in them to floating logs, railroad ties and telephone poles (often from break walls that have disassembled) some of which are vertical in the water with only the tips showing. This mess sets the stage for potential disaster especially with people going at high speeds and preoccupied with various preparations in the boat.

 

The bottom line advice is this : Be alert, be prepared, be cautious, go slowly and enjoy yourselves so that you can return home safely to your family. Good luck!

Edited March 10, 2015 by Sk8man

[guffins fisherman]

Well put. $#%t floating everywhere. I fish the eastern end and it seems the Black just scours the landscape and dumps it into the lake in the spring.

[Xxx]

Well said Les, and like Guffin stated about the Black River is so true, having a camper in the BRCG, before the times of Allen, the bay can be a very dangerous place, with stuff floating just under the water.

[Iceman]

I have always been amazed with the stuff that comes from Lake Erie on the West end. One year we saw a dead adult milk cow floating off of the Bar.

John

[Fish Hunter]

Oneida is no different as the NYS Barge Canal, fed/flushed by Fish Creek at Sylvan Beach, and the mouth of Oneida Creek in Verona Beach can push a lot of dangerous debris into the east end of that lake.

Early season navigation should be done with care, no doubt.

[lineman49]

You should see the crap that comes out of the Niagara when they pull the ice boom out of Erie besides the ice!

[Jakob5pennies]

right on que , to all be safe stay safe

[Mortigan]

:yes:

[Sk8man]

Just a reminder as it is close to the end in many places especially if we get significant rain and the ice will be dangerous too. It is also the last day of Pike Walleye and bass in the Finger Lakes today (15th).

Edited March 15, 2015 by Sk8man