Bridge Dimensions:
*Travel/Cross Bridges at your own risk*
Remember to support your local fishing club so we can keep maintaining the roads and bridges!
February 20, 2020
It's been awhile since I did a report. I apologize-been a busy couple weeks and not much has changed in the Paynes Point area except we are making ice.
The area of "new " ice I've talked about in past posts now has 9 to 11.5" of ice. Once past that area I have been finding on average 12" or more of ice. The new ice area runs north south and is roughly 1.2 miles out from our landing. The area is is anywhere from 50 feet to 50 yards wide depending where you are.
Travel is safe to Stevens Reef, little Blackbird Reef, the reefs east of garlic island etc with an ATV, UTV or snowmobile. We do not have a working crack as of this afternoon anywhere that I know of that would necessitate an ATV bridge. If things change we will put out ATV bridges as needed. We did not put an ATV bridge out in Asylum Bay either. As of today it's not needed. If that changes during Battle on Bago we will put one out.
We have parking lots plowed on the ice for people to park trucks and trailers etc if needed. Clubhouse will be open for fisherman and spearers also. The map that was posted by Battle on Bago was drawn by Don Herman and myself. The red line is intended to show where that "new" ice is and also a small crack that was working by Oshkosh. Good luck spearing and fishing in Battle on Bago.
Remember the ice is never 100% safe and is dangerous when surrounded by my cup of Jack Daniels.
February 6, 2020
I went out late yesterday afternoon to check and see if we made any ice and to check the area 3 miles or so east of Fresh Air Park that someone posted a picture of open water when they flew over. Good news - it's not open water, but it did only have 5" of ice on it. Just like the picture, ice was way darker than normal.
I also drilled in the same areas I was drilling earlier in the week. Seems on average, we made a 1/2" of ice since the cold snap; some areas had made an inch. So mostly 6" in the areas of new ice that I drilled. Doesn't mean there is not spots with less. I suspect we will make another 1/2" to a 1" by Saturday. Hoping for more though.
We have plenty of area in front of clubhouse for parking vehicles with 13 to 16" of ice. Be sure to stop in the clubhouse and support your local fishing club!
Remember the ice is never 100% safe.
February 2, 2020
Our president Darryl Lehman and I went out 5 miles today from our club house towards Faro Springs Road on the east shore. To clear up some questions about ice thickness out there, we drilled every tenth of a mile out to 3 miles then every 1/2 mile out to 5 miles.
As the satellite images show and the pictures taken from when we flew over the lake last week, it seems to be pretty definitive where the newest ice is out there (the real dark lines on modis satellite imagery and in the pictures).
After doing further investigation I have found that the "new" ice is between 5 and 6" thick and the ice out past that is generally 7.5 to 10" thick. The "new" ice seems to range from 50ft to 50yds wide, depending where you are.
In Rickers Bay, where the clubhouse is located, the is averages between 12 and 14" thick. There is slush in the bay, but I suspect that will freeze by Wednesday or Thursday.
I'll do more updates throughout the week.
Ice is never 100% safe.
January 28, 2020
Otter Street President, Jim Erdman, Don Herman and myself flew over Lake Winnebago, Lake Poygan, Lake Butte des Morts and Green Lake today.
Good news is Lake Winnebago is froze over completely, no open holes seen anywhere. In the air it is pretty easy to tell where the new ice is. (Very little snow on it). The big area that spans almost across the lake out from Paynes point, would be the largest area I would guess. Down the east shore of the lake there are spots that look to be a few miles long and a mile or 2 wide that have new ice - around Stockbridge, Quinney, Pipe etc. The hole that was rumored to be by Wendts east of the island is froze over, west shore around Oshkosh has a fairly larger band of new ice also. The middle of the lake looks to be froze over quite well with stretches of shove ice.
There was also a decent size working crack out off the east shore south side of Quinney - If I remember right, I'd guess 2 miles out, maybe more.
Lake looks pretty small from 2500ft up. Poygan looked froze over like we all know, except the lone willow area. I will do my best to keep everyone updated with what I find on the lake off Paynes point clubhouse or should I say in the areas we mainly operate on a normal winter, starting Thursday. Regardless, if we have truck bridges out or not, we will have plenty of parking area plowed off by our landing for people using other things besides trucks to get out spearing such as ATVs, UTVs, etc.
Here are a couple pics from today.
The last picture is the two celebrities flying with me today, Hollywood Herman, and Mr. Jim Erdman
January 27, 2020
Let me start by apologizing for not having more reports this season, but so far this season has been quite lack luster.
I have been talking with Don Herman about what he is seeing by Merritt St. in Oshkosh - Which looks to be in the 3-5" range right off shore. I have not personally checked the ice in Asylum Bay or north asylum bay, cowling bay etc. I have been watching the ice pretty closely in Rickers bay out from the clubhouse. As of now we have between 11.5 and 14" of ice in the bay up to 1.1 miles out from our clubhouse. I had someone tell me the drilled 100 yards out off Fresh Air Park landing and found 10", which doesn't surprise me.
With the warm weather and run off, I'd suspect to see the ice depths slightly less right off shore. It also seems that typically in years past I have found that almost every year we run into this by the clubhouse. It just takes a little longer for the ice to build in the 3' and less areas. I will suspect you will find similar thicknesses in the bay's I mentioned above, although I HAVENT PERSONALLY DRILLED THEM YET. So be sure to check!
In my last report there was a picture 1.2 miles out from the clubhouse I had taken of a strip of open water. From what I can see that has all froze over. Last Tuesday there was roughly 2" of ice on that strip that was open. (this area that was open started around Kimberly point and runs just south of Paynes Point then starts to head east for the most part across the lake some spots where 40' wide some where most likely 150' wide. The ice east of this looks to have froze a few days earlier than the narrow strip.)
Look at the attached picture and this will make more sense. At 1.1 miles I had 13" of ice at 1.16 miles I had 12" of ice. From there out to the strip of ice that is a week old I had 8.5 to 10" of ice. Where the strip of new ice is, there is now a working crack. From what I see that strip of ice is now 5 to 6" thick, which I think is doing good considering last weeks weather. Beyond that new ice suspect there is on average 8" or more of ice. I will be checking ice often starting mid to late week and will try to keep updates coming of what I find and where I've been looking. In this picture, the ice without snow I believe to have in the neighborhood of 8" overall and the dark line to be the "new" ice I was talking about.)
Like I said I haven't drilled a thousand holes yet so I can't give a super accurate description of ice depths. Stop at clubhouse and stay tuned for updates.
**Travel/Cross Bridges at your own risk**
Remember no ice is 100% safe.
Remember to support your local fishing club so we can keep maintaining the roads and bridges!
Remember to support your local fishing club so we can keep maintaining the roads and bridges!
February 20, 2020
It's been awhile since I did a report. I apologize-been a busy couple weeks and not much has changed in the Paynes Point area except we are making ice.
The area of "new " ice I've talked about in past posts now has 9 to 11.5" of ice. Once past that area I have been finding on average 12" or more of ice. The new ice area runs north south and is roughly 1.2 miles out from our landing. The area is is anywhere from 50 feet to 50 yards wide depending where you are.
Travel is safe to Stevens Reef, little Blackbird Reef, the reefs east of garlic island etc with an ATV, UTV or snowmobile. We do not have a working crack as of this afternoon anywhere that I know of that would necessitate an ATV bridge. If things change we will put out ATV bridges as needed. We did not put an ATV bridge out in Asylum Bay either. As of today it's not needed. If that changes during Battle on Bago we will put one out.
We have parking lots plowed on the ice for people to park trucks and trailers etc if needed. Clubhouse will be open for fisherman and spearers also. The map that was posted by Battle on Bago was drawn by Don Herman and myself. The red line is intended to show where that "new" ice is and also a small crack that was working by Oshkosh. Good luck spearing and fishing in Battle on Bago.
Remember the ice is never 100% safe and is dangerous when surrounded by my cup of Jack Daniels.
February 6, 2020
I went out late yesterday afternoon to check and see if we made any ice and to check the area 3 miles or so east of Fresh Air Park that someone posted a picture of open water when they flew over. Good news - it's not open water, but it did only have 5" of ice on it. Just like the picture, ice was way darker than normal.
I also drilled in the same areas I was drilling earlier in the week. Seems on average, we made a 1/2" of ice since the cold snap; some areas had made an inch. So mostly 6" in the areas of new ice that I drilled. Doesn't mean there is not spots with less. I suspect we will make another 1/2" to a 1" by Saturday. Hoping for more though.
We have plenty of area in front of clubhouse for parking vehicles with 13 to 16" of ice. Be sure to stop in the clubhouse and support your local fishing club!
Remember the ice is never 100% safe.
February 2, 2020
Our president Darryl Lehman and I went out 5 miles today from our club house towards Faro Springs Road on the east shore. To clear up some questions about ice thickness out there, we drilled every tenth of a mile out to 3 miles then every 1/2 mile out to 5 miles.
As the satellite images show and the pictures taken from when we flew over the lake last week, it seems to be pretty definitive where the newest ice is out there (the real dark lines on modis satellite imagery and in the pictures).
After doing further investigation I have found that the "new" ice is between 5 and 6" thick and the ice out past that is generally 7.5 to 10" thick. The "new" ice seems to range from 50ft to 50yds wide, depending where you are.
In Rickers Bay, where the clubhouse is located, the is averages between 12 and 14" thick. There is slush in the bay, but I suspect that will freeze by Wednesday or Thursday.
I'll do more updates throughout the week.
Ice is never 100% safe.
January 28, 2020
Otter Street President, Jim Erdman, Don Herman and myself flew over Lake Winnebago, Lake Poygan, Lake Butte des Morts and Green Lake today.
Good news is Lake Winnebago is froze over completely, no open holes seen anywhere. In the air it is pretty easy to tell where the new ice is. (Very little snow on it). The big area that spans almost across the lake out from Paynes point, would be the largest area I would guess. Down the east shore of the lake there are spots that look to be a few miles long and a mile or 2 wide that have new ice - around Stockbridge, Quinney, Pipe etc. The hole that was rumored to be by Wendts east of the island is froze over, west shore around Oshkosh has a fairly larger band of new ice also. The middle of the lake looks to be froze over quite well with stretches of shove ice.
There was also a decent size working crack out off the east shore south side of Quinney - If I remember right, I'd guess 2 miles out, maybe more.
Lake looks pretty small from 2500ft up. Poygan looked froze over like we all know, except the lone willow area. I will do my best to keep everyone updated with what I find on the lake off Paynes point clubhouse or should I say in the areas we mainly operate on a normal winter, starting Thursday. Regardless, if we have truck bridges out or not, we will have plenty of parking area plowed off by our landing for people using other things besides trucks to get out spearing such as ATVs, UTVs, etc.
Here are a couple pics from today.
The last picture is the two celebrities flying with me today, Hollywood Herman, and Mr. Jim Erdman
January 27, 2020
Let me start by apologizing for not having more reports this season, but so far this season has been quite lack luster.
I have been talking with Don Herman about what he is seeing by Merritt St. in Oshkosh - Which looks to be in the 3-5" range right off shore. I have not personally checked the ice in Asylum Bay or north asylum bay, cowling bay etc. I have been watching the ice pretty closely in Rickers bay out from the clubhouse. As of now we have between 11.5 and 14" of ice in the bay up to 1.1 miles out from our clubhouse. I had someone tell me the drilled 100 yards out off Fresh Air Park landing and found 10", which doesn't surprise me.
With the warm weather and run off, I'd suspect to see the ice depths slightly less right off shore. It also seems that typically in years past I have found that almost every year we run into this by the clubhouse. It just takes a little longer for the ice to build in the 3' and less areas. I will suspect you will find similar thicknesses in the bay's I mentioned above, although I HAVENT PERSONALLY DRILLED THEM YET. So be sure to check!
In my last report there was a picture 1.2 miles out from the clubhouse I had taken of a strip of open water. From what I can see that has all froze over. Last Tuesday there was roughly 2" of ice on that strip that was open. (this area that was open started around Kimberly point and runs just south of Paynes Point then starts to head east for the most part across the lake some spots where 40' wide some where most likely 150' wide. The ice east of this looks to have froze a few days earlier than the narrow strip.)
Look at the attached picture and this will make more sense. At 1.1 miles I had 13" of ice at 1.16 miles I had 12" of ice. From there out to the strip of ice that is a week old I had 8.5 to 10" of ice. Where the strip of new ice is, there is now a working crack. From what I see that strip of ice is now 5 to 6" thick, which I think is doing good considering last weeks weather. Beyond that new ice suspect there is on average 8" or more of ice. I will be checking ice often starting mid to late week and will try to keep updates coming of what I find and where I've been looking. In this picture, the ice without snow I believe to have in the neighborhood of 8" overall and the dark line to be the "new" ice I was talking about.)
Like I said I haven't drilled a thousand holes yet so I can't give a super accurate description of ice depths. Stop at clubhouse and stay tuned for updates.
**Travel/Cross Bridges at your own risk**
Remember no ice is 100% safe.
Remember to support your local fishing club so we can keep maintaining the roads and bridges!