Muskoka Outdoors » Ice Conditions

Mary Lake Ice Conditions

Bill Anderson — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:04:15 +0000

I took some photos of Mary Lake’s ‘Ice-Out’ status yesterday. It is a typical representation of the lakes in the Huntsville and Port Sydney area. The ice is 1 – 2 inches thick and FAR from safe. No ice is present close to areas like river mouths and fast moving water locations. Hunter’s Bay in Vernon Lake is completely open. I drove past sections of Fairy Lake and noticed that the ice is still present in much the same way it is pictured in these photos of Mary Lake. I would have had photos posted, but the battery was weak on my camera.

The word on the street is that the ice-out times are way behind from last year. I agree. My prediction is that complete ice-out in most lakes should occur in 5 – 7 days. Get your Lake Trout gear ready folks!

Cancelled Post Due To Snow & Ice

Bill Anderson — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 16:22:08 +0000

I was looking forward to fishing off a friends dock on Fairy Lake today. We are house-sitting their house. The irony of this situation is that their dock is very close to an area designated as a fishing refuge (for spawning fish). So, here I am metres away from a potential fish paradise and I can’t even get a fishing or fly fishing line in the water. For those you wondering what Fairy lake is looking like on April 7, click on the photos.

The ice/slush is very unsafe. Things were looking great until we got 3 days of snow. Has someone told the global warming guys yet?

Trapped on the outside of paradise,

Bill Anderson – Muskoka Outdoors

More Trail/Ice Conditions in Muskoka

Bill Anderson — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 00:46:14 +0000

I appreciate the time one of visitors took to send an email to let us know how the conditions were on a visit this past weekend to the Muskoka Area. Just so you know, here is what their email said,

You asked in our last email for an update on our last weekend at the cottage until the lake opens up and we’re back in the boat.

Conditions: Friday upon arrival.. fair conditions, We stuck to established staked trails. Slush still found if you ventured onto untravelled territory.

Saturday. Rained in morning. made snow great for kids to make snowman. packed down/thinned out trails and made them more bumpy. Any areas where there were trails of slush, water filled. Conditions starting to fail. Lots of dripping from rain and melting thanks to plus temperatures.

Sunday. Another beautiful day in Muskoka – too beautiful to go home, but weather was dictating that. More melting, slush, and trails now starting to expose ice (snow base gone).

NOTE: we turned on our neighbours and our bubbler and within 45 minutes it was pushing water up onto ice washing away whatever snow it came into contact with. Our neighbours actually opened up a hole quite quickly which would suggest to me that the ice wasn’t very thick by his dock. I would suspect the Lake ice will break up quickly. Time will tell.

There you have it everyone. Great Intel. Hope it helps.

Bill Anderson – Muskoka Outdoors

My Kind of Email!

Bill Anderson — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:04:05 +0000

Some emails make me jealous! Especially this one that I got this evening:

Hey Billy-boy! I was out with a French-Canadian friend on Lake Rosseau this morning. We got out at about 9:30 and we had some decent trout by 10:30. We threw a few 1 pounders back in, and a couple big ones took the line right off my buddy’s tip-up twice!

It was great action on about 3-4 inches of ice! Riskin’ it for the lakers baby

Let me know if you want to go sometime soon.

-Dave Mc

Although, officially we do not recommend you ‘risk it’ on 3 – 4 inches of ice – I wish I could have been there Dave! Send us some photos!

Bill Anderson

Muskoka Outdoors

Ice Conditions: On The Fly

Bill Anderson — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 20:02:49 +0000

I forgot my camera on my way to work yesterday. I was going to snap a few photos of the lakes I passed on my journey. This report is based on ‘drive-by’ visuals and some comments from some residents.

The sections of Fairy, Mary, and Vernon lakes I snapped photos of in my last ice condition post are now covered over with ice. I have even seen people walking and fishing on areas closer to shore. A few brave souls have use their snowmobiles in some parts. I do not recommend this.

I DO NOT KNOW THE EXACT ICE THICKNESS of area lakes. However, I ran into some people who have been on Vernon, Mary and Fawn lake. They told me that the ice they encountered was 4 – 6 inches in thickness. This does NOT mean that all ice in the lakes is this thick. One person I knew had just come from ice-fishing Fawn lake and caught a pike for their trouble.

Snowmobile trails in the Huntsville area are still not officially open. For more trail information visit the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs.

The ice conditions have come a long way since the beginning of January. You still need to be careful if you venture out. Test ice-thickness yourself (with an auger) before you hit the hard stuff.

Bill Anderson

Muskoka Outdoors

Ice Condition UPDATE.

Bill Anderson — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 03:01:27 +0000

The short update is, “Stay off the lakes in our area unless you KNOW they are safe.” I took some photos of parts of Mary Lake, Vernon Lake, and Fairy Lake today. The results are varied.My first stop was the Port Sydney dock. I snapped a photo directly off the front of the dock and the whole bay was open with only some ice close to shore. There are usually ice fishing huts set-up just off this dock.

My second stop was the public dock close to the train station in Huntsville. I could get a great view of Hunter’s Bay from here. Most of the bay was ice covered, but it looked far from safe. It creaked and groaned when I attempted to put some weight on it.

Finally, I ended up at a place along one of the larger bays of Fairy Lake. Actually it was a portion of Fairy Lake that is very close to Canadian Tire in Huntsville. This bay looked wide open with only minimal ice along the shore. I have a bad feeling we may have to wait another week (or two) for some decent ice conditions.

No Ice Yet.

Bill Anderson — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 16:24:23 +0000

I drove by Mary Lake this morning. The large part of the lake by the Port Sydney dock is still wide open.

I visited a friend on Fairy Lake on Sunday and I could have used my fly rod right off his dock. There was some thin ice along the shore but that was all I could see.

Hunters Bay on Vernon Lake is still open with no sign of ice.

It is really too bad we pulled the Lowe out of the water. We could still be using it. Tonight the temperature is supposed to dip below down to -11 C but, on Thursday temperatures are predicted rise above zero C again.
Feel free to comment below about the lake in your area. It could really help our visitors.

Thanks.

Bill Anderson

Muskoka Outdoors