frozen out

Rick L

Rick L

Well-known member
a big dive in the temps caused really hard water today- we broke ice on the way in and put a few decoys out but the marsh froze right up again

actually - it froze so hard that after about 2 1/2 hours of sitting there, we decided to pick up and get warmed up
when i went to get the last decoy, i reached out with the loop on the handle of the push pole- and when i pulled- I pulled the boat across the ice to the decoy [w00t]

to give a bored dog some exercise i tossed the dummy around for Macallan when we got back out-

so- here is the best and only shot of the day



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Rick, where are you located?
Just wondering how far south things are "locked up" with this early freeze.
 
george w said:
Which one? Betting on Canandaigua. Pretty rare for the rest to freeze.[smile]
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its a marsh in the finger lakes region- not a big lake - but Candandaigua is one of the last to freeze - Seneca almost never does (maybe a couple times a century but its over 600 feet deep with lots of movement, my Dad said when he was a kid and cars for the common man were a new thing, some scam artist sold people water from Seneca for their radiators - BECAUSE - Seneca Lake water doesn't freeze [;)] )

with Cayuga - mostly its the shallow north end that freezes - Keuka's forks freeze regularly as do many of the smaller lakes Skaneateles, Owasco and so on - I tried to count all the lakes in the region when i was a kid- i think i came up with a number around 35 - the small lake in the region that my parents lived on would get ice up to 22 -24 inches thick in a normal winter- and the Watkins Glen region SCCA used to have sports car Gymkhanas on Waneta

BUT - i am not ready to be frozen out of the marsh already :[frown] - our season is only just about half over
 
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Carl said:
Rick, where are you located?
Just wondering how far south things are "locked up" with this early freeze.
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Carl,

I'm in NE Iowa. The marshes, ponds and backwaters are locked in at this point in time. That said, I just both hunted (morning) and fished (afternoon) open water within 20 miles of my home. That said, 2 hours directly east of me, the ski resort is opening for the season this weekend. Also I could drive 2 hours NW of me and get in some ice fishing already.

I drove by a loafing area the geese use right in the middle of town today. About 500 - 600 geese grazing on the lawn and sitting on the frozen pond. Another pond in town was also covered in geese with about half of it kept open by the milling geese.

I sit on the river outside the city limits. All I do is watch them go out to feed and watch them come back. [frown][frown]
 
Phil Nowack said:
Dave- Pete and I shot ducks over water today...



Just sayin
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Well, I watched decoys float away, chased them down and watched them float away again. rinse and repeat

You guys are going to eat better than I tonight. [shocked] ( I conserved gunpowder today, so there)
 
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Good morning, Rick~


I loved your Dad's tale about the amazing properties of Seneca Lake water. My Dad was superintendent of Sampson State Park for about a dozen years. He's gone now but my Mom and younger brother - who lived on the Lake - will surely appreciate it.


I'm in Washington County - northeast of Albany. We've been icing up this week - finally saw lots of Mallards and Blacks on the rivers of late.



All the best,


SJS

 
We hunted the salt on the back side of a little snow storm this morning. I was very surprised to have sheets of ice on the falling tide take out part of my decoy spread. It usually takes some extended cold weather to put ice in the salt marsh, but we had one night in the low teens and two days below 25, followed by 6" of snow. Incoming tide hit the cold mud and snow and created a pretty good ice cover.

Ducks were active but did not like our spread. Lots of looks and nobody who wanted to drop in. Great bird watching morning, though. Blacks, teal, a high flock we thought were pintails, a few whistlers and buffies--and none closer than about 60 yards. The only bird to decoy into my shooting range was a kingfisher.

Bald eagles have moved from fish to ducks as their primary food. We spotted a juvenile sitting on a half-tide ledge tearing into what appeared to be a bufflehead.
 
Jeff Reardon said:
Bald eagles have moved from fish to ducks as their primary food. We spotted a juvenile sitting on a half-tide ledge tearing into what appeared to be a bufflehead.
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same here Jeff - breeding pairs have spread around our area - we have had them fly over the marsh a couple times this season, a couple hunts ago we had a young one sit it the nearest tree as if waiting for us to shoot something - unfortunately - the joke was on him that day, no ducks so free lunch


this is one of the breeding pair on the my local trout stream - back lit by the morning sun last spring - he still has that don't mess with me look



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arrgghhhh

the plan was to get out in the marsh tomorrow - just two weeks left and another front is due late Tuesday

But just got a call from our marsh committee chair - a couple of the guys were out there deer hunting today and WALKED out on the ponds to check the ice - not quite 2"

no hunt tomorrow, it may be the end of the season that wasn't


plan B - if i leave the truck running and the dog can do a retrieve fast enough - there are ducks on the canal at that snooty shopping area a couple towns up and over [whistle]
 
Rick L said:
Jeff Reardon said:
Bald eagles have moved from fish to ducks as their primary food. We spotted a juvenile sitting on a half-tide ledge tearing into what appeared to be a bufflehead.
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same here Jeff - breeding pairs have spread around our area - we have had them fly over the marsh a couple times this season, a couple hunts ago we had a young one sit it the nearest tree as if waiting for us to shoot something
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There are two locations that I hunt, where an eagle or two will often show up and hang out. It may be just my imagination, but this seems to adversely affect the duck behavior when the eagles are near. Most often they are within 150-200 yards.


Have you seen any effect when this happens during your hunts?
 
Huntindave McCann said:
There are two locations that I hunt, where an eagle or two will often show up and hang out. It may be just my imagination, but this seems to adversely affect the duck behavior when the eagles are near. Most often they are within 150-200 yards.


Have you seen any effect when this happens during your hunts?
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we were discussing the same theory this fall at the marsh- when a eagle was in a near by tree - the ducks seemed to give those ponds a wide berth
 

Do not give up on the duck season "That Wasn't". The season returns Dec. 26 - Jan.11.

Pray for a THAW. Many of my most memorable marsh hunts were late in the season, after a thaw. Lotta ducks, no hunters.

I am still house bound, but still have hope... and planning for out of state hunts next season.


As for Bald Eagles, after seeing my first one in person, eating a dead skunk, and others sitting on dumpsters. They are 50% scavenger 50% predator. I have much higher regard for a Great Blue Heron. The Golden Eagle puts Balds to shame IMO.
 
Rick, a few of our regular guides use ice eaters for the boat in the pond. Honda eu2000 is enough to power the larger ice eaters. Opens a large enough hole for some good gunning. Honda is super quiet and will run a long time with the extra tank.
I'm looking for a used unit and a used ice eater...
 
we have over a dozen "ponds" openings in the marsh not to mention the channels

if it were me and a smaller area - i'd me in the market -


my concern now is that the ducks have moved to the big water in the finger lakes and even if we open up the may not come back

this rarely happens - but as the say in "Jaws" going to need a bigger boat- may be building something that will take some bigger water next year - to hunt the marshy edges of some of the lakes - a sneakbox maybe
 
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