Lvd 12/14

[Winddrift Dave]

As of last Thursday there was 5" base ice out front, and amazingly found 8" west of Duck Point approx. 1 1/2 miles to the south. Between the snow on Thurs & Sat. we ended up with around 10-11" snow cover, which created areas of slush where the holes were drilled. Now that it has gone below zero it is firming these areas up and is making ice. The lake has been booming the last 2 nights. Will wait for a while before drilling more holes to allow the base to get thicker. Yesterday found it had gained 1-2" on the base and the snow is compacted so the cold should penetrate better than if it was fluffy. Have found that the coontail weeds had a good growth this year. Difficulty finding an area that the minnows wouldn't embed themselves in the thickest weeds. The cabbage is there, but the coontail and other grass weeds have definitely had a growth spurt. Even keeping the bait a foot or two under the ice was catching weeds in areas.

[Winddrift Dave]

Conditions were starting to improve, however will have to see how much snow we get tonight. Currently here on north shore 7-8" base w/ average 8" snow cover. That's up from 5" base Dec. 11. Old holes and pressure cracks creates the slush areas which has started to form a good crust in exposed areas. Snowmobile is always the best mode of travel on LVD, but a neighbor got his stuck after he forgot to park it on firm snow base. ATV tracks are breaking 2-3" crust for a total 4-5" slush on top of the 7-8" base. Rode snowmobile a couple miles out to Duck Point and only found one area of water on a pressure crack. If using an ATV, stay slow in case you break the crust, you won't go flying. Atleast the snow should cover the big ruts, but hopefully not much more. The pic is as of this AM before the 6" of moisture laden fluff we've recieved as of 11PM 12/21.
Flying Flags to All for X-Mas - Dave