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Topic: Dodging ice floes on Lindbergh Lake  (Read 2810 times)

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pmmpete

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Missoula, Montana
  • Date Registered: Jul 2013
  • Posts: 1989
The ice is starting to break up on lakes in western Montana.  A webcam with a view of Lindbergh Lake allowed me to monitor the status of the ice on that lake as the weather warmed up.  The ice had melted away from the lakeshore by April 4.  On Wednesday, April 6, a large lead of open water opened up across the outlet area.  During the day on April 7, the ice broke up and disappeared as far up the lake as was visible on the webcam.  So on Saturday, April 9, I went kayak fishing on Lindbergh Lake.  But a mile and a half up the lake, I encountered unbroken ice.  I fished along the edge of the ice, but around noon a stiff wind brewed up and started breaking off big ice floes and pushing them down the lake towards the launch site.  I tried to troll around the floes for a while, but as more and more floes moved down the lake, I got worried about the ice preventing me from getting back to the launch site, so I fled to the launch site and the safety of shore.

Here is a series of pictures from the Lindbergh Lake webcam showing the ice breaking up on April 7.  It was a pretty calm day.  If it had been windier, the ice would have broken up more quickly.













On April 9, there was a lot of snow on the road to the launch site.



There was some loose ice floating in front of the boat ramp, but otherwise the outlet area looked free of ice.



It still looked like winter in the mountains.



I was downrigger trolling right above the bottom off the right side of my kayak, and running a planer board with a lure near the surface off the left side of my kayak.



About a mile and a half up the lake I encountered unbroken ice covering about half of the area where I wanted to fish.



The ice was still an unbroken sheet, but the warm weather had reduced it to the consistency of a snow cone.





A stiff wind developed, blowing off the ice, and big floes started to break off the ice and float towards the outlet.



For a while I snuck in behind the floes and kept fishing.



But more and more floes kept breaking off, I could see the ice breaking up further up the lake, and I became concerned that ice might block me from getting to the boat ramp.  So I headed for home.


« Last Edit: April 11, 2016, 06:49:20 AM by pmmpete »