After a mild spell on Friday, we experienced awesome ice fishing friendly freezing temperatures all weekend. However Monday brought us back to the inevitable spring warm up as double digit warm temperatures and sunny skies descended on the East Coast.

Although Bassan had to work today, he wanted to get out for one last kick at the cat ice fishing. We hopped on the bikes leaving from his house around 3:30pm and rode into the backcountry of Bauline. Bassan rode his 1997 Foreman 400 while I took Project Foreman which was recently fitted with studded tires.

When we arrived at the pond the ice looked sketchy after a full day of 10ºC temps. Sure enough the 12" of ice measured on Sunday now consisted of a top 4" layer that you could scrape away with your boot. Hidden spots & springs that didn't freeze well this winter could be quite dangerous now.

We chose not to ride out onto the pond instead switched gears and made tracks back the road for Plan B. This past week we were unable access the upper end of one of the necks due to a line of open water blocking the way.

There is no ATV path from the road down to that section of pond but we managed to ride the bikes quite a ways through the woods towards the pond and stash them out of sight. With axe in hand we bushwhacked a walking path down to the pond.

Ice conditions here were similar to what we checked earlier, sketchy for the bikes but enough ice for walking. There was an incredible amount of melt water and slush on the ice after a long day of warm temps.

We planted ane re-planted our lines all over the neck fishing the whole area, albeit to no avail this evening.

As the sun set we packed up our gear and headed back to the bikes empty-handed. We had a couple lines skinned of bait but alas no trout on this adventure.

I figured it would be a bit of a job getting the bikes out of the woods and back up onto the road as the snow was deep and soft after a day of warm temperatures. Our trusty Honda Foreman's tackled the ride with ease!

ATV trails in the area still have a lot of snow on them in places, but melt water is undermining them. This can lead to deep ruts and the bike to high centre if your not careful. All in all it was another great afternoon in the woods and a nice way to end off a fantastic ice fishing season.

Cheers, MIKE

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