i heard willow slough had ice...anyone go there?....lake bruce?....valpo chain?....back went out first day back on the job so i'm laid up for a couple days...picked up a big german shep ...just gettin older all the time....i'm bored at home and cant do anything but type...and they wont even let me type political stuff nowadays...maybe they'd let me type some religious stuff!...steve

Sorry to hear you are laid up. I also understand the desire to get out.

To answer some of your question I was checking out our retention pond on the south side of Lafayette, Indiana this afternoon. No way would I step foot on it. The ice is too thin. A goose can walk on it but I would not trust it at all. Now, Willow Slough is only an hour north west of the plant. It is 30 minutes north west of me and I know the lake here can not be safe or I would have heard something in town about it. The weather has been too warm here to make any safe ice. I recommend you think further north. Second you may consider open water fishing on your favorite river. Think conservative and think safe. Hope your back gets better.

Vetspet, there are several area lakes solid enough to fish. The only problem I see is they all have NOISE restrictions so I am not sure they will let you out on any of them! I saw 4 guys at Loomis, 6 guys on Long and I was in the back bays of my lake and caught 37 HUGE gills on beemoths in 8' of water. A little disappointing that no crappies came along but I left just before dark for a meeting. Good luck with your back. I hear if you are really quiet for 3 straight days, the back should be better. Looks like it will take you a bit longer!