Whitfish Chain Lake Conditions

[Benny]

Do to the extreme cold winter with very little snow to cover the ice and ground I've heard of reports of frost reaching 18' up here. Does anyone have any information or experience they would like to share to how this will effect the fishing conditions for the Whitefish Chain and Ossawinamakee Chain of lakes this opening season. Will the fish be later in performing their natural duties? What water temps are being reported from Upper Whitefish? Any info or opinion would be great.

[Fish_on]

The frost has never reached 18 feet anywhere in the continental united states in the last 6000 years or so. With little to no snow cover to insulate the ground, about half the sewer systems in Cass county froze up this year, meaning the frost was probably at least three feet. Most lakes had 35-40 inches of ice.

With that out of the way, the ice has been off the whitefish chain for about a week. There are some crappies showing up in the shallows, and some of the dark-bottomed back bays are getting into the 60's during the afternoons because we have had a dry, sunny spring. I would guess that we are on target for a normal opener. The lake is about 20 inches below normal for this time of the year, so some of the channels are a little bit treacherous. We need some rain since we had very little precip all winter.

Good luck.

[Benny]

Thanks Fish On for the info. Hope to see you aon the water next week.

[Benny]

We'll be out on Upper Whitefish on Saturday in a white Warrior tiller. Plan on fishing most of bays on west side and deep water breaks using jigs and 3-ways. May even pull a few cranks at the 15' line. We'll be using channel 69 for any of you that would like to partner up on programs and results. Plan on docking up for lunch at Moonlite Bay for a burger and a few pops. See you on the water.