Safe Ice Digest

[catchinon]

Dec. 4, 2022  Huntington, Scofield, and Mill Hollow (the loggers have ceased operations for the season and the road is no longer being plowed) are good to go and many people are fishing them. Other waters are being fished but may be marginal to just plain dangerous. Included are: Mud Creek at Strawberry, Mantua, Causey, Panguitch, Newton, and Lower Stillwater. Birch Creek, Woodruff, and Little Creek are good to go. Cutler only has a couple of inches and I know of one guy who fell through so give those fridgid Cache Valley temperatures a little more time to solidify the ice. Utah Lake Provo Harbor only has an inch or so of ice but people are ice fishing from the docks.

Dec. 6, 2022 Little positive to add at this time. We have been experiencing warmer weather lately; this has caused ice to deteriorate and some places that were marginal are just plain dangerous. The wind has also reduced the ice conditions in the Uinta Basin, including Big Sand Wash and Lower Stillwater. The harbor at Utah Lake State Park has a skim of ice so that one might ice fish off the docks but the temperatures are only going to barely dip into the freezing range a few times this week. Scofield has about 8" of ice and should maintain that. That said, I've heard a rumor that someone fell through near the dam. As many people know, Mantua ice is very inconsistent, especially this time of year. You might have good ice where you are but if you wander just over there you may plunge through a weak spot. Remember, your spud bar may be your best friend--take it out often.
I had a really cool visual to put here but that put my character count way over the limit. It shows the ice thicknesses that are safe for various activities. Three inches or less is not safe. Four inches will safely hold single persons but if you have a group you need  five inches. Six is safe to take snowmobiles on and nine inches should hold up an atv. Side by sides may need more. For the brave or foolhardy, do your own research on how many inches you need to be safe driving onto the ice with your car or pickup. I just wouldn't do it under any circumstances.

Dec. 14, 2022 Flaming Gorge: [font="Open Sans", sans-serif]as of last Saturday the ice ended just above Currant Creek.  I fished in the Confluence where ice thickness was 4-inches, so I suspect it was much thinner further down lake.[/font]

Please pm me if you have any information I can add here. Conditions this time af year often vary with temperature fluctuations. Just because it was safe last week doesn't mean it is now.

Dec. 27, 2022 Tons of new ice to fish with the cold weather. Got sick or would have updated sooner. Please add anything I have missed.
Newton: 7"
Willard: Some are fishing but it's unsafe at only 3"
Hyrum: 6"
Porcupine: 5" by the spring around to the back
Rockport: 7-8"
Echo: 4-6", watch out for thinner spots
Provo Harbor: 2", but people have been walking and skating on it; most are staying on the docks
Lost Creek: 1.5-5" be careful which part you pick and check it out thoroughly
American Fork Harbor: up to 5" but it's moot because the water is so shallow; if you hunt around you might find 3.5 fow
Lindon Harbor: May have sufficient ice but near zero fow
Bountiful Pond has been being fished but I'm not sure how thick the ice is
Salt Lake Valley ponds and community fisheries only have around 2"

Not ready yet: Deer Creek, Jordanelle, East Canyon, etc.

[dubob]

Dec. 4, 2022  Huntington, Scofield, and Mill Hollow (the loggers have ceased operations for the season and the road is no longer being plowed) are good to go and many people are fishing them. Other waters are being fished but may be marginal to just plain dangerous. Included are: Mud Creek at Strawberry, Mantua, Causey, Panguitch, Newton, and Lower Stillwater. Birch Creek should be good by now. Cutler only has a couple of inches and I know of one guy who fell through so give those fridgid Cache Valley temperatures a little more time to solidify the ice. Utah Lake Provo Harbor only has an inch or so of ice but people are ice fishing from the docks.

Please pm me if you have any information I can add here. Conditions this time af year often vary with temperature fluctuations. Just because it was safe last week doesn't mean it is now.

If Birch Creek is good, then Woodruff and Little Creek will be also.  In fact, a post was made just a week ago about fishing Little Creek.

[catchinon]

I thought so, Bob, but I couldn't remember their names . Thanks for the help.

[hookngrinin]

Thanks for starting this up again this ice season. The winds we had last Friday have negatively impacted ice conditions of lower elevation lakes in the Uinta Basin including Big Sand Wash and Lower Stillwater.

[catchinon]

Bump up.

[catchinon]

Sorry it's been so long since the last update. Please post here if you have any information to add.

[dubob]

Ice at Rockport on Dec 26, 2022 was at least 5".  Snowdogs running everywhere with about 300 people on the ice.  Drove into the Echo boat launch area to check it out.  Maybe 30 vehicles parked all along the shoreline and up and down both sides of the boat launch ramp with none of the on the ramp itself per the warning sign at the top of the ramp say Don't park on the ramp.  I did not see any 'big boulders' along either side of the ramp.  There were a few boulders no bigger than a basketball along the ramp sides near the top of the ramp.  Didn't ge on the ice or talk to anybody coming off, so I don't know what the thickness is there.

[smokepoles]

Went to Mantua morning of Xmas eve with grandson and accessed the ice from the SE corner between the 'no parking' signs. Of course there were a couple cars having drivers who can't read and were parked between signs. If you go on here, go straight in as there was open water 10 yds to east with even a muskrat going in and out as we were leaving. To the west there were several piles of what appeared to be horse dung - not a clue as to these. I did not go close to fully inspect staying on the trail made by others rather that risking poor ice near the piles. Once fishing ice was 5" to 8" depending. Be careful given the warm weather last few days and rain coming down now.

[filletedalive]

Bountiful pond was 4”. 1” of cloudy with 3” of black. It will no longer be fishable after the warm winds and rain.
 I’ll check it again over the weekend. But don’t expect to fish it again until the following weekend. 
Just a word of caution to those who don’t know that pond. 
This place looks like a shallow pond, it is not. Most of it is over 10’ deep just a few yards from shore, with multiple places over 20’
Ice depths vary due to a few channels and underground drainages. 
I recommend bringing safety gear on every ice trip. 
This is a great community location and through the ice, you are most likely to catch the planted rainbow trout. 
Dogs are allowed for now leashes are mandatory. That may change since there are far too many irresponsible dog owners who will not leash their dogs or pick up after them.

[RookyFisher]

Went to Mantua morning of Xmas eve with grandson and accessed the ice from the SE corner between the 'no parking' signs.  Of course there were a couple cars having drivers who can't read and were parked between signs.  If you go on here, go straight in as there was open water 10 yds to east with even a muskrat going in and out as we were leaving.  To the west there were several piles of what appeared to be horse dung - not a clue as to these. I did not go close to fully inspect staying on the trail made by others rather that risking poor ice near the piles.  Once fishing ice was 5" to 8" depending. Be careful given the warm weather last few days and rain coming down now.

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How was fishing at Mantua ?

[Billygoat1013]

How about Pineview?

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Craig, Hyrum looks terrible today with all the water on top from the rain, but there was still a good 6" of solid ice, but man is it ever slick. Also watch for some really big holes near the boat ramp, not sure what caused them, but they looked really thin so we stayed away from them..