[androux]

Left town late, a friend of mine wanted to go, but didn't get to my house till around 1:30, and with soaked clothes from digging out. Threw his clothes in the dryer, ansd since bibs and a jacket take a while., left around 2:00 for Hogsback. Got there to find the gate closed, so we went with Plan B, West Hill. Limited parking, with one group right off the launch and another farther out. Parked along the street down the hill from the launch and headed straight out from the launch. Pretty wet at the launch, sleds had torn through there and left puddles. Got out and set up around 3:00, about 18" of snow and about 7" of black underneath. Shoveled high and drilled through some snow to have a footing for the tilts, and had nothing. Packed it in around 5:30. Rah rah.

Went around Bantam after work today, launch at Folly point is untouched, high sides, new state boat launch has a single lane going down, none of the lot is done. The 209 siding over by Columbia is unplowed, but that section looks really sketchy, with water pushing through with a weird brown color. One guy was way out there, think he parked at the state launch, some fog, so I couldn't see his foot prints. I could see ice out on the lake, so it blew off in places.

BTW, on West Hill, I could see where someone had drilled holes, prolly before the storm. I was standing in a foot and a half of powder at the edge, and the snow tapered around a small indent in a 20' radius. That indent was prolly at ice level, and I can almost be sure in lead straight down. Looked like a weird crater on the ice. Keep your eyes peeled for oddities like this, especially if you start finding more water under the ice. The nights will be cold coming up, with warm days, so the pack will subside and refreeze, I would stay on ponds that already had 6"+ of good ice before the storm.
_________________
"Fish now, answer questions later."

[x182dan]

Thanks for the report hopefully bantam has good access for the weekend
_________________
Never Stop Learning