cranberry/long lake 12/24

[browning13]

I went out his moring and fished long lake off 17 mile for a few hours. The ice was a solid 4-5" but there was quite a bit of snow cover. I marked and caught a ton of fish but nothing that was big enough to keep. I left there around 12 and headed over to cranberry. The ice was in pretty good shape. It was mostly 4-5" of blue ice once you got past the shorline slush. There are a few very sketchy areas though. I was walking over a slushy spot that I had checked with the auger and "thought" it was 4". As I was walking back to another hole, not more than 5 feet away, my right foot broke through. I thought it was just the crust on top at first but then I reached out and poked around with my auger and opened up a 3' hole:yikes: I decided to pack it up after that. I did end up with a dozen 9-10" crappie though. The few soft areas should lock up nice in a few nights.

[ifish4eyes]

Hey you be careful out there. It only a bunch of stupid fish.

[Fishslayer5789]

I've had a couple times when that happens. I was on bass lake a couple winters ago in Grand Traverse county and the ice was a good 6". I got in a slushy area and got concerned and hit the ice with a spud and it was one shot through probably not 2 inches thick. I just about crapped my pants and turned around and went back the way I came and went home. The wierd thing was that all the larger lakes in the area had at least 8-10" of solid ice because it was the end of January so I figured it was safe to just assume bass lake was a lot thicker. Not true! There's probably springs everywhere in there and I don't intend to ice fish it again. I wear a life jacket under my snowsuit if I'm uncertain about a lake.

[BuckNoel31]

Are you still fishing on Cranberry? They pulled the cars out this summer now there is no structure to hold the fish, LOL. I hope to get out there this week. Keep us updated on the ice would ya? Where abouts did you break through, I know that lake like the back of my hand:lol: