Snowy nor’easter inbound this weekend. Great way to end the year-long month of January This past weekend’s storm was awesome, until the rain and sleet which turned my yard into a skating rink. Grab the skates we can play some hockey. The ice/snowpack is four inches of solid ice that surprisingly I can skate. That snow absorbed all that rain on top of frozen ground. It pooled up on top of the snow and made a very smooth area about 60 feet by 100 feet.

Fishing isn’t happening. The ponds are freezing over. Ice too thick to cast through, and too thin to walk out around Sussex County. I know it has to be worse up north of us from all the pictures I have seen.

Maryland DNR put out an ice thickness guide for walking out to ice fish. Maybe in a week that can be done in a few places around Delaware, but I’d be really careful and just not do it. I know one guy with an ice auger that hasn’t bit into ice in a while. Last time was on Ingram’s Pond years ago and for only a couple days then the ice melted too thin to walk. My pool ice is four inches thick we can walk on that and play hockey too.

Brackish water is partially frozen where it moves the least. Every night there is more ice farther from land. The Lewes canal is full of pancake ice. That is the big ice patches you see that look like large piles of pancakes. These are dangerous to walk on as they will flip or tilt to drop you into the water. Then they float back to place and you disappear if the water is deep.

It will be really cold for at least another week. I’d stay indoors and tune up the gear and dream of spring fishing. If you do decide to go out be careful. This slick ice/snow pack is dangerously slick and all the way to the water’s edge in most places. Slipping and falling in the water is a real possibility. Maybe wear waders even if you are standing on land in case you slip and slide into he water you are fishing. I am putting on my korkers to walk near any water’s edge on this snow/ice pack.

Stay warm and dry! Have a great weekend.