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Suitable Collecting Temperature?

Started by Guest_diburning_* , Jan 04 2008 12:25 AM

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#1 Guest_diburning_*

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Posted 04 January 2008 - 12:25 AM

I am thinking about going collecting again, but I am not sure whether it is going to be warm enough.

Temp temps are going to climb up into the upper 50's here and I was wondering how fast the water was going to warm up. I know that water heats and cools slower than the air/land does.

Here is the temps for next week. I am planning to collect on Tuesday, but if the collecting area are going to be encased in ice, I'm not going to bother trying (or stooping down in frigid water trying to catch some chubs)

Posted Image

#2 Guest_edbihary_*

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Posted 04 January 2008 - 01:59 AM

We have a similar forecast here. Although it will be warm over the weekend, due to the deep freeze we are in now, I expect there to be too much ice remaining this weekend. It will warm up during the week, while I am working, and cool down again by next weekend. Bummer.

If you can get out mid to late next week, you may find some ice-free areas to work. Slower streams will probably still be icy in pool areas. Good luck! Let us know how it works out if you try.

#3 Guest_diburning_*

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Posted 04 January 2008 - 05:47 AM

I was thinking of collecting in the pond that I went to before. The pond is pretty stagnant with minimal flow on either side.

I'll give it a shot and see what happens. The forecast changed so that it will rain on Thursday instead of wednesday. I'll wait another day to see Friday's forecast and I'll go on friday if possible.

The temps are all above freezing so by the end of the week, the ice should have melted. Whether I will find any fish ia a different story.

#4 Guest_arnoldi_*

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Posted 04 January 2008 - 08:43 AM

Cold water has more oxygen than warm water, so I would say as cold as you can stand. I have killed fish while attempting to collect them in frozen water though. They don't react well to contact with ice.

My quarantine tank is actually out in my shop that isn't heated in any way. I haven't lost a fish in it yet. The temps in there right now are in the mid 40's.

#5 Guest_tglassburner_*

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Posted 04 January 2008 - 09:24 AM

Ice Schmice, Break through it and go!

#6 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 04 January 2008 - 01:32 PM

Ice Schmice, Break through it and go!

I agree!
I have a half a dozen golden shiners I got in a minnow trap dropped through a hole in the ice. That was back in the beginning of December. They are doing great.
You have to be VERY careful about how quickly you warm them up when you bring them inside.

You may find some open water close to Boston but west of 495 we have about 6 inches of solid ice on all the ponds. A few days in the 40s or even 50 won't put a dent in that.

#7 Guest_edbihary_*

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Posted 04 January 2008 - 03:10 PM

Ice Schmice, Break through it and go!

Now you know that breaking through the ice scares the fish away, and you get little if anything. If you can then set a minnow trap and come back later, then maybe...

#8 Guest_tglassburner_*

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Posted 04 January 2008 - 03:48 PM

Now you know that breaking through the ice scares the fish away, and you get little if anything. If you can then set a minnow trap and come back later, then maybe...

#9 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 04 January 2008 - 03:53 PM

Hi Diburning,
I grew up around the Boston area. You could probably find some streams to play in that are not completely frozen over. I seem to remember the Charles being free flowing much of the time in winter around Waltham.

#10 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 04 January 2008 - 08:11 PM

Ice Schmice, Break through it and go!

Ok so now I'm thinking you weren't being serious and I look like a dummy. :blush:

#11 Guest_daveneely_*

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Posted 04 January 2008 - 09:19 PM

I don't want to sound like your mom, but be careful out there.

I usually do a bit of collecting over the holidays, if only because it gives me an excuse to a) go back East and b) once I'm there, avoid the "almost-in-laws." Unfortunately, this means I'm often way the heck out in the middle of nowhere in inclement weather, busting ice and trying to scrape up a few fish when everyone else is drinking eggnog and caroling and such. Bah humbug.

I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who doesn't have a lot of experience as to their safety limits collecting, or who doesn't have dry clothes and a heat source on hand. A set of ice picks seems like a lot of hassle when they're swinging around your neck in the wind, but if you go through in deep water they might save your tail. I had a really close encounter in the NJ Pine Barrens a decade ago that scared the daylights out of me. Broke through a couple of inches of ice into a beaver pond that was a whole lot deeper than I thought. The only thing that saved me was the electrofisher anode pole and a very lucky quick reaction on my part.

This year I only got out a couple of days. There's a few new pics posted in the Gallery, but my girlfriend's little Sony point-n-shoot got drafted for duty and didn't handle macro on cloudy days very well... and it was cloudy almost the whole trip. I was really kicking myself for not bringing a proper camera along.

I also thought I'd hit a couple spots right off of the interstate to get some sculpins, but the temps started dropping as we drove south (!!) and by the time we got to Wytheville, VA, visibility was near zero from horizontally-blowing snow and the crosswinds were horrible. We stopped at an upper Holston River tributary just before dark. I had been transporting my seine on a roof rack - it was completely ice-encased, which required submerging it in the stream and beating it with a big rock to get it unrolled. Still, the sculpins were as abundant as ever and I got what I wanted before I completely lost feeling in my fingers. Fish went into a bucket in the back of my car with the thought that I'd take photos the following day. On stopping for the evening several hours later, I discovered that my girlfriend's camera had slid around on top of our bags, and headed for the lowest point...the bottom of the bucket.

Ahh, holiday doghouse fun!

#12 Guest_truf_*

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Posted 04 January 2008 - 09:25 PM

I discovered that my girlfriend's camera had slid around on top of our bags, and headed for the lowest point...the bottom of the bucket.

Ahh, holiday doghouse fun!

OOOOO!!! That's gonna leave a mark!

#13 Guest_tglassburner_*

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Posted 05 January 2008 - 12:27 AM

Ok so now I'm thinking you weren't being serious and I look like a dummy.

I was being half serious.

#14 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 05 January 2008 - 12:45 AM

I've definitely smashed ice a time or two to get to some fish. Actually one time Ed and Nate were along in a little headwater stream in the mid-western part of Ohio. We cleared about a 100 foot or so stretch of stream and then found the Southern Redbellies we were after. We actually through most of the ice on shore by hand, that was a little cold but we achived our goal.

#15 Guest_uniseine_*

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Posted 05 January 2008 - 08:22 PM

I was being half serious.

Break the ice and collect. I am serious.

I have collected with Leo Long on a small stream with 4 inch thick ice. The snow on the banks kept some of the ice thin and allowed us to break through. The moving water also made the ice thickness thicker or thinner at points. We caught Rainbow, Greenside, and Faintail Darters.

Darters won't flee far. I don't have experience with shiners when the ice is over a half inch thick.

#16 Guest_edbihary_*

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Posted 06 January 2008 - 02:05 PM

I've definitely smashed ice a time or two to get to some fish. Actually one time Ed and Nate were along in a little headwater stream in the mid-western part of Ohio. We cleared about a 100 foot or so stretch of stream and then found the Southern Redbellies we were after. We actually through most of the ice on shore by hand, that was a little cold but we achived our goal.

Somebody else was there, too, but I can't remember who. Anyway, I think the dace were in a small pool, confined at either end by riffles. They had nowhere to go, once they were spooked by the breaking of the ice. Am I recalling correctly? Does this make sense?

Tom and I broke ice in a "ditch" recently, hoping to find pickerel, and came up with nothing but a few baby shiners and a few baby green sunfish, still in the vegetation where the ice had been. That ditch was wider, and there were lots of places for spooked fish to go. We just decided to come back in the spring.

Just the same, I think Brian's point is that there is good collecting to be done in the winter, and he's right.

#17 Guest_diburning_*

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Posted 06 January 2008 - 09:10 PM

I agree!
I have a half a dozen golden shiners I got in a minnow trap dropped through a hole in the ice. That was back in the beginning of December. They are doing great.
You have to be VERY careful about how quickly you warm them up when you bring them inside.

You may find some open water close to Boston but west of 495 we have about 6 inches of solid ice on all the ponds. A few days in the 40s or even 50 won't put a dent in that.

finally!! another person form massachusetts.

Here's an updated forecast.

Posted Image

Should I go on Tuesday or Thursday? I don't want to be there in the rain. The location will be the same location as in this thread:

http://forum.nanfa.o...?showtopic=3215

There isn't much water flow. I'll bring my minnow trap. What should I use for bait in the minnow trap? I've never caught anything with it.

I'm not aware of any locations on the Charles where I can access the water easily. There is one location near Harvard Stadium, but it is a little too far from my house for me to walk there.

#18 Guest_edbihary_*

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Posted 07 January 2008 - 01:42 AM

It looks to me like a tradeoff. Two more days of warm weather mean more thawing. Thawed streams will be easier to work. If you have snow on the ground, two more days of thawing can raise water levels and velocities, which could be a bad thing. Rain can do that too. If you wait til Thursday, the Wednesday rain may make things harder. Any idea how much rain you're expecting? I'd try Tuesday if water levels are good and your target streams are not frozen.

#19 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 07 January 2008 - 07:48 AM

I'm not aware of any locations on the Charles where I can access the water easily. There is one location near Harvard Stadium, but it is a little too far from my house for me to walk there.

If you have a car (and your pond is too frozen-over to work out), here are some parts of the Charles where I think you can access and it may not be frozen:

All locations in Waltham:
Moody street at the old Grover Cronin department store (not sure what it's called now) near where the railroad tracks cross

Woerd Ave / Forest Grove Road (near Moody). Not exactly sure of the access, but I used to jog there and the river is very close to the road

Auburndale Park (on Comm Ave near the intersection of the Pike and 128)

Leo J. Martin Memorial Golf Course (I think this is actually Newton). Public golf course; you can probably figure out river access without paying a golf fee :smile2:

#20 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 07 January 2008 - 09:49 AM

Disregard what I said about walking on ice!!!
This thaw IS hurting the ice big time. I would NOT trust any ice, especially in closer to Boston, until we get another week of temps below freezing.
I do think if you're going to a stream or river you better do it before the rain comes. The snow pack is melting fast. Gonna be alot of cold dirty water comin' downstream.