Ice Ice Baby... Beachwood Park...

[rob-kayak]

Ice Ice Baby... Beachwood Park...

No fish caught so you can abort this post if that is your only interest.

the last four years my start of the season when temperatures were nice...
Have begun at Beachwood.
Four years ago I had tucked into a creek and a couple of kids were catching fish left and right.
I politely approached and they invited me to join them on the bank...
sharing their minnows with me.
Each year since then... I seem to find them there.
Not "children" anymore... young adults... certainly fine ones.. with a great spirit to share.

Today...
I walked down to the launch... and well you guessed it... lots of ice.



There was a kayaker in a 10ft Hobie working the shore line with only 10foot of open water





There was a swath of broken ice in the channel, from a boat.





I hollered to the yakker... and well... he was enjoying the warm day... singing to himself..
he almost fell out of the yak from my breaking his concentration.

He preceded to go about breaking ice using his paddle and charging ahead "peddling".
He mentioned, and I could see... he got a bit "tippy" as the kayak rose above the ice.
And certainly the Hobie's seat was pretty high.. which didn't help.


There was open water... about a quarter of a mile down river... and he said he had gotten there...
but actually I don't think he really did...
Well I didn't want to launch if I only could scurry the bank with 15foot
of open water.

Well I launched... and followed the shore line... and when I tried to follow a path that looked like it was broken to get to the channel... it was not.

I had to break ice with my paddle... back up... gather momentum and charge at the ice..
repeat. Repeat.. repeat until I got to the really broken ice in the channel.

Never did this before... exciting... worrisome... if I broke my paddle...
I finally got to open water.

Marked some fish... but, well... no takers. I was trolling and tossing beetle spinners.
Certainly not the best when live minnows is the choice for yellow perch this time of year.

I got to my creek down river... the mouth was iced over except for a swath a boat had made.




It was a narrow path... and while the ice was broken up... the ice was huge sliding door size sheets.
And "clear" water was just submerged ice... hello "Titanic."




So I flipped a piece of ice over to see how thick it was... hmmm....




I made it through... and the creek opened up to large areas ice free.

Immediately in front of me were two gentleman sitting on a bench smoking cigars below a stately manor.
The image of the two cranky Muppets sitting up on the balcony popped in my mind...
They certainly didn't have the same demeanor...
They gave me tips on the creek... I thanked them.

And there... in the "spot" were my benevolent teenagers.. now young adults... fishing.
I didn't encroach their fishing.... but saddled in close to share stories from the past year.

Once again they offered minnows and to join them... but they weren't catching...
and I moved on to enjoy my own day... and the warm breezes wafting down the creek.

On exit of the creek... well the guys were gone... sadly I had not wished them earlier to have a great year.

Getting back to the launch, all the ice had melted... except up river... with the cove etc iced over.

A father and son were fishing from the bank... we met and exchanged pleasantry's... and I got his email to send him a bunch of links for kayak launches and notes for his canoes and kayaks,

Certainly not Spring... but a February nice day... and a day with all the great feelings that warm weather and Spring brings to the heart.

[Yak Fish]

Great post, what a nice read.

[Mark]

Yes. A very enjoyable post with great photos.

Beachwood is interesting because it will freeze well before other local waters do. I often drive over the bridge near the launch. Sometimes I'll see skim ice on Beachwood even when my car thermometer indicates the outside air temperature is above freezing. The area sits in a valley of sorts and that must lower the temperature just enough to create ice before most other areas freeze. Of course geography had nothing to do with our freeze last week. Single digit temps did the deed.

It won't be long until the yellow perch anglers are lined up shoulder-to-shoulder on the Beachwood shoreline. That scene always reminds me of photos I have seen of opening day for trout season in Pennsylvania.

[curtisakatoyo]

Great read, appreciate you sharing! I was tempted to go out in the Magothy near the bridge, but was unsure how thick the ice was since I could still see snow on top of it. Guess I will wait just a little bit longer