Cunningham Falls iced over?

[Mmacro]

Anyone know how bad Cunningham Falls is iced up? Is it fishable yet?

[HJS]

My guess is the lake is still frozen over big-time. If you want to know for sure then call the park office (301-271-7574). Their office over looks the lake.

[Mmacro]

Awesome info, thanks.

[wfauby]

Please post what you find out about the ice conditions. Thanks

[Berto]

Please post what you find out about the ice conditions. Thanks

The Lake is still Frozen!

[Runnin]

I don't know, but I live in Montgomery County near lake Needwood and it is still iced over except for where the creek channel runs through it. It's a heck of a lot warmer here than Thurmont.

[Turtle135]

Clopper Lake in Seneca Creek State Park is still largely iced over. Checked it after work today. The northern banks that get the full effect afternoon sun are beginning to melt.

[kbfangler10x]

I live right down the road from Cunningham Falls and have been keeping an eye on the ice cover. Currently the lake is still completely frozen, looks like some warm weather rolling in should help melt the ice. I keep in touch with the DNR officers up here and will keep you guys posted.

-New Member as of 3/10

[Mmacro]

Called Monday...

They are still iced over. The ranger said that Sunday they had an event at the park and people were walking about 50 feet out on the ice, despite signs to stay off the ice.

For the love of all that is good... why do people think they know better? The lake is dam controlled and its quite possible that the water could have dropped under the ice, creating an air void between the ice and the water.

They dynamics are that ice floats and distributes a person's weight over the water and ice. With an air void all a person's weight is carried right over that one point and he/she will fall through.

[HJS]

The ice at the lake is plenty thick. See the most recent update of the DNR Fishing Report, (3/12/14): "One of the places crews were out recently was Hunting Creek Lake at Cunningham Falls State Park where crews had to cut through 13" of ice with a chain saw and pour the trout down through the hole that they had cut into the lake ice; all in a day's work for fisheries crews." That ice ain't melting out any time soon.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries...port/index.asp

[Mmacro]

Hopefully the 60 and 70 degree weather we have had on and off this last week will work its magic. I'd like to get up there and pull some trout.

You would think that the state would have revised its schedule to stock from the south up, instead of trying to fight Mother Nature and stock water that is un fishable right now.

[HJS]

All the southern areas have already been stocked. The main hatchery in Hagerstown has several 100,000 fingerling trout that must be transferred to the big outside troughs where this year's stockers are currently residing. The fingerling must be transferred NOW or they won't get up to projected size for stocking in 2015. Therefore fish have to be stocked out as scheduled. They won't die under the ice in lakes like Cunningham Falls Lake. When the ice finally melts they'll still be there waiting for fishermen.

[HJS]

I stopped in the boat ramp at Cunningham Falls Lake today, March 19, 2014. The lake is still completely frozen over. The only open areas are two small 100' openings where the feeder streams enter the lake. Since it was raining at the time, I didn't get out of the car to check on the thickness of the ice. Looked like the ice was still a couples inches thick.

[HJS]

I stopped in Cunningham Falls Lake again today, March 25, 2014, @ 2:30pm. The lake is 2/3rds ice free. Unfortunately the 1/3rd of the lake that is still iced over is located tight to the ramp and fishing pier. It's so tight at the ramp that you couldn't launch a wine bottle there. In spite of 3" of new snow on my back yard, I'd hazard a guess that all of the lake might be ice free within the week (knock on wood).

The lake is ice free all along the face of the dam. Also the entire far side of the lake were the swimming beaches are is completely open from the dam all the way to the upper feeder stream. The pay to enter road was gated closed.

[HJS]

As of Friday, 3-28-14 @3:00pm, the lake is 3/4 ice free... but still, the remaining ice cove is centered around the launch ramp. The old ice looks fairly thin. Probably in another day or two the ramp should be ice free. There were a few guys fishing from shore.