Brenda and I checked pike spawning areas a few days ago and didn't see any spawning activity yet.
Also, there were no loons when we got here a week ago but every day since we see another of the usual pairs showing up.
The water is still icy cold. How cold? Well, on a morning trip to town a couple of days ago I encountered new ice that had frozen overnight. The ice nearly spanned the entire Forestry Stretch which is a couple of miles wide. Fortunately I was able to find an open lead. The Lickety Split is capable of breaking a little ice but I wouldn't want to plow through miles of it.
The photo shows the ice pans in the open lead off of St. Paul's Bay.
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2 comments:
Dan, Isn't it unusual that the pike have not spawned yet? I know that they will probably have spawned by the time we arrive for opening week. Just wondering why they haven't spawned since the ice went out so early?
It looks to me that the pike are waiting for the photo period to be correct before spawning. In other words, the days are still too short.
They usually spawn as the ice is breaking up -- that is true -- but the ice usually breaks up in early to mid-May, not mid-April.
We were wondering what the fish would do about the early ice-out. How much earlier are they capable of spawning? There is probably a set gestation period -- the eggs inside the females need a certain number of days to develop before they are able to be spawned. If the ice-out comes way too early, the fish just wait until the eggs are ready anyway. That's just a theory but it makes sense to me.
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