Piegon and Wizard lake ice updates
 

Decided to check out a few locations to access on piegon and wizard lakes and thought I'd post some pics of current conditions. First pic is golden days at piegon, first bit of the lake is slushy ice and the rest of the lake was open water. Wizard is starting to freeze nicely but still very thin at the moment I wouldn't even stand on that ice a foot off shore.

Tks for the update & pics .... not much different than Sylvan.

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Ice on Wizard
 

The West end of Wizard froze all the way across on Thursday, ice as far as I can see anyways. Nice and flat and smooth, should be good for the kids skating if it holds.
Otto

I'm hoping the deep freeze -20 hits for a couple weeks early December. I'm coming and need ice to ice fish! Thanks for the updates at least it's starting.

According to the Weather Network, you may get your deep-freeze wish granted a week from now. They are predicting daytime high temps in Edmonton starting Sunday, December 5 and for the days following, as -5,-10,-18,-18,-17,-17,-14. That will make some serious ice.

NSR_Rat stole my thunder :)

Drove out while on errands on Saturday to Sandholm at Pigeon.

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You could easily launch a boat through this stuff. Scary!
My optimism is gone. Those that like to drive on the ice, keep in mind that this year will be 5-6 weeks behind. Ice reports are going to be your friend. Good year to have quads and skidoos instead. I'm holding off now until the XMas break. That or go North or go up in elevation.

No more 11 inches at Gull opening day? I think we should be guessing how many vehicles are going to go through the ice at Gull/Sylvan opening day lol.

We are finally supposed to get some cold weather week after next, things should start freezing good that week but until then its going to be slow on the big lakes. If it stays cold after that week we might be driving on by Christmas but if it warms up again it could be a rough year. Last year was sketchy enough for ice, hopefully this year isn't worse...

The serious cold with no snow will build great ice. Better get the cleats out!

BW

As long as we do not get snow the ice will build fine as soon as we get sustained freezing temps. It was the relatively deep snow that we received early on the last couple of years that kept he ice sketchy until it melted away and let the ice build.

Hence I always hope we get a bit of cold before the snow comes.

Thanks for the update and photo's guys.

Agreed. It will help but I've never seen Pigeon on a long....long time where it is this open. I'm thinking the XMas break, though a long while away, that we will see a lot of vehicle issues for those that normally drive on around that time. Opening weekend is always a bit quiet anyways. Let's hope next weeks temps stay for a while and the snow stays away. I might consider heading north earlier if I get the itch. Otherwise I can wait for skidooing during the Xmas break.

Wizard had 4 as of Saturday

I'm betting Pigeon is still open like Sylvan still is. If anyone has any updates though...

Must be at least skimmed over I would think. Might be safe to walk on by the weekend but I'm staying indoors, -30 to -35 windchill for highs this weekend...

Was thinking about checking it out to but man is the wind cold. If the wind stops I might go check out wizard.


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I would be really interested in a Wizard Lake update. If you can make it out there before the weekend... Sir I will tip my hat to you.

Don't think it will be before the weekend! I would think the ice would be safe to walk on this weekend. The ice making machine is wide open right now lol


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The cold weather is now expected to last at least 10 days, and quite possibly until Christmas or longer.

Dig out those gas-powered augers, by the time it warms up enough for comfortable fishing the ice may be too thick to drill more than a few holes manually.

Wizard ice
 

Someone was out fishing on the west end of Wizard last weekend, probably Saturday. It appeared to me that the ice was about 5-6 inches thick about 75 feet out from shore. That was on Sunday afternoon.

Add....just please be careful on Wizard, the gas pockets and open holes make Wizard dangerous in the dead of winter when the rest of the lake has three feet of ice..

Gas pockets?? Ive heard about the wells or springs on the south side of the lake. but what are the gas pockets?

x 2

Now I'll just be paranoid until I find them.

gas pockets
 

Methane gas pockets in this lake usually occur near the narrows and are super dangerous when its snowing, holes are usually about truck size and hard to see.....

just stay on the common path, go slow and you will be ok, can't tell you the number of people I watch going 60km an hour on this lake....:angry3:

there's a loser who drives a H2 hummer about 80km up and down the lake, between tents, and over tip ups. Can't wait to watch him dunk that thing one day. The Russians that usually hang out at jubilee were trowing rocks at him as he sped by.

If hi voz in Руссиа he vud be ded :bad_boys_20:

Sorry....
 

I call them gas pockets..they bubble and percolate year round. But in the winter all the bubbling prevents the ice from forming in certain spots, other spots can get a dangerously thin skiff of ice cover...throw a new snow on and you will never know it is there. As was mentioned though most of them (but not all) are along the South shore, USUALLY within about 75 feet of shore, and they are USUALLY within a mile or so of the big power lines(both East and West).
One just East of the waterski club is about the size of a car, and another a mile or so West of the power lines has been as big as 100 or so feet long and 8 feet wide, with several smaller holes scattered around it. Each year is different, some years they are bigger than other years, some are permanent, some are there one year and not the next. There are lots of smaller holes, say 6"-12" in diameter scattered around too. These are the ones that seem to form in different spots every year.
I posted something similar to this last year, and I probably will again next year. I am not trying to scare people away from Wizard, just want everyone to be aware and safe.

Well thank you very much for that info. I'm planning on going to Wizard in the next few days so its' definitely good to know.

Cheers

Anyone going to wizard today?

I was just looking on the iFish app and there was a report of 4 1/2" of ice on dec4 would tend to think there more after the cold we are having now.


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Was at wizard today. 13" of ice in the middle of the lake by jubilee. Wind was howling and the ice was really booming and cracking.

Any recent ice checks on pigeon?