I was wondering what amount of snow is on the ice. I heard it is now driveable and was thinking about driving my car to save $$. But, can't have lots of snow with a car.
North of Gladstone, the conditions for driving a car are just about perfect. There is very little snow on the ice. I haven't seen any drifts or anything that should give you any problems...
I haven't had anyone tell me anything to make me believe the fishing is any better south of Gladstone compared to north of Gladstone. That doesn't mean it isn't. I just haven't heard that. Actually, the past few days (from who I have spoke to) leads me to believe the bite in general has dropped off compared to a week or so ago. That said, yes, there are spots to walk to. One of the best is the north end of the hump that runs down the bay between Gladstone and Escanaba. It's straight out from the Gladstone Yacht Harbor and a pretty short walk. I had some guys catch quite a few pike there a couple weeks ago too. They also caught a whitefish on a tip-up (rare!!!). We got about 3 inches of snow over night so conditions could be way different out there now with drifts since it's blowing like heck today...
The wind has the snow drifting pretty good over here in BBDN. I was fishing out in Kates bay this morning and It was pretty nice. But the wind started to come up fast and gusty. I fished perch till I was sure I was going to blow away in my clam. When I got up to go my clam slid about 4 ft. I had to hold on really tight if I ever wanted to see it again. I had a hard tim getting the poles down but did manage with a strugge. The short time I was out there I cought 5 nice perch from 9" to 11 1/2". I threw back quit a few smaller ones and marked a lot on the flasher.