Ice Fishing Huts on Big Rideau Lake

A terrible time, this year, for those who like to ice fish. In fact, what with the last melt, the snowmobiles have been shelved, as well.

I went out to take photos of the sunset, and ended up watching some men trying to rescue one another's fishing huts!
I was curious about the lake conditions. We know that the ice moves up and down with the wind. It is a constant temperature of 4 C. at the bottom.

    Ice Fishing Huts from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Down the hill to the boat launch.
A slippery slope!

Lake ice pushed up on the shoreline

I went down to the RVCA park. Some of the men were there, concerned about their ice fishing huts. With the recent freeze, thaw, freeze, they were worried about their trailers and huts. Many were sitting crookedly in the ice. What I thought was cool, was that they were helping one another get their trailers back onto firm ice. The barrier was that some people had dug out test holes, which are important to avoid as you drive over. None wanted to take their 3-ton trucks across the ice. This man took his ATV, and was pulling another man's hut free. It was bitterly cold, with the Lake Effect winds.

Muskoka ice fishing huts