Howard was the closest guess at May 17…see you all here next year to guess when ice-out will happen…and see you at Kirkwood for Hebgen Lake fun this summer and fall!
Category “Ice Out”
Ice Went by Kirkwood on May 19
May 16…Fishing is Great!
There were at least 20 trucks along Hwy 287 yesterday…with fishermen everywhere on the banks of Hebgen Lake! Lots of fishing off the jetties at Kirkwood Marina too. Take a look at 2 of the catches….
Matthew's Catch after Dinner on May 14
The sun was just setting below the mountains to the west, so there isn’t a lot of light in this picture. But, you can see that he had a great time this evening!
Mason's Catch on May 15
It was Mason’s turn on Saturday morning. Another great catch under the bright sunny sky!
The water is open from the east end of the lake to the Longhorn. The ice from there (past Kirkwood to the dam) was white yesterday morning but is gray today and has lots of cracks in it. I think Howard might have guessed it right that the ice will pass Kirkwood tomorrow, May 17!
May 15…it will get over 60 here today!
Pictures taken early this morning…need I say more?!
Looking toward the Madison Arm from Hwy 287
Looking across the water to the Willows
Looking toward Horse Butte from Hwy 287
May 14…Come Fishing!!!
Kyle Burden is the new Marina Manager at Kirkwood. (Be sure to meet him when you come next time.) Look what he does during his lunch break!! There are plenty more where this one came from!
The ice will open up in the next day or two all the way to the crack in the lake just east of the Longhorn Saloon and “the willows”. It will take another day or so to pass Kirkwood…but there is plenty of open water for great ice-out fishing this weekend. Stay at Kirkwood between now and May 19 for a 15% discount on your room.
May 12…43 degrees…ice is coming off!
Looking west to the Kirkwood Marina from the Hwy 287
The ice is receding all around the lake and there is plenty of water to fish from shore.
Crack in the ice between the Firehole Ranch and the Longhorn Saloon
You see the crack in the ice is opening up….slowly more cracks will open up and the wind and water will blow the large pieces of ice toward the dam.
From Hwy 287 between the Happy Hour and the Longhorn
Tahni at the Happy Hour thinks the ice will open up there in the next couple of days.
May 10…53 degrees at 1pm and the Lake has a Crack!
This crack in the lake is a good thing for fishermen!!!
There are also a couple of “hairline” cracks that go all the way across the body of the lake. With some warm weather (and even rain and wind), these will expand and the ice will go quickly.
But, sorry Kyle, no way the ice will pass Kirkwood by May 13….
Open water to outside the Kirkwood Marina, but a body of ice beyond
…and, sorry Howard, unless it really is warm, rains and blows, it will be a push to make the May 17 date too!
The big bend east of the Happy Hour
There is about 15 feet of open water on the edges from the Narrows to the dam. In this picture you can barely see a guy in a fishing boat that he put in at the day use beach and traveled along the edge to this point where he is fishing. The rest of the big body of the lake is still iced over…but, it won’t be long now. And, you can catch a bonus when you are here this time of year!
Lone bison grazing near Happy Hour
There are a lot of bison on Hwy 191 and sometimes on Hwy 287. They are starting to drop babies, so it is a fun time to see them!
Fishing on May 2 from Kirkwood Marina!
The water is breaking open around the mouth of the Kirkwood Marina because it had been broken from the dredging we did a couple earlier this spring. And, the fish are there!! Take a look at this fine fellow enjoying one of the first catches of the season from the Kirkwood Marina jetty.
You can see that the rest of the lake is still slow to melt off. It is supposed to get up to only the high 30’s or 40’s most of this week, with nights going down into the 20’s. DON’T FORGET TO PUT YOUR GUESS ON WHEN ICE-OUT WILL PASS THE KIRKWOOD MARINA IN THE “COMMENTS” TO “ICE-OUT 2010″ ABOVE!
Looking East from the Kirkwood Marina Jetty on May 2
Looking West from the Kirkwood Marina Jetty on May 2
Another View West from the Jetty
The Water is Opening up in the Arms on the East End of Hebgen May 2
April 28…35 degrees at 4 pm
Well…the spring snowstorm that blew in last night slowed ice-out a bit! The weather isn’t forecast to get nice again for several days. The ice won’t melt much until that happens. The whiteness on top of the lake is the fresh snow, which will melt off pretty quickly when it gets nice again. I’d guess it will be at least Mother’s Day or shortly after before ice-out. The water is opening up a bit on Grayling Arm and Madison Arm…and “the Narrows” have a small patch of open water…but the rest of the lake is total ice.
Put your guess on ice-out as a Comment to the Ice-Out 2010 Post at the top of the page…Kyle is guessing May 13….
Looking toward the Dam from the near Narrows
April 25…32 degrees at 8 am
The top of the lake is starting to turn gray…but it is still some time before the actual ice melts. (Yesterday there were 4 guys ice fishing near this spot!)
