Jan. 27-29, 2012 Winter Camping & Ice-fishing, Lake Poygan, WI

 Lake Poygan, Wisconsin

16" thick ice

Saturday sunset

 Saturday twilight

Details and Weather:  Went ice-fishing and winter camping on Lake Poygan west of Winneconne, Wisconsin. Weather was - Friday: high 35, low 24, sunny clear early on, then .09 inch of snow, very windy. Saturday: high 34, low 15, very windy early on, 31 mph max gust sometime between midnight and 3:00 a.m., then grew calmer into the day and evening. Sunday: high 23, low 8, clear, some wind.

13"-16" of ice, caught 5 fish, one of them was a nice walleye. Inside the tent was warm with the wood stove going. Venison tenderloin hobo dinner Friday night, Saturday egg/cheese/bacon English muffins for breakfast then grazing the rest of the day. Sunday was leftovers. No one ever goes hungry! Slept well on cots both nights. Easy set-up, pack-up was harder with all of the exercise getting the tent stakes out of the ice.

Dangers:  Ice was thick, but Sunday morning the Suburban did see some action when it went over a crack in the ice and had some water splash up. The floor of the tent was very slick due to the melting ice from the wood stove, need to try and insulate it better next time, plus get more ice cleats to use. The wind Friday night/early Saturday morning was very bad, tent and center pole held up though.  The usual hazards with Coleman lantern-white gas combination, falling in ice-fishing holes, and potential dysentery from my fellow camper!