®

With the ice getting thicker on certain lakes, I decided it was time to start looking to get groups out again before my bigger group outings start happening next month. One of my friends at work and I are always trying to see when her and her family can get trips lined up, which does not happen much owing to our days off not matching up much. But such an opportunity was available on a recent weekend, so I arrange for her and her family to meet me up at Deerfield since the ice

With the return of colder weather and some safer ice, it was time to look past the smallest ponds in the area and to slightly larger ones over the last 10 days. Some larger bodies of water were starting to ice up, but they needed some more time. With that in mind, the next place I normally head to after hitting up the little guys to start the season is Roubaix Lake. It normally has some nice-sized rainb ows in it when compared to the ponds, so it makes a good transition place

After getting on the ice for the first time this season in late October, a miserable warm-up that lasted two weeks quickly melted all ice in the area. Luckily, temperatures finally dipped, and the higher elevations had below freezing temps which refroze the smaller ponds quickly. But which ones were ready and which ones were not was the question? So, a couple of buddies and I did some exploring several days ago to find small ponds that we could get on. What followed was a day