When winter ends

When the ice leaves the lake, winter is over. And here on Birch Lake, winter ended on April 15. This year the ice on our lake reached 26 to 28 inches thick, and the mostly cold weather through the end of March and the first weeks of April made me think ice-out would be much  later. Then two days ago we woke to a strong north wind and another inch of snow. And the wind did the trick. Ice-out typically is hastened by warm temperatures and by sunlight that warms up the water, which then melts the ice from below. But wind can greatly speed up the process, and that’s what happened this time.

So when we went to bed on April 14, the ice covered the lake except in a few narrow bands around shore. By morning all that remained of the ice on the lake’s main basin was a sheet along our shoreline. The west end of the lake, less exposed to the wind, was still mostly ice-covered. I tend to be a pessimist where ice-out is concerned. I almost always predict a later date than actually occurs – this time by two weeks. Our pontoon was to be delivered from storage on April 21. Since the weather remained cold, I called the boat dealer and postponed the delivery to April 29. I guess I’ll never win the “predict the ice-out date” contest they hold at the Birch Lake Bar.

So winter is over. The walleyes will soon spawn in the gravel-bottom shallows down the shoreline from our place. I’ll have plenty of time to install the pier, but a fishing license, and prepare my fishing tackle for a new season. And maybe best of all, we can now wait for the loons to return, plying the water, calling out for what surely must be joy.