Frenchmans Bay Sat Jan 26

[MuskieBait]

Once solid black ice (no bubbles, not frozen over slush...etc) is established to a certain thickness (over 6"), as long as night time temperatures are below zero, there is little to no loss to the ice. What usually melts is the top layer of snow and slush. If there is snow on top, the snow acts as an insulating layer and slows down ice loss.

This is with the caveat that the ice you are fishing on is not near current areas (river mouths, old stream channels, between islands...etc). If there is current, snow melts from the warm or sunny day can bring a flush of warmer water. Both the warmer water and the water movement will degrade and thin the ice where the current runs.

Most of the time, I wouldn't worry about anything unless the day time temperature is over 5C for at least a few days. I've fished on the ice when it was +10C and sunny and we were literally wearing sunscreen and a simple long sleeve shirt on the ice. I've also fished on the ice when it was covered with knee high slush/water due to a quick warm spell. We had 12" of ice under our feet and there was no loss of ice at all.