Shelly Walker emailed me late this afternoon with an interesting story:

Every morning for the last couple of weeks,there have been between 20 and 40 Canadian geese close to the shore resting over night and getting a bite to eat before continuing their journey south.  This morning I awoke to -5F outside and the bay completely frozen over!  I looked towards Ned and Carolyn Hamilton's and saw a couple dozen lumps on the ice.  As I looked closer, I realized it was Canadian geese and they were not moving except for one that seemed to be struggling.  It made me sad, but I figured there was nothing that could be done.  But I called my sister, Megan, who is far more wildlife savvy than I. She suggested I call the game warden, which I did.  He said that there was nothing he could do, but he would drive up here and check it out.  I didn't think I could sit here knowing that there were dead geese in the ice.  As I hung up the phone from talking with the game warden (who was just a sweetheart!) geese heads started to pop up and within 5 minutes they all flew off!  I guess I won't worry so much the next time.  Mother Nature takes care of her own!

Like I told Shelly in my response, as much of a bother as geese are around the pond when they hang out during the summer, being frozen into the ice is not the way I'd choose to get rid of them. I'm glad they were able to leave on their own.

Shelly went on to tell me this:  

This afternoon I drove over to Marty's to get a few things in case we get iced in over the next couple of days.  There were two men out on the little pond fishing!  That takes bravery!  It looks like there are still a few small patches of open water. However, it looks like the big pond is completely frozen, of course that may change if it rains as much as predicted.

I'm not sure I'd call those guys brave - I might even question their good sense, but I guess when you've been an avid ice fisherman for years (and I assume those guys were locals who know the pond well), first - you know almost instinctively what the ice conditions are according to the temperature and other weather conditions over the recent weeks; and second - when you're really hungry for Joe's Pond fish, you're willing to take a little risk! Not something I'd want to do or would advise anyone else to do, but to each his own.

We had someone just this past week contact us asking if the pond was frozen over enough for ice fishing. Whoever it was said he lived about 200 miles away, but is anxious to come to Joe's Pond for the fishing as soon as possible. That said, we would certainly not recommend to anyone they should go out on the ice just yet. Give it another month or so, at least!

Many thanks to Shelly for her stories.