April becomes May

Not only are we experiencing one of if not the earliest ice-offs on record, the thickness of the ice is less than half of what it was last year. Even at elevations over 4000 ft, the daytime temps have been well above freezing more often than not since February. The webcam at Osprey lake on the summerland route showed the lake still covered in ice three days ago. Today there is what looks to be 50+ ft of open water in front of the webcam. Osprey sits at 3600 ft. Tunkwa (3800 ft) reports today that getting out to ice-fish is a risky proposition now. Snowpack is a fraction of what is normal and when it is gone so is the refrigerator effect. I'd be willing to bet that most lakes below 4000 ft will be open (ice-free) and already turned over or just finishing and fishing well by April 15th. I could be wrong,.......but I choose not to. My trout tour starts on the 16th. Yeefrickenhaw!!!!!! (p.s.-current temp at 4300 ft is +7c. Kamloops could hit 20c today)