Before the warm up started I went to a couple of lakes just to check the thickness of the ice to gauge how long before I see open water. There was one spot at one post on the dock that had about a four foot circle of open water so I got down on my hands and knees and reached down to check the ice thickness and a lone mallard drake comes flying out from underneath the corner of the dock scaring the crap out of me. Ice was 3-4 inches thick. Going back today with a rod and see what happens.