Doubtful. The ice at the ice boom when the Ship got stuck a month and a half ago was 5' thick. The ice in the East end of Erie will take a while to disappear. All the heavy winds we had this winter shoved layers of ice under the main sheet making it super thick.
Hemlock is down 10' from normal according to the graph I looked at yesterday. The dry conditions and water usage in the Late summer and fall caused the draw down.
I fished Canadice last week and the ice was 4-5". MY nephew fished the South end up into laker waters of Hemlock and had the same ice thickness as I did on Canadice,
4 divers puts more fish in the boat IMO. My Saltists are on roller rods. I'm a huge fan of roller rods. No friction on the guides partnered with super smooth saltist drags makes battling kings a lot easier!
I'm another Saltist fan. Superior drags, NO diver creep, fast retrieval and quality. Buy them and you will only buy them once unlike other brands / models.