Late Ice Pannies

[eyepatrol]

So far this ice season I've looked for pannies anywhere from 4' out to the "deeper" 30' of water. When searching shallow though, I have not stumbled upon any concentration of weeds, although I would see the sporadic 3"-6" weed here and there.

My question is this. When temperatures warm up as we approach late ice season, the snow on lakes will begin to melt and eventually the ice will start to get that darker blue look to it. Do weeds start to grow back while there is still ice on a lake? Does the ice have to be relatively clear for weeds to start growing again, if that's the case?

Many of the lakes here in southern MN (and perhaps all over the state) have about 4"-5" of the white frozen slush on the surface. Will light penetrate enough to grow weeds through this kind of ice or is this kind of ice not clear enough?

Lastly, if the weeds do grow when there is still ice on the lakes, is it safe to assume that pannies (both sunnies and crappies) will start to concentrate in these areas?

Now that we're about at the beginning of March, the late ice fishing will soon be upon us, perhaps sooner than usual with the ice conditions we've had this year.

Just trying to figure out panfish movements and what they relate to as we approach and get into the late ice season.

Thanks!