Sylvan RR23, why is everyone out so deep this year?

[Isopod]

We went to Sylvan, RR23, for the first time this winter on Saturday. It looked like the line of shacks was further from shore than usual but we kind of assumed that was just our imagination. So we headed to an open spot in the line of shacks, drilled a hole on the shallow end of what was to be our transect, and hey, 20 feet of water!

What's up with this? For the 15 or so years I've been going here, everyone always sets up over the drop-off and drills a transect that covers from about 6 feet of water to 20-25 feet. Yet everyone this year was set up at 20 feet or more depth.

For the record, we did our usual transect, which covered from about 7 feet deep to 20-25' deep. Fishing was very slow, with one nice walleye caught at our deepest hole, and one whitefish seen in one of the shallower holes. Seemed similarly slow for everyone else near us too. Ice thickness about 24 inches.