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Any ice fisherman out there?

big tee

big tee

Well-known Member
This happened in Wisc. I went once-It was cloudy when we went out in the morning but the sun came out and the ice started booming, said" what the hell was that?" That was enough for me.---Tee
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Yep, but I don?t go out on early ice, and only on roads that are maintained by resorts or locals who know a lake. Venturing off on your own can lead to bad situations. With the temps we?ve had this week, and what is still to come, I?ll look at putting my house out first or second weekend of January, which is about average time for me.
 
Several years back my work had me in Saginaw Michigan a lot. One time we saw a large ice burg floating out In Midland Bay. And it had several snow machines and even a pickup truck. DNR told them the people would be rescued but they had to leave everything behind. That included fishing equipment, everything. Then they were fined for water pollution when the vehicles sank. It was funny for us because we had no money in this, just entertainment.
 
I dropped through up to my arm pits once when I was 11 years old. I am 72 now and haven't been on the ice since. I don't care if it is 3 feet thick, I will not try it.
 
I used to do quite a lot of ice fishing but lately it hasn’t happened. I took dad out there once and he was nervous the whole time we were on the ice. It didn’t help the situation when the ice warmed in the middle of the day and started groaning and cracking. Last weekend my son got the old folding ice shack out and cleaned it up. His girls are excited about using it. When I made that shack many years ago I didn’t realize my grandkids would be using it some day. I don’t go out there if the ice is thinner than a foot.
 
I used to ice fish a lot, but now we spend the winters down south, so very little anymore. It seems most winters are getting shorter, I used to always be out by Dec. first, but now it's rarely safe by the 15th. There have been a lot of drownings in MN this fall, makes me glad I'm not there. One problem is no one walks out anymore, everybody has to have an ATV, and they are getting bigger, so they just drive out until they go through. I always used to walk out at first and check frequently with my chisel.
 
I will second not going out on the ice after being on it when it started "booming". You fall in the water in this kind of weather your dead period.

You get asked questions when you buy life insurance. One of the things they do not like is if your a small plane pilot. I think if you ice fish or ride your snowmobile on the ice it is more dangerous to me.
 
I use to go quite a bit, but not for a few years now. I would walk out once the ice was 4" think and drive on over a foot. I would never break a new path though. You get use to the ice popping. When you get out of the pickup and you feel it shift, that can scare the you know what out of you! But you get use to that too.
 
Don?t know how true it is, but several years ago I heard a story about a couple of guys who wanted to go duck hunting on a lake that was frozen over. One was driving a brand new Ford Expedition, hadn?t even gotten plates on it yet. They drove out onto the frozen lake, and their plan was to throw a stick of dynamite out onto the ice to blow a hole in the ice for ducks to land.

They had their dog with them. They threw the stick of dynamite out onto the ice and the dog, who was trained to retrieve things, just naturally ran out, picked up the dynamite, and began running back with it. They guys didn?t know how to stop the dog, so they began trying to shoot it. The dog ran for cover, and the nearest cover was ? under the Ford Expedition.

The remains of the dog and the remains of the Expedition both wound up at the bottom of the lake. And the guy hadn?t even made the first payment on the Expedition.

I have no idea if it?s true or not, but it made a good story.
 
I have usually had fish houses big enough for a bunk, and occasionally stay all night, one night I was sound asleep and the ice shifted, like an earthquake! It was probably 2 feet thick, so no danger of drowning, but still a scare!
 
When I was growing up we ice fished on Lake St. Clair a lot. The wind usually kept the ice clear of snow so we could skate out, but we drove my mother's Volkswagen out on it once (didn't tell her).

You get used to the cracking and booming. Every year there were a few ice shanties and occasionally a pickup truck stranded when the cracks opened up in the Spring.
 
There are many versions of that story around and I suspect they started with a true story somewhere. There are any stories like it that are true. When I was still in the welding business I had a customer bring in a new chev 1 ton 4x4 cab and chassis that I put a snow plow and dump bed on. On the day he took it home he went to plow his pond for his kids to skate on. He later brought me a pic where all you could see were the cab lights shining up through the water.
 
O K we had this conversation about the little symbols in your post. In the one above on my screen ever time you use the coma I get the little funny symbol. Still think it is you keyboard.
 
The arena manager at the local inside hockey facility was an ice fishing fanatic. Some said he applied for the job just because it was so convenient. I can't begin to tell you how many hockey games he messed up by chopping a hole in the ice and dropping in a line. He never caught a fish but the stubborn Bu--er wouldn't quit. One of the part-time guys at the rink solved the problem for the community by inadvertently running him over with the Zamboni.
 
I am no big fan of it but my middle girls loves it. I slide the jon boat out for her it set in even if it's thick ice. Me and dad went years ago and the ice had 2 inches of water on top of the ice but we sure caught a lot of fish. I always enjoyed taking the 4 wheeler out and doing doughnuts...prob will do it again soon as it's a little nicer out.
 
I quit ice fishing about 17 years ago. Got stuck coming off the lake at the landing. Had to make a run at it to get up and on third try, the pickup rear slid off the ramp. It was about 10 o'clock at night. Wife and I walked for 1.7 miles before a GOOD farmer picked us up. We had about another quarter mile to get to the bait dealer. He went home, started his Case front wheel assist tractor in that cold weather. Him and his son hauled us back to lake and pulled us out. I had $40 bucks in my billfold and tried to give it to him. He finally took a $20. Wife always calls him our guardian angel when ever we drive past his farm. Never saw him again.

The ice usually cracks loud when it is actually freezing. The groaning , well that can be ice shifting from weight of snow, vehicles or thawing. Ice is never really safe, just safer some times than others. There is a ATV at the bottom of our local lake here now but driver got out ok.
 
I can't get over the crazy people. All you need is a cordless drill and a really long paddle bit or some such have a bent coat hanger and check how deep the ice is. What really gets me is when you see a cow or horse fall through a farm pond. You ain't a duck!! You fall through and you are Sunk!
 
Another story in town here is that the local Dr., couple other guys and the pharmacist went ice fishing. Nice fishing shack so very comfortable. The pharmacist not much into fishing but liked to tip a few. They drill his hole but not all the way to bottom of ice. It will get like three feet deep or more here. Then they fill it with water, rig up and bait his hook, set bobber. He never gets a bite all night. I don't know if he figured it out or not. I knew them all very well.

Another time, we sold him, the pharmacist , a woods mower for his Ford tractor as he had a little play farm outside of town for stress relief. He sat most of the afternoon , watching me work on that and told me it amazed him, how I could put all that stuff together and make it work. Here he is. A successful pharmacist, owned his own store, says all he does is count pills. Unreal.
 
Is he the guy that would cover one of the goal nets with a tarp and then spear pike while a game was being played? One of the great things about ice fishing is the stories.
 
"says all he does is count pills"

Don't believe that for a minute. Pharmacy is one of the most complicated professions there is; most doctors don't even understand it very well and depend on the pharmacists to cover them.
 
(quoted from post at 14:13:53 01/01/18) "says all he does is count pills"

Don't believe that for a minute. Pharmacy is one of the most complicated professions there is; most doctors don't even understand it very well and depend on the pharmacists to cover them.
Click to expand...

According to a pharmacist friend the group with the highest suicide rate is pharmacists.
 
This persisiant sub freezing cold weather will make the ohio river start icing over at Louisville ,..It Does that every now and then,..my dad was born 1n 1915,.. and grewup fast in the roaring 20s,,. i heard him tell this story serveral times .. when he was in his teens , they would have ice skating parties ,hockey games and dances out on the river ice ,where the river is a mile wide above the lock and dams, and maybe the water 3to 5 ft deep on the Jeffersonville Ind side where the water was still .They Had a Great Time complete with bonfires and beer gardens ,.. they would rope off the dangerous water that was moving above the falls and away from the moving channel ,,.. and all was well,,..One especially cold yr,the entire river frozeoverm,,. closing all river traffic ,,.. except ,.. in those days there was a toll to cross the bridge ,,.And YOU Guessed it !,,.. a few beat the tolls with their model Ts and found a good crossing that everyone began using ,,,.. sometimes crossing 1 hour after a boat went thru in the channel !,.despite POLICE tickets and warnings. ..serveral went in ,,Dad told of Kids that were racing on the river with their cars and broke thru into the channel one nite and were never , ever seen again
 
(quoted from post at 08:45:57 01/01/18) Don?t know how true it is, but several years ago I heard a story about a couple of guys who wanted to go duck hunting on a lake that was frozen over. One was driving a brand new Ford Expedition, hadn?t even gotten plates on it yet. They drove out onto the frozen lake, and their plan was to throw a stick of dynamite out onto the ice to blow a hole in the ice for ducks to land.

They had their dog with them. They threw the stick of dynamite out onto the ice and the dog, who was trained to retrieve things, just naturally ran out, picked up the dynamite, and began running back with it. They guys didn?t know how to stop the dog, so they began trying to shoot it. The dog ran for cover, and the nearest cover was ? under the Ford Expedition.

The remains of the dog and the remains of the Expedition both wound up at the bottom of the lake. And the guy hadn?t even made the first payment on the Expedition.

I have no idea if it?s true or not, but it made a good story.
Click to expand...

Kinda funny but as I heard it, it occurred in MN. Be a strange year indeed if there were ducks still around to hunt when the lakes were thick enough with ice to drive on.......ducks proving they are smarter than humans are in much warmer climates by that time...... :lol:

Rick
 
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