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Senario~
[indent] [ul] [li]it is the beginning of the ice season or you are aproching a body of water you have not encountered as yet this year.[/li][/ul]
what should you do emedaitly when venturing upon the ice?[/indent]
If you have any horror stories please share...
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no. i drill my way out checking the thickness every few feet, and looking for possible springs
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LOL. I like this idea! Unfortunately, the scenario is, that I'm buy myself most of the time.
What do I do? Wish I had an inflatable boat so I could drag it along by a rope. That way if I fall through, I can climb into the boat.
But I don't have one. So I take the spud bar and check for thin ice before I walk further ahead.
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Know what I do with new ice? Make a mean Rum & Coke.[crazy]
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? [size 1]How do you test ice thickness with a potatoe[/size]
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Or fry them up with some inions for the fish. [blush]
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how about the sure fire opra test?
get a bunch of anglers to stand around to be an audiance. tell opera she can talk to you for as long as the ice holds up. [sly] (one word of caution, be sure it the beginning of the season or the end of the season, otherwise you wont get in a minutes peace [pirate])
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The correct answer
use a spud to check the ice near the edge before stepping out on the lake.
if it is not solid then turn around and go back. in early winter ice forms from the outer edges of the lake inwards.
this is why step two is veary important, check the ice thickness every few feet as you venture on to the lake, Ice thickness can vary from 6 inches to 1 inch in just a matter of a few feet. this is why there are as many fatalities as there are every year.
over confidence on the ice is like looking down the barrol of an unloaded shot gun, (stitistics shows you are most likley to be shot by an unloaded gun than you will be by a loaded gun) well the same stitistics of falling though thick ice is the same as walking on thin ice.
most anglers take great care early and late in the seson but come mid season carlessness and over confidence results in a cold awakening.
there are also other aspects to take in concideration and that is the presents of ice shanties.
shanties tend to move around on the lake once an area has been harvested for preditor fish or if the area becomes unproductive. what ever the case those holes do take conciderable amount of time to refrease, even if the old block is placed back in the hole when the shanty is moved.
todays anglers also have now gone to using all different size holes from all the way down to 3 inch in diamiter up to 14 inch in diamiter porvided by todays augers. this provides you with a good chance of you getting a knee soaker if not the chance for a borken limb.
in the spring lakes thaw from the outter edges inwards and rivers thaw evenly across the entire river opening holes with out wornings. this is why there are a number of people evey year who find them selves floating down the detroit river. when the tempriture is just right even if the ice is 3 feet thick a fault line can become unglued and drift off out in to the lake and river with out any notice at all. and even in some cases anglers began drifting with out realizing they were moving.
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If there are tracks going out and none come in then it is too early to walk on!
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One week ago my spud went through with two to four good whacks. This week, it's going to take a lot more than that! We haven't seen double digits almost all week!
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