Cracking Ice

[Kev]

I am rather new to ice fishing and would like to ask a few questions. We were fishing on just under five inches of crystal clear ice and about mid day, cracks started developing under our feet and sleds. The cracks appeared to be on the bottom of the ice. This happend alot while drilling holes. Anywhere I stood, I would soon hear or see spider web cracking. Well, we got out of Dodge. Necessary or over reaction?

[Lundman1701]

Ice can and will expand and contract all the time. It's always moving, and shifting. Whether or not you needed to bail is hard to answer. A lot of times, when the day starts to warm, the ice will contract, and that causes it to crack. On the other hand, when the cold of night comes, it will expand, and that will also cause it to crack, and in some extreme cases, like on very large lakes, it will heave up too. If you had 5 good solid inches of clear ice, you were probably safe, but, that's just me. If you were uncomfortable, then you you did the right thing.

Set the Hook!!

Lundman

[mtwalleye]

Lundman:

Well put. Ice cracking isn't the only issue here. Ice cracks all the time. But there are a ton of factors that affect ice safety including underwater springs, currents, rises or falls in water level (that's tricky out here in the West where much of our fishing is on reservoirs rather than natural lakes), pressure ridges, wind and air temperature among them. Five inches of ice in one spot doesn't mean it's five inches all over.

I've never felt safe on five inches of ice no matter how hard or clear it is. I've always felt eight inches is my minimum and I feel even better on a foot of ice. I know I miss some fishing opportunities because of this -- but I don't take any unplanned winter swims, either.

Just last week, a friend was fishing on a solid 20 inches of ice and had a game warden on a four-wheeler go through and take a swim just a few hundred yards away. Scary stuff! -- mark

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Walleyes Unlimited
www.walleyesunlimited.com

[Walizz 1]

1 thing to remember on thinner ice. If you have 4 wheelers or snowmobiles don't park them all together. Keep heavier objects spread out.

[mossboss]

5 inches is probably fine. But, would like to make a point. I will drive on 10 to 12 inches, but we survey our path with ice augers all the way to our destination. I have seen the ice vary down to 4 inches while a 100 yrds away you have a foot. Many instances have seen people pull up to the landing and assume if they see a truck on the ice it's Ok to drive and they take off with out doing any checking and the results are sometimes you make it sometimes you don't. I know that alot of people get some bad things said about them when they go through the ice, but most advanced ice fishermen use common sense and the others, well hope they can swim.

[brushpile]

also affecting the ice and causing it to pop are 1) wind and 2) a changing barometer

[scarface]

Ice is never 100% safe and if you have any concerns, It's always better to error on the side of caution. I live in the shore of Lake of the Wood on northern MN. I've had the ice crack so hard here that it shook my house on shore and rattled the dishes.