View Full Version : Earthquakes and Ice Fishing
I heard an interesting story the morning after the recent 'Quake that hit our area this week. I just happened to be visiting the main substation in Olympia, Washington when the event occurred. This was a rather unpleasant,if not frightening experience. 500kV and 230kV overhead lines were dancing over our heads with nowhere for us to run.
Two guys were ice fishing at Sprague Lake which is about 350 miles away. The perch were biting very well and then a strange rumbling and cracking could be heard. They thought for sure that the ice was about to give way and just started to run when a "shock wave" hit. Water shot upwards throught their ice fishing holes.
We were all very lucky that this event took place at a depth of 30 miles. A quake of that magnitude(6.8) could have been devastating had it happened in another area or been a shallower event. Everybody count your blessing because "not even the ground you stand on is secure in this life!"
Blessings,
mlc
WAeyes
03-02-2001, 08:21 PM
Hey Mic, that was quite an experience huh? I felt like I was surfing on the earth! It kind of reminded me of stepping into a boat on a windy lake. The eeriest part for me was watching the trees in a wooded area, although the wind was dead calm, the trees were moving like the wind was blowing 40 mph. Even the birds were freaking out. I have a much greater admiration for some of the folks in CA, and Alaska who have experienced so much worse. God has spared us, this time.
Hi WAeyes. Yes HE has. I experienced a far more severe quake while living in Challis, Idaho back in the early '80's. Two 9 year old children were crushed to death in that one. Their names were Travis and Tara. They were good friends and were on their way to school when it happened. I had taken Travis, his 2 younger brothers and his mom fishing the weekend before. Life is fragile and precious.
All of you should look around, see your children's faces and how they laugh and cry. Enjoy their life as you help shape it. Treat them with a loving respect and look after them carefully because you just never know when they might be taken early. Taking time to take a young one fishing can be a very precious thing.
Take care and tight lines,
mlc
Scott D
03-03-2001, 08:47 AM
Yes we were lucky not to have more damage than we received. I live only about 10 miles from the epicenter of the quake. I was working at home when the quake hit. My black labrador fell from our bed and landed on her back right before I felt anything. I first heard a big boom and then everything started shaking. Only lost a couple of picture frames and some crystal vases and candle holders.
Dinky Dave
03-03-2001, 11:56 AM
A former coworker told me of a similar event that took place at his own doing. Now he was probably just bragging and pulling my leg, but it smacks of the truth of your story.
According to this guy, a few years back he had gone out on the ice on West Lake Okoboji, in NW Iowa. Far away from the other ice fishermen, to conceal his identiy. He cut his hole, in the ice, and then dropped a "lit" stick of Dynamite with a water proof fuse on it down the hole. And drove off the ice. When the Dynamite exploded, it shot large plumes of water up into every ice shack, and all the fishermen were soaking wet.
This story sounds more like one of those urban legends, and the guy that told it to me, was a braggart. But it was, a comical, though highly illegal thing to do!