ice fishing safety???

[Fish Styx]

Finally things are cooling down here in Southern Ontario.

The local fishing hole has about a half inch of ice on it.

Is it safe to fish on?

Many thanks for any info.

[Richard Oatway]

check http://www.almanac.com/edpicks/safeicethickness.html


"Fish Styx" > wrote in message
. 194...
> Finally things are cooling down here in Southern Ontario.
>
> The local fishing hole has about a half inch of ice on it.
>
> Is it safe to fish on?
>
> Many thanks for any info.

[Dave]

Safe if you are a bird or a fly otherwise are you kidding?
Of course you could always walk out & check for yourself!
"Richard Oatway" > wrote in message
. ..
> check http://www.almanac.com/edpicks/safeicethickness.html
>
>
> "Fish Styx" > wrote in message
> . 194...
> > Finally things are cooling down here in Southern Ontario.
> >
> > The local fishing hole has about a half inch of ice on it.
> >
> > Is it safe to fish on?
> >
> > Many thanks for any info.
>
>

[gpsmaps]

Fish Styx > wrote in
. 194:

> Finally things are cooling down here in Southern Ontario.
>
> The local fishing hole has about a half inch of ice on it.
>
> Is it safe to fish on?
>
> Many thanks for any info.

tell you what to do.

Go walk on it and then if you come back a post your answer here, we will
know the ice is safe. Wear your pfd though.....

[Dave]

How long have you lived in Ontario?
"gpsmaps" > wrote in message
. 104...
> Fish Styx > wrote in
> . 194:
>
> > Finally things are cooling down here in Southern Ontario.
> >
> > The local fishing hole has about a half inch of ice on it.
> >
> > Is it safe to fish on?
> >
> > Many thanks for any info.
>
> tell you what to do.
>
> Go walk on it and then if you come back a post your answer here, we will
> know the ice is safe. Wear your pfd though.....

[smiles]

1/2 inch is pretty thin. Depends on the type of ice. I have often fished
when the ice was thin enough to see through.....thin enough to poke a hole
through it with my heel. One time, (it was in the spring), the ice was
clear, very thin and had tiny holes in it. When I walked on it, water would
squirt up through the holes as the ice would sag. I was walking with a long
thin tree trunk between my legs in case the ice gave in. I was not far from
shore and I could see the trout moving around under the ice. When I found a
suitable site, (where the ice was a bit thicker) I poked a hole through the
ice in about 10 feet of water and put a bunch of branches on the ice where I
was standing over about 4 feet of water. The branches supported my weight.
I weighed about 140 lbs in those days. I do a lot of ice fishing. I now
live in the Saguenay region of Quebec. Lakes freeze in October and thaw in
late May and often mid-June. I have yet to go through the ice but there
have been some hairy situations. Especially in the Saguenay river where the
tides vary 20 feet. Water sometimes gathers over the ice near shore and the
ice seperates from shore....it's hard to see the gaps in the ice. Only
thing to do is go back off shore and wait it out. Another situation is in
late spring it can get very hot. Some days, it gets a bit windy, lots of
sun, temperatures in the 20's and the ice quickly deteriorates...especially
close to shore. Couple that to "false ice" (I hope that's what it is called
in English). I will try to explain "false ice". At the start of the
winter, ice forms on the lake. Very often, there is a heavy covering of
snow and the ice sags under the weight. Suddenly it cracks and allows the
water to enter the snow and this causes the ice to sag more so water
accumulates over the soggy snow. This surface water now hardens solid while
the poor quality ice (full of air and snow) also hardens. The solid hard
additional coat of ice is the "false ice" that has replaced the original
coat of ice which is now buried below, separated by the poor quality ice.
I've seen 3 or 4 successions of "false ice" and in the spring. Meanwhile,
the poor quality ice can get so deep and heavy that it actually starts to
turn to slush because water from below keeps soaking into it. When one coat
of false ice melts away, we are often left with a foot or 2 of slush. Warm
spring rains also add to the problem of the slush. At night, it can go
to -20 or even -30 and everything gets frozen rock hard. That is until the
temperatures get hot around mid day. I always go fishing in the very early
hours of the day (still dark when I get out there) and I keep a close watch
on ice conditions close to shore. Even though a snowmobile can scoot over
open water, I rarely stay on the ice past noon. When in doubt, I sometimes
cut some trees and let them fall on the edge of the lake to make a sidewalk.
I do this only when I am far in the mountainous bush and in places where the
leaning spruce trees are going to eventually fall by their own weight into
the lake. It's a common occurrence up here where the soil is thin over the
gravel, sand, old rock crust. 10,000 years ago, this whole area was under a
mile or 2 of glacier. Some people haul a fibreglass canoe on the ice in
case they have trouble getting off the ice late in the day. Looks kind of
dumb, hauling a canoe full of equipment long distances on the ice but not so
dumb when it is time to leave the lake late in the day. One day, I was ice
fishing on a lake. The ice was about 18 inches thick. Old ice. Not very
solid. By the end of the day, I was in my canoe and there was only one
little patch of ice pushed up to the far end of the lake by the hot wind.
The fishing was great all day. The days get quite long up here. In June at
3 am, it starts to get light and at 10:30 p.m. it's time to start thinking
about packing up for the day before it gets too dark.
Anyway....long answer but I said "what the hell" not many people are
posting here any more.

"Fish Styx" > wrote in message
. 194...
> Finally things are cooling down here in Southern Ontario.
>
> The local fishing hole has about a half inch of ice on it.
>
> Is it safe to fish on?
>
> Many thanks for any info.

[Dark Knight]

Nice link Richard. Thanks

DK

"Richard Oatway" > wrote in message
. ..
> check http://www.almanac.com/edpicks/safeicethickness.html
>
>
> "Fish Styx" > wrote in message
> . 194...
> > Finally things are cooling down here in Southern Ontario.
> >
> > The local fishing hole has about a half inch of ice on it.
> >
> > Is it safe to fish on?
> >
> > Many thanks for any info.
>
>

[John A Vance]

Not even close!!! John A. Vance

Fish Styx wrote:
> Finally things are cooling down here in Southern Ontario.
>
> The local fishing hole has about a half inch of ice on it.
>
> Is it safe to fish on?
>
> Many thanks for any info.