Wow (Ice Crack)

[Zoob]

Was doing some late morning fishing and the lake was making all sorts of growing noises and bloops and crunches (typical for a cold snap) -- when I heard one rather loud thunder crack start off to my east a bit and went right under my pop-up through my feet, and off to the west of me another couple-dozen yards.

The split went right under my feet! Shook everything just a little bit as it shifted - but talk about a butt-puckering moment. The ice is 17+ or so, so I wasn't worried (RATIONALLY) -- but my sphincter and my irrational fear told me to dive out of the pop-up and run for the shore. :-)

I've never had that happen right under my feet before. I've heard some large ones close by and the ice groan and creak and bloop all the time -- but never had one split right under me.

Yeeesh.

[dairyman]

I've had it happen to me many years ago------yeah----really gets your attention

[NoWiser]

Had the ice split open about 3" right through the center of my hole on Mille Lacs years back. On the plus side I had a bigger hole to fish out of, but on the downside I was on my last pair of underwear.....

[gregg52]

I was on mille lacs yrs ago

just woke up bout 1 in the afternoon (was up most of the night)

sittin on the edge of the bunk

all of a sudden i look at the hole it filled up ice stuff was fallin off the shelfs

out the door i went stocking feet and long underwear..(what a site)

and looked behind the house the ice had come at least 4 ft ran the length of the lake..there was a pic in the sun trib

i was at rocky reef and their office is across the road from the lake they felt it in there

everybody was out of their houses i walked over and talked to guy

he was from cali and said ...that closet you ever come to earthquake huh?? i said no s----------- in walking over to his house there was 2ndery cracks all over the place i was like on a huge PIECE of ice i was on the shore side of the crack

people on the other side had to wait most of the day for rocky reef resort to bridge the road

it was an experience for sure !!!!

[eyebjim]

I had the same thing under my feet only about 4 inches on mille lacs. This year I had a 12 inch crack open about 50 feet from my wheel house. It wasn't one of those ones you hear coming from a mile away. It was like a bomb went off. I seriously thought a fishhouse exploded.

[BobT]

Had the ice split open about 3" right through the center of my hole on Mille Lacs years back. On the plus side I had a bigger hole to fish out of, but on the downside I was on my last pair of underwear.....

Same thing happened to me once.

[Zoob]

Is there any risk surrounding these cracks? I can't imagine so, in the grand scheme of things - that it's just tectonic shifting on a small scale (in looking at the entire lake) -- but it's still okay to continue fishing over a fresh crack, isn't it? (as long as I can tolerate the stink coming from my grundies).

[Tom7227]

I think someone should call FEMA and see if some aid can be forthcoming. Their trailers apparently aren't real good for living in but maybe some of the more skillful on here could turn them into acceptable wheel houses. May as well as having them sit and rot someplace while costing a ton in storage for the feds.

[Dylan33]

It's not often that I laugh out loud at message board posts....this one did it for sure...Hilarious and great work guys

[joer]

thanx for that bit of info, i needed agood laugh,

[BobT]

Is there any risk surrounding these cracks? I can't imagine so, in the grand scheme of things - that it's just tectonic shifting on a small scale (in looking at the entire lake) -- but it's still okay to continue fishing over a fresh crack, isn't it? (as long as I can tolerate the stink coming from my grundies).

Assuming the cracks are only a few inches wide I suppose. On the other hand, we are always at risk.

I remember one time in the late 90’s about a week before my party was scheduled to arrive at our resort on LOTW we heard about a resort transport vehicle going through the ice. This was in late February. There was over 3 feet of ice and before any thawing had begun.

Supposedly what happened was that sometime during the night the ice cracked and lifted, opening up a gap about 6 feet wide or more. It then started to refreeze followed by some fresh snowfall. The next morning the driver was hauling his clients out to their fish house in the dark and with the

new snow covering the crack he didn’t see it in the headlights. They drove right through the thin layer of ice into 24 feet of water and a couple of them drowned.

I guess if a fish house happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, yes, it could be dangerous.

Ice is NEVER safe.

[herefish101]

I'v ran for the door a couple of times, i always feel like a fool afterwards but what a rush.

[gregg52]

a pretty smart guy that owned a resort on mille lacs told me

if you were to mark your house where you first put it on

and left it til when you take them of it would mnoved like 5-10ft

or something like that

[Zoob]

Assuming the cracks are only a few inches wide I suppose. On the other hand, we are always at risk.

This was S.Lindstrom -- it wasn't anything bigger than an inch wide. If that lake opened up a 6ft chasm - I'd be expecting an army of creatures-from-the-black-lagoon to be coming out of that crack.

The other night had a huge-thunder-boomer off to my west, where about 40 yds away was a big-fancy wheelhouse (it looked like a converted mobile home nearly). I came piling out of my pop-up expecting to see that thing at a 45 degree angle on its way to becoming an underwater structure - it was that loud.

I think I need to start stocking my 5gal with Depends. =)

[minnbowhunter]

One time I heard a crack coming from one end of the lake, it ended up stopping at my hole. I got a little shower of ice chips, but never had the time to think about heading for the door.

[leech~~]

a pretty smart guy that owned a resort on mille lacs told me

if you were to mark your house where you first put it on

and left it til when you take them of it would mnoved like 5-10ft

or something like that

gregg52, that's good info. If you ever really wanted the spot someone else had. Just follow the DNR rule and setup 10feet from them, and wait for the ice to move you over the hot spot!

[crappiekid]

i got a good one

while fishing late ice last spring on lake osakis we had a hard time getting onto the lake on the west side. The ice was melted more than 100 feet away from the shore in most places. I was able to find a place to drive on the wheeler and drive out to 4 mile bar. I set up in 26 FOW according to my vex. I was sitting on a sharp drop with 30 plus FOW within feet. It was a very windy day. I started fishing at 7 am. There was about 18" of very black ice. Around noon i noticed my vex reading 28'?? What ?? I thought something was wrong with vex. Later on around 5ish Vex was reading 30'?? Plus i was cathing fish when i first set up in 26' as vex was full of suspended fish. around 11 am not a mark??? Ok so school moved on and a vex that has issues..

As i packed up and drove towards shore the open water was gone and it all made sence.. THE ENTIRE SHEET OF ICE HAD SHIFTED WEST. Several feet of ice also piled up on shore as well. UNREAL....

[Nate McVey]

The ice sure was singing today! A truck drove by me today and I DID come out of my portable Felt like an [PoorWordUsage] when the guy looked at me and smiled!!!!!!

[hoggs222]

How about this one.

A buddy of mine's cousin had a house out of a resort on Mille Lacs. They moved his house out for him & he ended up going out there to start fishing. He ends up drilling the first hole and it was a geyser of water filling his house up. I guess the house was placed on a pressure point and there she blew. The resort came out to move his house for him, but what a surprise that was for him!

[Dozer]

a pretty smart guy that owned a resort on mille lacs told me

if you were to mark your house where you first put it on

and left it til when you take them of it would mnoved like 5-10ft

or something like that

My buddy keeps a house out on Mille Lacs. Last year he bought one of those sinking bait buckets (the bucket floats and you tie it to a weight on the bottom of the lake and let it float up just below the ice) He put it down one weekend, came back the next weekend and it was gone. Found it with the camera, 10' from the hole it was dropped in. The bucket was in the same spot and the ice/house had moved.

[hoggs222]

Dozer, my Dad had one of those on Mille Lacs for years. It was home made and put down the hole with a empty plastic pop bottle (sealed of course) attached to it with a piece of string. We called it the "Minnow Saver" It was always floating there the next weekend and was always the "Hot Hole".

Funny how things randomly happen with shifting ice, etc.

[pikerliker]

Be careful crack kills.....

~piker

[river rat316]

Had it happen to me 3 years ago on Mille Lacs, there was a huge pressure ridge splitting one of the flats out there and we set up about 50 yeards away, a secondary split came off ran right underneith the bucket I was sitting on and I fell to the ground, I got up and started running, my brother inlaw was laughing so hard he nearly pee'd himself, I had enough of ice fishing at that point!

[TrophyEyes]

I actually was ice skating on a lake in the cities and the ice cracked and my skate happened to be right on the fault line. I fell through up to my hip. It was an experience that I would not like to repeat.

[Bob Clausen2]

Been fishing LOTW quite a few years. It took a couple years to get used to cracks (heaves) leaving 10 to 12 foot walls of ice. Several 5 mile snowmobile trips to a fishing spot have turned into 10 mile trips back because the crossing spots change. I can think think of a dozen people I know whose day trip tuned into an overnighter because their journey off the ice was blocked by a crack opening while they were fishing. Moving ice is one of the reasons I travel almost exclusively by snowmobile and ALWAYS have a throw cushion with a 100ft. rope strapped to the backrest of my sled.