signs that you are overloading ice?

[broken_line]

i know most times you cannot tell if your going in the drink but say when your driving or pulling a wheel house and you see it cracking right by you.. is that bad? also i was once told if you pull a load by a drilled hole and the water doesnt come up its not overloaded?

[GoneFish'n71]

I always figure, if water comes up when you drill a hole, you are pushing it. Hard to tell when you are driving out.

[bee]

Don,t be first if you are rideing something. Don,t be alone.

[otterman91105]

When you fish early ice it's best that you take someone with you just in cause. I always wait for others to drive wheelers or trucks first just to be safe.

[efgh]

When you fish early ice it's best that you take someone with you just in cause. I always wait for others to drive wheelers or trucks first just to be safe.

Waiting for others to drive on the lake can be misleading, years ago I watched 6 or 7 pickups drive along shore by bowens flats, the next one went down. The first pickups must have fractured the ice.

[Gordie]

I guess if you look up and see ice its to late

Becarful out there guys and stay safe

[greenhead4u]

Explain this...I was on 7-8 inches of clear virgin ice. When I drilled my holes no water came up. The concerning thing was when I was walking the ice was cracking in spots as I could see it and hear it cracking from the bottom up in front of my eyes.. Thats makes me nervous and stops me real quick. How can this be with good clear solid ice like that?

[BrandonN]

The first signs are when you hear crack and fall threw lol

[Finns]

Intetesting??? I would like to know the answer as way down south here we don't have much ice, to speak of...?

[Gordie]

Explain this...I was on 7-8 inches of clear virgin ice. When I drilled my holes no water came up. The concerning thing was when I was walking the ice was cracking in spots as I could see it and hear it cracking from the bottom up in front of my eyes.. Thats makes me nervous and stops me real quick. How can this be with good clear solid ice like that?

I think its like ice in a ice tray when you run water over it displaces its size and cracks similar on the lake when you walk you displace the ice with your weight there fore cracking. Basically when you walk on ice you displace the air in the ice there fore it cracks.

I think this is how it works

[slammer]

Intetesting??? I would like to know the answer as way down south here we don't have much ice, to speak of...?

The answer is there is no answer. Ice is never safe and you take a risk just going out on it.

[otterman91105]

I was out two nights ago, the ice doing the same thing and i was just walking out. We had eight inches but there was a few times i stopped and almost went back very creepy.

[Panfish Guy]

When you feel that the top of your stocking cap is wet you are overloading the ice!

[Gissert]

If you drill a hole, and you get water ponding around you after a bit, the ice is overloaded and sagging. Does not mean you will go through, but is is a warning that the ice sheet under you is bearing at capacity or beyond.

I had cracks running in front of me 2 weeks ago on the wheeler. They were only in the top couple inches ice, and it had risen to above freezing during the day. With no snow cover, the ice was "moving" quite a bit. It was a bit disconcerting to me, so I pulled the plug.

It was probably okay, but sometimes you jut need to listen to your inner voice.

Now if you have cracks radiating out from you as if you are in the middle of a spider web, you are likely to be going through very soon. I learned this the hard way a couple time in my youth while trapping. There were other times where went through with no warning at all over a beaver run.

[efgh]

If you do go thru the ice in deep water, when you look up the black area in the ice is where you went thru. I learned this the hard way.

[eurolarva]

We fish in a pair and maintain at least 10 ft of clearance. The sled has a rope and a boat flotation pad in it. If one guy goes through you tie the boat cushion to the rope and toss it to your partner. That guy puts it under his stomach and the cushion will help his body go horizontal instead of vertical as he is picking you are slowly pulling to get him back on stable ice. The person should be going back where he went in. That ice has already supported the weight. Next you need to get to heat. Hypothermia will set in quickly so you need to call 911 and get the person as warm as you can as fast as you can. Early ice you always want to either fish with someone or fish near someone.

[B-man715]

The sign came to me last night!

I pulled my wheelhouse (3500lbs+/-) out onto 8" of ice with the wheeler.

All was fine, very little cracking and I went slow. But after a few hours I had a nice puddle spreading out around the shack.

I probally would have stayed, but the temps were above freezing and I had the Misses and dogs with too. I kept playing a scene in my head of the shack going down in our sleep and not being able to get out the tiny windows in time!!

We spent the night on high ground at the boat landing...............didn't catch any fish in the parking lot, but made it home to fish another day!

[broken_line]

i have watched 2 houses go down that way this winter.. started to get a little water around it and it just cuta nice hole around the house

[HandGunner]

just yesterday someone drove there small pickup across the channel and i was just waiting to see it go down then thaught he was going out but he just followed the shore line and drove to the other boat launch. i was ready to call 911 guess he got lucky, plus ppl are already out with ATV's and just me walking and seeing ice crack in front of me in certain areas scares me and i fear someones going through, maybe thats why those areas are still untouched but other parts are showing about 5 inches of ice, this was coon lake btw further out the ice cracks more often than closer to shore