How fast do you drive on the ice?

[Walterwontfalter]

How fast does everyone drive on the ice of any given lake?

I try to keep it below 15 or 20 mph but I often get people tailgating me and swerving back and forth like we're in a NASCAR race and they are trying to draft me. Either that or they wait until there is a wide spot in the road and they blow by me like I'm standing still. I'm just wondering how many of us FM'rs out there drive over 30 miles per hour on the lake being I see people doing it so often, and I'd like to hear other opinions/stories about this.

[hoggs222]

Depends where I am and what time of year. I usually try to keep it from 10-20 mph

[dwag70]

90mph at all times ...I try to stay close to the shacks to just so I can give them that little wave in the hole ...Get the water level to raise and drop six inches !!!! I am just kidding !!!

I am like you ..and if some guy behind me is in a hurry I keep going the same speed ... The fish will be there .... I love those guys that think the lake is a racetrack !!!!

[The Chemist]

I try to stay as slow as possible. In the past I have gone towards 30 but that was when I had troubles w/ getting stuck in deep drifts. Since I no longer have a truck I stay as close to the roads and park 5-10ft off them so if I have to dig out I don't have alot to shovel. Did hear a story from a friend who was up at Mille Lacs a couple weeks ago where a resort had to change to a different ramp to get on the lake due to problems at shore and not to long after they opened it up some guy paid to go on and flew out busting up the access. And from what I remember said resort had to go to another resort to get access for their patrons. The faster you go the bigger the wave you throw up behind you under the ice. You may not get the brunt of it but someone after you will.

[Powerstroke]

Driving faster than 10-15 mph is downright unsafe.

#1 Reaction time and stopping distances are so far exaggerated you have no time to do anything in case of an emergency like coming up on a pressure ridge or other hazard.

#2 Driving on the ice will create an under-ice wake. The ice is still flexxing under you and projects waves in front of you. The faster you go the bigger the waves and it has been responsible for ice breaking up and heaving in front of vehicles. You can't stop once you notice because of reason #1.

You can observe this if someone drives by qwhile you're fishing. Rather than listen to the cracking watch your hole and you'll see the waves.

Just like driving on the highway, theres always gonna be someone with less inteligence than you wanting to go faster. All you can do is slow down and let them pass. Think of it as driving on the highway in a blizzard. Bring along a pull strap and charge them money to pull them out when they get stuck in the snowbank or spinnout.

[SomethingFishy*]

I would say keep it slow and steady, I would rather be safe than risk putting the trunk in the drink because I was in a hurry and couldn't stop in time.

[Big D 1]

Quote:

---

I would say keep it slow and steady, I would rather be safe than risk putting the trunk in the drink because I was in a hurry and couldn't stop in time.

---

ABSOLUTELY!!! Unless there is a tidal wave of water behind me, i'm taking my time

[Walterwontfalter]

dwag70, I giggled at that response! Do you lay on the horn and wave out the window as you fly by each house?

anyone ever see that show on Discovery or TLC about the truckers on the ice road up in Northern Canada? That's what got me to slow way down on the lakes...though I never did drive very fast. On that show it explained about the wave in front of the truck and how it was most dangerous when they approached the shore or a shallow reef and the volume of water in the under ice wave was pushed up into a thinning space between the lakebottom and the bottom of the ice, gaining force and the water would blow out the ice when it crashed into shore.

At first I thought "heck, those are fully loaded semi's on 4 to 6 feet of ice..." then I thought about how that was pretty comparable to my 1/2 ton truck and 1 to 2 feet of ice. Kinda scary.

[dwag70]

Yeah I honk and look in the window too... just so I what they are using and how many are fishing and what they caught !!!

that was a great show on those Ice trucker ... You need a big pair to do that job !!!!

Drive slow ...I just wish more people would !!!!

[Fish On! Guide Service]

I watched a show on TV regarding proper speed limit on the ice and found the results interesting. I believe the information came from the Army Corp of Engineers who did the study, from the show Ice Truckers. Safe driving speed is UNDER 15mph or OVER 25mph. Apparently your speed under/over these two points of interest create less vibration resulting in a smaller wave, giving your area of driving a bouyancy effect, like that of a boat. I prefer the under 15mph myself and would suggest driving that just to be on the safe.

[eyepatrol]

I'm in the 15mph group and under also. I too have seen those vehicles driving up behind me and tailgating. It's an unpleasant thought because they drive up pretty quickly behind you, creating possibly their own under-ice wake that could perhaps catch up to you. I for one will pull over and let them by if there isn't oncoming traffic. I'll wait until they get a good distance by me (a couple hundred feet) before I continue on.

The other thing I do while driving, and some may think I'm paranoid here, but I keep my window down and my door ajar just in case the front end does drop down. Usually I'm not on the ice until it's 18" or better, but there is never completely safe ice. I don't know if keeping my window down and door ajar is the correct thing to do, but I just want to be able to jump out of the vehicle as quickly as possible in case something ever does happen.

[pathogen]

I drive as fast as my vehicle will go if I put it in 4X4. After all, we all know that's magic and you can't possibly get stuck or lose control in 4WD. I also like to zoom close to houses, peek in windows, and spin doughnuts on the way out---and to make things challenging I like to treat people's tipups like racing pylons. It's much more interesting when you zig zag around them a few times....

Seriously, I think 30 is too fast in almost all situations, I keep it around 10 or 15 as well. I saw some punks driving like Richard Petty on Mille Lacs a few years ago, they started skidding sideways and hit a small snowbank----ever so slowly their car tipped up on two wheels and then went over, coming to rest on the top. No one was hurt, but the look in the driver's eyes told me that an a$$ whooping was coming when daddy found out what he did to the family car.

[H20fowlr]

For those of you who think you are safe parking on the lake close to shore and either walking out or riding the wheeler or snowmobile, your cars are at risk as previously described about the wake close to shore. Has anyone seen the Galloping Gurdy bridge collapse out in Washington state? It was used in the Kenwood commercials. It's called a harmonic and can intesify the wake. When the wake hits shore and rebounds, if it's peak hits the next wave in the same peak the wave increases in strength, and this is when there is the most pressure on the ice. So when you park close to the ramp, and those people run and gun it to make it up the ramp, they are actually increasing the risk to the parked cars on the ice next to the ramp. I am pretty sure there was 6 or 8 cars within the last 2 years that fell through from this. I don't remember which lake.

[Random guy]

Quote:

---

anyone ever see that show on Discovery or TLC about the truckers on the ice road up in Northern Canada?

---

Oh ya, I sat in my recliner with my mouth hanging open. That was crazy how the ice would blow up in front of them from the "surge" of water they created under the ice.

[walleyeiceguy]

I usualy stay under about 20. I dont like to put to much stress on the ice as I heard driving fast makes cracks and creates pressure ridges. I dont know if there is any truth to that.

I usualy only take my ATV on the ice with my portable behind me. I just dont trust the ice when you keep hearing about people going through. and I dont like to disturb other fishermen out there trying to catch there big one. Trucks have scared the fish away on me so many times when they blow by my fish house. people need to plan ahead if they are in sush a hurry. get your butt out of bed early and take your time.

[12lb8oz]

I usually keep it around 25. But one thing I do for safety is this.....I always drive in reverse as I feel my pickup is much heavier in the front so I want the weight behind me. It has worked very good so far as I haven't broken through yet. I get a few weird looks when I routinely pass people in reverse. I especially like the looks on their faces when I swerve back in front of them and get to look them straight in the eye. It's priceless. I also like to use this stategy going down the interstate.

[slick814]

I like to keep it at 15 or less. Multiple reasons, but after having known people who went through the ice, (one car after another, by the way), and then seeing the Ice Road show when it was on the History Channel a couple years ago, I don't go any faster than that. Found that it's about perfectly the speed my vehicle goes in 2nd gear at idle when it's in 4WD HI...

anyway, something I know that I'd like to see is a camera that is just below the ice, in the air pocket between ice & water when different sized vehicles go past at different speeds... I think it'd be kind of cool to watch the wake that the vehicles create...

[lunker651]

I don't know, this year is my first time out ice fishing and I might drive out on the ice if the ice gets thick enough. So All you guys that's done this before any advice and input would help someone like me and others.

I think I would drive pretty slow, being that I'm on ice and it's slippery.

[hoggs222]

One tip. Stay away from bridges. Usually open water to very thin ice near bridges.

[sakazulu]

That Discovery show on the ice roads was the best. Slow driving does keep that pressure wave in front of you from busting up ice. Kind of like the tsunami effect. I think that is why metro area lake access' get so broken up. Everybody should see that show.

[The_Duckslayer]

You mean how fast do I drive now? Usually less than 15MPH. Not in a great hurry and on the ice I will error on the side of saftey.

However comma pause for effect, when I was a teenager used to get going as fast as we could and then just crank the wheel and do 360's. Used to love it when there was no snow on the lake and it was nice and smooth!

Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo