Most Ice Witnessed Out There?

[stick]

What is the most ice anyone has seen out there now? I'm guessing that we'll turn into a normal thickness year, if not even thicker, with this lengthy cold an virtually no snow on top to insulate the ice.

Pretty soon the "extension questions" will be showing up all over.

[fiskyknut]

About 30 inches on the LOTW this past week.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

There is around 24 inches on Vermilion.

Cliff

[schweady]

I seem to remember a post here a while back that cited a source insisting that freshwater lakes would slow down and stop building thickness at around 36 inches due to the insulating quality of the ice itself. This seems like the week to test that theory.

[bassNspear]

I had 19 on a lake in the metro area last week.

[anyfishwilldo]

All the way to the tranny on the lazer mag.

[arctic_scrap1]

I was on rainy lake one time when I was a younger kid and we never got through the ice even with an extension on the auger.

[hard.way]

i've also seen where an auger w/extension won't get all the way through(loon lake).had to use a spud bar to finish the job.

[bassNspear]

isnt that crazy how that stuff happens.

[The Grebe]

Puh! This ain't nuthin! Why I can remember back in the day, when we used to have to use a spud bar, ice chisel, whatever you want to call it....we used to have to start the hole out about as round as the tire on a 3/4 ton truck!

Not only that, but we had to go up on Friday night if we wanted to be fishing by Saturday morning and that was only if ya chopped all night!

By the time we got to the water using our 5 foot long choppers...we were laying on our stomachs and we had a 6 inch hole at the bottom and about a ton of ice chips around us!

Most of the older ice fishermen at that time had arms like Popeye! Wasn't alot of hole hopping, thats for sure and I do believe I read somewhere where a few deaths occured when someone tried to comshaw someone elses fishing hole when they went to get somemore wood, or use the terlet?

I myself not only developed the Popeyeish looking arms during the winter, but also a set of shoulders that looked like I had bowling balls under my coveralls....considering I only weighed 110 pounds at the time and had legs that looked like angel hair spaggetti, it looked rather odd I guess?

When the ice hit 6 feet thick, I stopped and waited until spring...times have changed.