Don't take any chances.

[The Chemist]

These were good friends of some guys on my ball team.

Make it a safe holiday season.

2 dead after SUV goes through ice in Aitkin County
For the second time in as many weeks, the ice on the lakes of rural Aitkin County proved to be deadly. Rescue workers pulled the bodies of two men, best of friends and business partners, from the frigid waters of Farm Island Lake at about 10:45 a.m. Monday. Just a week earlier, a 13-year-old girl died of carbon monoxide poisoning in an ice-fishing house on nearby Elm Island Lake, just north of Lake Mille Lacs in east-central Minnesota.

[Crawlerman]

No offense to your friend's.. but anyone driving a SUV on the ice at this point (I don't care WHERE in the state it is) Is pretty crazy! That warm weather we had kinda wacked up the early ice we had this year, and the metro is just getting safe enough ice to walk on. A SUV also is the heaviest class of domestic vehicles on the market. 15" should be allowed for them, and even then I'd be careful. I heard about the kids and the Carbon monoxide posioning over night; but one should NEVER leave their children alone in an icehouse for any extended length of time. Use common sence while Ice fishing, you got to be careful out there.

[Guest]

Explain to me please how you can possibly "Be careful" when you are driving in your car or truck on the ice?

You can "be careful" while walking out at first ice, constantly checking with a chisel as you go. You can "be careful" with broken glass to not cut yourself. You can "be careful" when pouring gas into the ice auger to not spill it...

But I cannot see any possible way of "being careful" on the ice driving inside your motor vehicle. You are completly assuming the ice is a minimum thickness as you go.

If you are the first one to drive out on the lake consider yourself a far greater risk taker, either braver or more stupid then the other 100's of anglers that chose to walk or unload their wheeler or snowmobile. Just ask yourself...Why is everyone else walking?

In the Chisago area they are driving full size pick-ups on the lakes...

PCG

[Crawlerman]

PCG-- that's nutz. Rush lake only had 8" on it a few weeks ago-- and we've only seen ice making weather most recently.. I really doubt they have more than 12". I was chatting with a guy from the Detroit Lakes area last night in the chatroom, and he said they only had 11" on it. With driving; I would stick to bigger lakes that allready have "roads" that one could follow no earlier than mid to late Jan. I drive a compact truck, and I'm even nervous as I've never driven anything bigger than a car on it before.

[The Chemist]

Wait a second, I think my message has been misunderstood.

First of all I think what these 2 did was completely wrong. I don't think that there is a place in the state worthy of driving on at this time.

Secondly when I stated to be careful, that was in reference to goin onto lakes period because of the crappy weather we have been having. I saw a picture of a a fisherman who dumped his sled and gear partially through on Minnetonka this weekend.

Make sure you know the area and check to make sure of ice thickness. Now that I have kids I err on the side of overly cautious. I think it's more valuable for them to have a dad then to catch a few fish.

[ackotz]

Was at Mille Lacs this past Saturday and an ATV pulling a good size house (6X10) tipped on a "pie of ice". The front left wheel of his ATV started to tilt and lean into the water. The ATV stayed right where it was. The fishhouse he was hooked to, kept the ATV from going in...he screamed for help and it took about 20 minutes for some guys to get him off that icy "slice of pie"...of course, this guy was very lucky and he knows it. He came into the bar a little later and downed a few and thanked god he was going to spend this Christmas alive with his family.
The chunk of ice he was on had been driven over by the resort, which had "plowed" a road (actually smoothed over the shards of ice), so needless to say it may have been weakened. But then, you never really have "safe ice"...
The bad thing about "Ice Pies", as you can imagine, is that they will tilt, you slide in, and then the ice tips back up and you're sealed in by a chunk of ice that could weigh a ton or more...scares me just writing about it...