But First, Test Your Fish Sense:

An ice claw A)helps your grab ice, B)can be very sharp, C)should be carried around your neck, D)can be easily made, E)could save your life, F)all mentioned.

Since this article will revolves around a home made device that can save your life, I'm going to give you the answer now. Ice claws do all of the above.

So why waste your time making something you'll never use? Last year several people where fishing the presure ridges that form on Sebago Lake after ice in. One happened to have ice claws with him the other did not. The ridges are formed by large sheets of lake ice pushing aginst each other. The ridges are sometimes up to six feet high and hard to transverse.

Some people believe the ice fishing is better along these ridges and target them with tip ups and jig poles. The problem here is that this area is very unstable.

The fisherman with out the ice claws found out just how unstable the ice can be, when a large hole emerged under the wind swept snow. Before he knew it he was under the ice. He fortunately pop up in the hole and his fishing partner, the one with ice claws noticed the mishapt, and ran to his aid. The claws where instrumental in getting his partner out of the water.

The claws can be purchased at http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20166&id=0016930190554a&navCount=2&podId=0016930&parentId=cat601250&navAction=push&catalogCode=UF&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat601250&hasJS=true, or easily made.