Ice Fishing Safety
January 11, 2006
Watch For White Ice
Test Your Fish Sense
True or False.....White ice is saver than black ice. answer at end of post
It's your turn to send in any type of fishing photos; I'll post a collage of the fishing photos in the next few weeks. Attach your photos to an e-mail and send to marc@maineheat.com. Don't forget to include a brief discription.
As you know from my earlier post, I went fishing this week on Sabatus Pond. The ice was ten inches thick, but when I looked down our jigging hole you could see an abundance of bubbles trapped in the ice.
When I was talking to John Peterson last week, the concern of white ice came up. White ice is formed when snow falls on a layer of ice and melts or is rained on. When it freezes, the ice looks thick and strong but it is actually weak. Its strength is also not consistent.
This appears to be what may have happened at Sabatus. Another clue to this is the way that the auger went through the ice. In some of the holes there appeared to be soft spots where the auger would quickly make head way. It also would get bogged down in these spots due to the amount of material.
I saw at least six different vehicles while on the ice yesterday; and with this January thaw we have going on, I wouldn't be surprised of a mishap this weekend. It isn't pretty when a car falls through the ice.
False....White ice is weaker than black ice because it is formed by snow and water.
December 14, 2005
Ice Safety
With today’s developments, I'm going to provide this link from the U.S. ARMY COLD REGIONS RESEARCH & ENGINEERING LABORATORY. It concerns "safety on floating ice sheets". Safety is first and of the greatest importance this time of year.
Every year people venture out onto the ice without follow the basic safety procedures. First, you should follow the guide lines provided at the link above and please wear a Cost Guard approved personal safety device when venturing on new ice. Better know as a PFD or life jacket. They were named life jackets because they actually do save lives.
With one person missing today, from what appears to be a skate on thin ice, let’s keep thinking about safety.
November 21, 2005
Home Made Ice Claws
But First, Test Your Fish Sense:
Ice Claws are used to A) pull yourself to safety, B) to grip into ice C) both
Monday was so nice it's hard to even think about ice fishing. Trust me....its coming! But do it yourself ice claws can save your life and can be made with items around the home.
I made my homemade ice claws without leaving the house. I started with an old broom handle and two sixteen penny nails.
I then cut two pieces out of the broom handle to fit my hand and drilled 3/8” holes in them. This hole is big enough to fit the head of a sixteen penny nail.
Some people bang the nails in and grind the heads off, that is fine also, but I don’t own a bench grinder. So, I used a hot glue gun to hold the nails in the handles of my home made ice claws, tied a string on and wrapped them with duct tape for comfort. The tape also helped hold the string in the proper orientation. Remember to make the string long enough to hold each claw with out stretched arms while running behind your neck. This way you can store them under you coat like a pair of mittens.
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I like to wear the string around the back of my neck while sticking the claws in my pockets. Other people run the string through the sleaves and wear them like childrens mittins. Just be sure they are easily accessible. You don’t need to be fighting with accessibility while under water.
Test Your Fish Sense:
Ice claws are used to help pull yourself to safety and grab on to ice while doing so.
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