Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Ice Fishing 2011 - 2012

Skinny:

You can go on thinner ice if you spread your weight out over a larger footprint, such as using snowshoes.

When I was a teenager, the fishing on the lake was HOT. There was about 5" of ice on the lake. A warm front came thru with rain, turning the lake into honeycomb ice. We had an aluminum jon boat. I put the boat on the ice, stood in the back of it, and slid it out on the ice by using an ice spud to shove the boat along. I caught many fish that day thru the same holes I was using before the rain came thru and messed up the ice. The boat spread out my weight enough so that the ice didn't even sink enough to bring water up on top of it.

I can't even imagine what people were thinking if they saw me out there!!!

Where there's a will, there's a way!

Next invention to be posted:
How to properly tie tennis rackets to my boots.

I've used the Jon boat trick many times myself. I like to kneel on the rear bench seat, hang one leg over the back, and kick my way out. If you're wearing cleats, and the surface is swept clear of snow, you can really get up some speed.

I m still going up on the 25th, safe ice or no, so ill just play it safe @the first and fish right off the dock, the dropoff to 12 ft is only about 5 yards away from there, so I can at least set up a few flags that are only a few steps away. Ill take a life line and tie it to the dock, and at least until I can be sure ice is thick that far out, only drill as far as the line can reach. Worst case scenario @ this point is that the long range forecast keeps bumping up the temps, or that the last few days of forecast im waiting for (so far have it out to the 25th), says that the actual days I will be fishing keep warming up too.

Quick and Dirty Ice Shoes:

Take an old pair of boots and attach them to a pair of 2” x 12” boards about 36” long with deck screws. You will have roughly 700 square inches of area supporting you on the ice. If you weigh 200 pounds, that is less than .3 pounds per square inch. 2 inches of good ice – good to go!

If this fails, have survivors invert deceased 180 degrees with deck board intact, and build a deck.

use cracked ice to keep beer cold

dwight, I want a picture!!

skinnybass is probably building a pair as I type. Maybe he will share; photo-wise.

I certainly hope he doesn't run the deck screws through the boards into the wife's new oak floors. I should have mentioned that.

Lol.....actually im going to wait on strapping 3' boards to my legs, and will likely tie the safety line to my belt instead.

The thing that I'm waiting for is the official "wife wont freak out at me for trying" thickness, which i have arbitrarily set at like 6". Right now, if that spreadsheet were to remain exactly how it has forecasted thus far, that is pretty much what I will be dealing with. Unfortunately, if i look at the past few weeks and how the initial forecast has played out in actual temperatures, things will be much warmer than that.

And fortunately.....we havent gotten to the point where they are "her" new oak floors. I paid for them, installed them, sanded them, buffed them, stained them and clear-coated them. Them is my oak floors.

everything else, though, yeah...that's hers

If it is part of her home, it is hers. How long have you been married, anyway??

I just take credit for the floor. The roof, walls, furniture, and both residents most definitely are hers.

You told her that 6" was the minimum thickness you would go out on? You went so far as to provide an actual number? One that is easily verifiable?

Dwight's right, how long have you been married skinny?

No, i didnt provide her the number. She, however, has come with me on a number of occasions, and has never been out on less than 8" of ice. She knows that most people say 4" is all good, but at that point she freaks that the depth of ice wont be consistent across the pond. So.....I assume that she would be okay with 6 (hence saying i have arbitrarily set the thickness level for the "she won't freak on me" depth).

Whether or not that is true, i will have to find out. She will be there as well, since she and my mom have some plans for the same weekend (hence me not being able to re-schedule, and why i am going up on the 25th safe ice or not).

And last of all...we're not actually married. Engaged at the moment, but we've been living together for almost 6-7 years at this point. "wife" though, is a lot easier to type than "long-time committed partner of the female variety to whom i plan to marry in the not so distant future." In either case, she probably deserves better than "fiance" after our extended engagement.

I pulled a RBT out of the pond this evening for dinner. There's open water on about 1/3 of the pond. 19" 3.67# RW 120

1/16 oz. gold/red Little Cleo spoon.

Gotcha.
So you've been together for 6-7 years, she ice fishes, she gets along with your mother..... and she recognizes that ice thickness can vary dramatically over a short distance.

Responsible, outgoing with a probable sense of humor, compassionate, and pretty dang smart. Sounds familiar. 22 years and counting, married to a girl just like that. Pretty awesome stuff.

NICE!!!

When did you stock those again?

2nd week in October, they went in at an average weight of 2# each. I'm feeding AM600 once a day at noon. 50# lasts more than a month. Stocked 50 fish.

spot on for all accounts, especially it being pretty awesome stuff. Maybe she's not huge into ice fishing, but supportive of my northerly addiction. Plus she's a southerner, so she can cook and knows that gravy is supposed to be white and be made mainly of bacon grease. In fact right now she's slow cooking a potato bacon and corn chowder for tomorrow, which is making me want to drop my computer and hover over the crock pot.

And she knows more about plants and animals than I could learn in a lifetime..I think why she fishes with me is so she can study the ponds, turtles etc. She's a "biogeographer" by education, and currently operating as a part herpotologist and part microbiologist/botanist in a study she's working on. Yeah.....probably a keeper. Even if she keeps me off the ice in 3 weeks.

After that explanation, maybe I will let her own the floors after all.

Oh yeah, white gravy kicks brown gravy butt.

Especially over mashed potatoes.

if by "mashed potatoes" you mean "all substances that are edible and some that are not," then hellz yeah!

It kills me when the waitress asks, "Would you like gravy on that?" What kind of question is that anyway?

You bring me a fondue pot full of gravy and some of those pointy wooden skewers and I'll show you how it's done. You're talking to someone who could use white gravy as a topping for ice cream.

I'm sorry, what was this thread originally about, again?

Women, or...inventions? Wait......shoes?

Screw it...heard any good jokes lately?

Why does lightning strike people in public?

Cuz he doesn't know how to CONDUCT himself! Zing!

Seriously, anybody have another tip up design?

You guys are hijacking your hijacks. Hilarious.

Nice tips, Mike. Enjoy using them next year. No way the lower 48 are going to see ice again this year. I hear even Dwight had to suspend all ice activity due to lack of the afforementioned.

We have two subzero days and all next week it's back to 40s and 50s. I have never witnessed a Winter like this in my memory. I have 1000 waxies turning black. I have a new Eskimo tent still in original package, and a four way aquavu screaming to be used. More's the pity...I'm going open water next week. If you can't beat em....

No tip up design but this is what I built today. I came up with the idea after losing 3 3+lbs brook trout in the Ice hole in one day.

Nice work Blair...I love the "soooo the fish can't get back throoooooough the hooooooole."