Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Be Careful on the Ice!

I debated whether or not I should post this article. I decided if one life is saved from this terrible reminder, then it is worth while. The dangers of thin ice and the fact that an aerator can affect ice far away from its immediate location need to be taken very, very seriously.

Body Recovered From Icy Pond

Amen.

If you aerate, you probably don't have to clear the ice - and vice versa.

Dwight - when they first released the story, they didn't mention any names. Norm Kopecky's pond is only a couple of miles from Mr. Hofer's pond, so the story really caught my attention.

Dwight - Thanks. Safety posts are always warranted and timely !!!! To often we revert to our teenage years when we were invincible and smart. The grim reaper is all to often there to exact his revenge or worse to leave one incapacitated as a serious burden on family.

Thanks for posting that, Dwight. I turn all my aerators off in the winter and just manually push snow off to protect the fish. I have one spot on one pond where I'm circulating with well water, but that spot is wide, wide open so I'd hope nobody would test the rest of the pond.

Even when the ice is thick, I hate hearing cracking sounds and other unworldly sounds while I walk on the water.

Dwight, Thanks for that post and always sorry to read those tragic stories. Windmill type aerators will generally keep ice thin in the approximate area of the diffuser until they open the ice but this should not be taken for granted. It is so easy to forget about the windmill doing its job when you have a complete iceover.When open water in not wanted or needed please consider a simple bypass valve in the windmill airline to allow the ice to become thick while the exhaust is vented to the atmosphere.When opening thick ice with an electric unit keep in mind that prior to ice opening the water and air bubbles can and will "trail off" many hundreds of feet in an unpredictable direction(s)thus making a pond or lake of any size potentially unsafe.Even if you have moved a diffuser in a shallow area as a dedicated winter diffuser be aware that thin ice can be in other areas. Also consider posting "WINTER AERATION caution THIN ICE" or something along those lines.

Very sad story.
I like to take an icy plunge at least once a year just to be sure my heart still works. So far, so good... but I reserve my foolishness to the shallow end of the pond.


I couldn't agree more with the comment above "When opening thick ice with an electric unit keep in mind that prior to ice opening the water and air bubbles can and will "trail off" many hundreds of feet in an unpredictable direction(s)" < This year in particular my ice opened up in random areas because the water level had dropped slightly creating a gap between the surface water and the ice... so the bubbles found their easiest route out and it happened to be 100+ feet from the air stones.

I was out with a new found ice fishing buddy over the weekend and he had a couple of homemade ice picks to aid in crawling out if you would happen to fall through. He cut two 7" sections of broom handle, drove a 16 penny nail in then ground the head to a point. He then drilled a hole in the opposite end and tied a 2 1/2' piece of string to them. He wore them around his neck at all times. A PDF is also highly recommended and a 50' piece of rope can also be a lifesaver.

I too am sad to hear about this story but Im also glad you posted it as it brings us all back to reallity.Hopefully it will be the only lethal accident we have to endure this season....Maybe we should start a thread next fall to remind each other before one of us goes out and makes the ultimate mistake again.Im sure we all feel the same but when it comes down to the n@@cuttin its only fish,and I personally would much rather hear about dead fish rather than PBers.Keep it safe and trol on across the pond.
P.S. Im a fine one to talk,it got up to 72* f sunday and I was out FIDDLING around and almost flipped my boat on the pond,however all Id get is wet.Yall have a nice day

After wednesdays storm dropped about 12" of snow in our area, I spent some time yesterday renewing my vows with my snowblower and started clearing the BG pond. Time was limited but I managed to get a 10'x80' patch cleared.

Today, the cleared patch is now covered with water, which has iced over somewhat due to the cold temps. I have never seen this happen before. Puzzled as to how this happened, a guy at work provided the answer. After clearing a 20'x100' patch of ice, he watched in amazement as water started percolating up through the ice!!

Have any of you ever had this happen?? I'd like to clear my other pond tomorrow, for fish survival and ice skating but I'm not sure about the safety factor. Both ponds have 9" of clear ice.

Russ, Water seepage onto the ice is primarily dependant on two factors - ice thickness and the amount of snow on the ice. As the snow builds up on the ice it puts more weight and compressive downward force on the ice. If ice is not real thick the weight of snow will force water up through the cracks in the thinnest areas of the ice. This happens a lot on my pond when the ice is only 2"-4" thick. After our 8" snow, I am currently getting some water seepage onto the ice now around the edges where the ice is not as thick as in the main pond.

We get the same thing around here even on frozen lakes with 2 or 3 feet of ice. If you get a large snow fall that puts a lot of weight on the ice there will be areas with enough cracks that water will seep up under the snow. We call them slush holes. The water seeping up mixes with the snow to make slush and it won't freeze for days even in below zero temps because the deep snow is unsulating it. They are usually discovered as you are driving your car or snowmobile across the lake. All of a sudden you hit what feels like a mud hole and you start sinking and slow down fast. Most times the ice is still intact underneath and I've never known anyone to fall through but you may get stuck in the slush hole and it can be scary. I've seen it where the slush was a foot deep. There are many of these on most lakes when we get a lot of snow and people drive through them all the time. Once they are discovered you avoid them. Personally I stay off the lakes with my car until there is at least 16 inches of ice and then only drive where others have already gone thus avoiding these hazards.

i was out on the little river by my house on tuesday. it still had open areas where the "rapids" are. everywhere else it was thick enough to walk on without any fear of falling through its the first time in about 5 years since i can remember it being that thick.

Thanks for the replies. I had never witnessed this before. Its interesting to me that even though the snow is very light, 12" is enough to cause this. Hopefully I can achieve some snow removal from the big pond later today, enough to ward off a fish kill.

Side note: Bill, my friend did mention that as he was clearing the ice, cracks were occuring. This must of been the avenue for the water seeping up "through" the ice. This is not pond related but a local mall, with a two tier parking area, had a section of the top tier collapse after the snow removal contractor piled too much snow in one area. Thankfully only a couple of cars were damaged and no one was hurt/killed.

This death certainly is a warning to all of us. We have never allowed people to go out on the lake to fish or anything else just because of this. Our lakes are a place to enjoy. Having someone get hurt sure takes the fun out of things. I'm much more restrictive on the use of our lake than people are used to on public lakes for just this reason.

Norm, on a side note, did you ever do anything with that lake that was for sale, the one that was in the industrial park, I beleive?

Russ - cracks will occur in the ice layer due to the ice expanding as it thickens during freezing. Freezing and expanding ice has to relieve the pressure as more ice is forming, thus the term "stress cracks". On very cold nights when ice is forming rapidly, my pond produces lots of cracking noises some of them will shake the house. It almost sounds like thunder.

Snow even light snow does have a fair amount of weight to it especially if it is deep snow. Wet snow is obviously even heavier.

Sunil, no, I let it go. For those of you that don't know, I was offered a 5-acre lake for a dollar. ewest said it best, I thought. There are lots of people that would love to get out of the liability of contaminated land for a dollar.

When I'm unsure about something, I watch what I do to see how I really feel about something. I would drive right past this lake and would have to force myself to look at it. That told me that I wasn't really interested in it. There's more than enough work at the lake I have.

It didn`t take the warm weather here in Indiana long to make the ice rotten! I had a friend call last night to warn me to be careful while putting out Christmas trees, because he fell through! It was only waist deep, so he got out OK. I still had good ice, but was real careful.