The beginning ice fisher.

From my experience as an ice fisherman many years ago, my neighbor talked me into going with him as an observer, he said it would be best that way.

I have to thank him a lot for that lesson because I would never have taken up the sport had I not seen exactly how to do it.

In my mind I could not imagine stepping out onto that crystal clear dark ice that looked like it might be about 1/4 inch thick.  He stepped out and began walking as if it was a hard concrete path.  I stood on shore and watched him go.  All the time wondering just what I was going to do when he suddenly disappeared into the water.  He continued to walk and then stopped, turned around and asked if I was going to join him.

If I recall, in my shaking voice I said the weight of two of us would surely make it crack and down both of us would go and I did not want to end my life that way.  He laughed.

Then pulling out his ice drill, he drilled a hole through the ice.  His ice auger was nearly half its length into the ice before he punched through the other side of the ice sheet.  There you go, he said, it’s at least eight inches thick.  That is thick enough to drive a snowmobile on, or even a small car.

I thought, ya sure, maybe your car..not mine!

Well are you coming out or not?  He asked.  How far are you going? I asked.  Just another 100 yards or so, I was up here yesterday and that was where I found them.

Reluctantly, and I mean very reluctantly, I slid my right foot off the perfectly good shore and onto the black depths of the 1,000 foot deep water.  Followed that with my other foot and suddenly there I was with both feet on the black ice and standing over what my mind said was at least 2,000 feet of deep cold water.  My buddy was laughing at me!

I did not dare to pick up my feet, and so I slid them toward his direction and when I looked up, he was hoofing it out to his 100 yards more mark.  I was terrified!  Under my feet was “nothing”, you could not tell how thick the ice was.  There were no bubbles, no nothing in it, just plain old frozen water so very clear that the darkness of the depths of the water made you think you were standing on nothing.

It was a very cold day and even though I had never been near a frozen lake before I was just beginning to get comfortable shuffling toward my friend when suddenly I heard the ice crack from a long way away…not too bad I thought until my brain suddenly told me that cracking sound was coming closer and as quickly as it started the crack thundered right under my feet and off toward the other side of the lake….I could see the glimmer of the cracked ice as it continued to show its ugliness and it was only then that I could see it had some depth to it.  My heart was pounding harder than the night the Cong sent rockets over our barracks in Viet Nam.  I found myself breathing quite hard and I still had at least 300 yards to go to get to my friend, who, by the way was quietly sitting on a bucket with his fishing pole in hand.

I have learned some lessons over the years and one is, that clear ice is very good ice, while bubbly ice is not so good.  Clear ice is your friend.  It is hard and very stable.  And another thing, cold ice likes to crack, because it is actually expanding as more ice is being made.  Cracking ice is good as long as the cracking isn’t  just around you.

So, I did finally get to my friend, but as I approached I asked him just how close can I get to where he was before things would be un-safe for both of us.  He reassured me it would be safe to be standing side by side.

Looking down into the hole he had drilled with his auger, the ice was so clear you could not see the hole, only the water…it was weird…and the dark cold world under the ice hole was even stranger to this first time ice walker.

He did finally catch a fish and when he threw it back I KNEW he was crazy.  As he was fighting that fish you could see it under our feet, swimming and fighting to get loose.  That was the strangest thing I think I had ever witnessed and the ice magnified it and made it look like a 10 pounder!  It was a nice fish, I recall about 15 inches long and pretty thick and deep.  I still see that fish swimming around under us.

It was time to go back home.  The football game would be on in an hour or so and we had to get off the ice, up to the truck and drive the 30 minutes to home.  As he walked off the ice, I was shuffling right behind him, knowing that each shuffle meant the depth of the water under my feet was getting less and less deep.  The cracking of the ice was no deterrent, I was going home!  I was a happy sort of guy, just not off the ice yet.

When we made it to the good old shore line, with signs of sand and washed up wood, my heart decided I was still alive.  And to this day….I DON’T LIKE CLEAR ICE WITH NO SNOW ON IT!  Not only is it scary to look down into, you can’t tell how thick it is AND it is very slick!

It’s no wonder new comers to the sport of ice fishing want to cast from shore and hit the hole drilled into the ice.  Come on guys!  It’s safe!  Get out there.  Why do you think they make the poles so short?  The shorter the pole the shorter the cast to the hole!

Bears Butt

Jan. 24, 2013