I have an idea that I think will work.  First off I like to ice fish…don’t you?  And ice fishing requires walking, riding or some other way, getting onto the ice, drilling a hole and dropping your bait down into the water.

Walking on the ice can sometimes be a tricky thing.  Especially when the ice is free of snow.  And really slippery when there is a tad bit of melted water on top, or water from a rain storm.  KABANG!  I’m usually down several times trying to get to and fro on the ice.

So, introduce ice spikes, ice grippers etc.  I’ve seen some folks with boards strapped to their boots and grabber screws poking out the bottom of the boards.  They looked awkward, but they did not slip on the ice.

My idea is similar to the board idea, only somewhat less Redneckie.

All us fishermen fish year round, don’t we?  Al least we like to fish every chance we get and when there isn’t anything more important going on in our lives.  So we all have a pair of hip waders, or chest waders around that we use in order to not get wet when we are fishing.

Those rubber boots always seem to get holes in them at a time we least want any issues with them having holes in them.  And so if we can fix the hole we do, but sometimes the holes are more like tears and we just toss the boots away and head for the store and get another pair.  STOP!!!!!  Don’t just throw them boots away!  The soles are still good usually!

Do you see where this is going?

So, we are going to cut the soles off the old boots and we will leave some of the upper rubber still attached to the sole when we do cut them off.  These soles should fit over the outside of our snowboots, snow pack boots or military surplus ultra cold boots.  It they don’t, give your cut off soles to someone with smaller feet and go seeking someone elses big footed cut off soles.

Once you have a set of soles that will fit over your snowpacks, you will want to make small holes in a few places around the top edge of the “extra rubber” that was left on the sole when it was cut off.  In these holes you will be attaching small bundgie cords to help hold the soles to your boots.  Make the holes, so that the cords will hold these souls solidly to your boots.  You decide where to poke the holes.

You could use old boot laces for this job instead of bungies if you wanted.

Now, get yourself some 1 1/2 inch grabber screws and screw them down and out the bottom of the soles.  Usually a good pattern is two across the extreme end of the toe, two more about half way from the toe to the instep, two on the outer edges of the widest part of the sole and three in a triangle pattern on the heel.

As time goes on, the points of the grabber screws will wear off, but the dulled points still work just fine for several trips on the ice.  Probably years before needing to be replaced.

There you have it!  Your own home made ice grippers and they didn’t cost you very much did they?

Bears Butt

Feb. 2012