Yep, it happens here every year. Some years people even get killed but the survivors are back the next time we get hard water and are right back on their with there vehicles. Morons.........:bonk: I mean when you are driving on the ice and there is open water on it, don't you think it is time to stay off.... Then when they go down they expect insurance. Not any more they don't. There is no insurance any more.

Ice fishing is way fun. When its deep winter there isnt a whole lot to hunt or shoot so ice fishing is a great way to get out and about and break up the boredom.

1895ss wrote:

Trust me, I see the clowns, with their $50,000.00 - $70,000.00 SUV's on the hard water, with a lot bigger bits then that......... It gives me the shivers.......

Nah none of that here. I use snowmobiles and I have a "QuickFlip" ice shack that sets up in about 3 minutes and we run a small coleman stove in it for heat... it works great. Its warm and fun.



-DallanC

Actually around here you don't see many snowmobiles anymore. In fact I used to have snowmobiles as well but in the 80's when we had no snow for years and still don't to speak of, I got rid of mine and it seems most other people did the same. You see nothing but vehicles on lakes around here now. Even when the ice is so thin in places I wouldn't walk on it they (ice fishermen and ladys) are still driving on it. In fact some of them have ice fishing shacks they need a 4x4 to pull them out on to the ice with and it's half the size of your garage.

I've seen a guy "TRY" to zip across open water to get to another piece of ice......Well.....He didn't see the chunk slightly sunk under the water line and when he hit it, he went airborne and lost the snowmobile

1895ss wrote:

Actually around here you don't see many snowmobiles anymore. In fact I used to have snowmobiles as well but in the 80's when we had no snow for years and still don't to speak of, I got rid of mine and it seems most other people did the same. You see nothing but vehicles on lakes around here now. Even when the ice is so thin in places I wouldn't walk on it they (ice fishermen and ladys) are still driving on it. In fact some of them have ice fishing shacks they need a 4x4 to pull them out on to the ice with and it's half the size of your garage.

Gidday 1895ss old mate. Seen pics of these shacks on documentaries over here in OZ....scary stuff. How thick does the ice get? No way I would sleep in one!!! Doesn't the ice move and crack up every now and again? How would you be in the middle of the night if the ice started to crack up? This would be a bad thing. Nasty.

Cheers, Vince

Vince wrote:

Gidday 1895ss old mate. Seen pics of these shacks on documentaries over here in OZ....scary stuff. How thick does the ice get? No way I would sleep in one!!! Doesn't the ice move and crack up every now and again? How would you be in the middle of the night if the ice started to crack up? This would be a bad thing. Nasty. Cheers, Vince

Thickest ice I've drilled through with my power auger is 44" ... thats here in Utah. Generally ice is safe to walk on at 4", drive on at 7+. I usually wait till its a good solid 7" or so then we use ATVs or snowmobiles to get out on the ice towing our gear. Depends on how much snow is on the ice though as to which we end up using.

Snowmobiling in general has diminished some here as well from past years... but I still usually see several dozen a week being towed as I drive around. I own 2 Phazers and they are fun, quick and light machines... used'em 2 weeks ago not far from my house.


-DallanC

Vince wrote:

1895ss wrote: Actually around here you don't see many snowmobiles anymore. In fact I used to have snowmobiles as well but in the 80's when we had no snow for years and still don't to speak of, I got rid of mine and it seems most other people did the same. You see nothing but vehicles on lakes around here now. Even when the ice is so thin in places I wouldn't walk on it they (ice fishermen and ladys) are still driving on it. In fact some of them have ice fishing shacks they need a 4x4 to pull them out on to the ice with and it's half the size of your garage. Gidday 1895ss old mate. Seen pics of these shacks on documentaries over here in OZ....scary stuff. How thick does the ice get? No way I would sleep in one!!! Doesn't the ice move and crack up every now and again? How would you be in the middle of the night if the ice started to crack up? This would be a bad thing. Nasty. Cheers, Vince

I guess most winters it's not uncommon to drill through more than 3 feet of ice but what gets me is some of the lakes around here have springs feeding them water from the lake bed and in those areas the ice is thinner. I guess the ice cracks from time to time but it doesn't break up until the weather warms up and around here that can be anytime anymore. Winters for the most part aren't as cold as they used to be. We don't get those long 2-3 week stretches of minus 40 degrees F like we used to. In the last 20 years we have maybe had 1 or 2 winters where there would have been decent snowmobiling. In fact this past Jan we had probably more temps during the day that were above freezing then below. Jan used to be the coldest month of the year.

DallanC wrote:

Thickest ice I've drilled through with my power auger is 44" ... thats here in Utah. Generally ice is safe to walk on at 4", drive on at 7+. I usually wait till its a good solid 7" or so then we use ATVs or snowmobiles to get out on the ice towing our gear. Depends on how much snow is on the ice though as to which we end up using. Snowmobiling in general has diminished some here as well from past years... but I still usually see several dozen a week being towed as I drive around. I own 2 Phazers and they are fun, quick and light machines... used'em 2 weeks ago not far from my house. -DallanC

1895ss wrote:

I guess most winters it's not uncommon to drill through more than 3 feet of ice but what gets me is some of the lakes around here have springs feeding them water from the lake bed and in those areas the ice is thinner. I guess the ice cracks from time to time but it doesn't break up until the weather warms up and around here that can be anytime anymore. Winters for the most part aren't as cold as they used to be. We don't get those long 2-3 week stretches of minus 40 degrees F like we used to. In the last 20 years we have maybe had 1 or 2 winters where there would have been decent snowmobiling. In fact this past Jan we had probably more temps during the day that were above freezing then below. Jan used to be the coldest month of the year.

Wow guys, I can't even imagine ice like that, but then again I live in sub tropical area. Even at 7" thick I would not be comfortable with driving a 1 - 2 ton vehicle on it. I reckon it would be a real buzz to drive a quad on the ice though, I'd have a ball. So you still get decent fish in water that cold? How big a hole do you put in the ice? I have seen the old Eskimo joke where they have a hole about 12" wide, but I would think that it would need to be bigger than that surely.

You sound like you have some pretty good toys Dallan. I would love to have an ATV or quad to go hunting....preferrably a Polaris, they are great. At the moment I have 2 Bultaco dirt bikes, but they are 2 stroke and noisy, and old (1968 model and 1974 model).

A usual Winter here is minimum 48 F and maximum around 77 F. Now, Summer is a different kettle of fish. This Summer has been the hottest on record. A really hot day is 82 F - 112 F.
Global warming seems to be a very real thing.

Planned on going fishing this weekend but its raining like buggery and the fish don't want to bite. Even though its raining its still 78 F and Summer finished 3 days ago. Looking forward to the cooler days. Where I hunt it gets down to 14 F at night. Great for sitting around the fire, telling one another lies and enjoying a good bottle of Port...Galway Pipe or Hanwoods.

Cheers, Vince

Vince,

12 inchs sounds right. Most gear I've seen cuts a hole that big

Dimitri

Vince wrote:

Wow guys, I can't even imagine ice like that, but then again I live in sub tropical area. Even at 7" thick I would not be comfortable with driving a 1 - 2 ton vehicle on it. I reckon it would be a real buzz to drive a quad on the ice though, I'd have a ball. So you still get decent fish in water that cold?

Best fish in water that cold. They taste better and yup, you can land some bigones. The biggest hotspot in my neck of the woods is "Strawberry Res" as mentioned earlier. Its rare but trout can tip the 14lb mark there. Generally 3-4lbs are common with some nicer ones in the 5lb range. They unfortunately have some screwy regulations there regarding size and what you can keep so I avoid it now.

There are 2 other lakes, Fish Lake and Flaming Gorge where you can catch "lake trout"... some of those things tip the scales at 30-40lbs.

Quote::

How big a hole do you put in the ice? I have seen the old Eskimo joke where they have a hole about 12" wide, but I would think that it would need to be bigger than that surely.

Biggest you can legally drill here is 10" I think. My gas powered auger is only 8" and thats fine. I hate to think of how big of an engine you'd need for a 10" or larger blade

Quote::

You sound like you have some pretty good toys Dallan. I would love to have an ATV or quad to go hunting....preferrably a Polaris, they are great. At the moment I have 2 Bultaco dirt bikes, but they are 2 stroke and noisy, and old (1968 model and 1974 model).

I've got some fun toys... all are older used stuff but they suffice. I remember the Bultaco well... a good friend of mine had one growing up. Yes they are noisy and smokey but are alot of fun

Quote::

A usual Winter here is minimum 48 F and maximum around 77 F. Now, Summer is a different kettle of fish. This Summer has been the hottest on record. A really hot day is 82 F - 112 F. Global warming seems to be a very real thing. Planned on going fishing this weekend but its raining like buggery and the fish don't want to bite. Even though its raining its still 78 F and Summer finished 3 days ago. Looking forward to the cooler days. Where I hunt it gets down to 14 F at night. Great for sitting around the fire, telling one another lies and enjoying a good bottle of Port...Galway Pipe or Hanwoods. Cheers, Vince

Been around 27-34F lately in the mornings here. We have a warm spell at the moment but more storms are on the way. We've actually had over 14ft of snow dropped in a single night before in the mountains... kindof spooky when it gets that much.

We sure dont get winters like we used too... but you look at places like China this year where they had record colds and thousands of people freezing to death... makes me glad for a little mild weather.


-DallanC

DallanC wrote:

Best fish in water that cold. They taste better and yup, you can land some bigones. The biggest hotspot in my neck of the woods is "Strawberry Res" as mentioned earlier. Its rare but trout can tip the 14lb mark there. Generally 3-4lbs are common with some nicer ones in the 5lb range. They unfortunately have some screwy regulations there regarding size and what you can keep so I avoid it now. There are 2 other lakes, Fish Lake and Flaming Gorge where you can catch "lake trout"... some of those things tip the scales at 30-40lbs. Been around 27-34F lately in the mornings here. We have a warm spell at the moment but more storms are on the way. We've actually had over 14ft of snow dropped in a single night before in the mountains... kindof spooky when it gets that much. We sure dont get winters like we used too... but you look at places like China this year where they had record colds and thousands of people freezing to death... makes me glad for a little mild weather. -DallanC

Gidday Dallan, man, they are big fish. Never been a lover of fresh water fish....do all my fishing in saltwater estuaries. Would LOVE to get a 14lb fish on the line. We get some big fish out to sea off the coral reefs here, but you need either a decent boat or BIG bucks to get out to get them. A 30lb trout would be huge, but great fishing.

14' of snow in one night sounds really scary. I remember a few years back I was living in the tropics....only seasons up there was the Wet (monsoon) and Dry. We got 17" of rain in one day....minor flooding everywhere.

Cheers, Vince

Well, you shouldn't go taking minors out in that kind of weather Vince. 17" of water can't be much fun when you are only 2' tall anyway! As to all this ice fishing stuff - doesn't the ice scrape all the batter off the fish when you drag them out?
Being serious for a minute Vince - I would have thought that Oz had greater temperature extremes than that. Last year we were hitting 100 degrees f and in the last week or two it has been down to 30f. I always think of Oz as being roasting! Probably why you can stand that godawful 'beer' of yours! (when I refer to beer I mean - and pardon my language - Fosters or XXXX. I don't mean decent brews like Swan)
Is it true that Castlemain call their drink XXXX because nobody could spell 'beer'?

Oh, the boy is good................. the boy is good.....

All this makes me wonder just why in hell I'm sitting at my computer at 0250............... I'm going to bed. Oh, and Bushy......... You shouldn't put ice in whisky as it dilutes it. If you like it cold then put the bottle in the fridge, as I do. Just what the hell IS "branch water" anyway? Didn't know there was that much moisture in branches. We use a new fangled gizmo over here - I believe you call them "faucets", although I don't understand why you can't say "tap" like the rest of the world.................
Goodnight all, I'm down & gone.

Whiskey on the rocks isn't bad.........But people know you are having a bad day when you ask for a double straight up


I leave a few of my sipping glasses in the freezer.......Nothing like a cool frosty glass of rum