PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!

[slabslayer]

With this warmer weather and rain the ice is taking a beating.  Should you go out, please be careful!  The freeze/thaw cycles we've been having combined with sun and rain have seriously damaged the ice.  There is a lot of white/rotted ice sitting on top of a few inches of good ice.  Soon it will all be white ice, which is weak and dangerous.  I've stepped thru 8" of white ice in the past, and had about 5" of it give out under my boot today.  I didn't fall in, but it's a good lesson and reminder.  This time of year is dangerous for those of us who try to get every last minute in.  PLEASE, use caution and good judgement  if you're going to try it again after all this rain and runoff.  The ice will melt from both top and bottom.  Here's a pic of the ice thickness that broke under my 200 pound weight today.

[snowcone]

were you at nimi? 

[slabslayer]

No.  Nimi was actually better.  I was on a landlocked acre and a half lake with no current.  It's a deep lake over 15 feet in places.  Shocked at the fast deterioration of the ice.

[wapak ice dawg]

We all have stepped through rotted ice, I did last year , 1 leg to the hip and your heart drops out of you chest and you think your done. But the day you go under the ice and you can't touch bottom with no one around your thoughts of pushing it will change. I know this site has a safety disclaimer but my 2 cents is, the guys running the boards shouldn't be posting on how they are averting going through the ice and how you are spudding and planking bad ice. You have to think of the new guy on here and he's like your kid, if they can do it I can also push it. That's my thoughts, boot me ban me if you want but if 1 guy happens to go in and can't get out , then what. We might want to ask the father/ husband who lost his wife and son on bad ice this week . See ya on the ice next season

[slabslayer]

I actually think you make a really good point. I was on Nimi with another member and we had to plank and spud all around soft ice. There was a guy that pulled up, saw us on the ice, and was going to come walking out to meet us. He said he wanted to try ice fishing for the first time. He had no safety equipment. I would hate to think what would've happened if he just read I was on Nimi and he decided to go later after I had left. It could've been a horrible result. Maybe a pm back and forth might be better for those of us who do that.  That way only experienced fishermen can access that info. And even then we should be extremely careful and never fish alone in those conditions. Although I'm starting to think more and more after hearing rain pound my roof and seeing snow and ice melt around my house that I'm done for the year. Time to start getting the boat ready for bass fishing.