Ice Thickness Safety Discussion. Experienced ice anglers, your help is needed in this discussion post. Please help explain and answer some of these questions and other members’ questions in this post.
Did you know, that a lake does not freeze at a consistent thickness?
A lake freezes and thaws at different thicknesses throughout the whole lake. There are a few things to consider before heading out onto the ice.
The first thing most early ice fishing anglers do is drill test holes to determine ice thickness while they walk out to their fishing hole.
Some things to consider are:
- Where could thin ice potentially be found?
- What should you look for to help identify thin ice areas?
- What does “good” ice look like compared to “rotten/bad” ice?
- Do the edges of a lake freeze first?
- Is the middle of the lake the last to freeze (where most kokanee fishing takes place)?
- Why does ice crack? Is this safe?
- What safety tools do you bring on the ice?
- How do you identify an area that has a freshwater spring that causes thin ice or open water?
To the experienced anglers, am I missing anything that we should talk about?