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By GEORGE SMITH georges@leader.net
Sunday, January 30, 2000 Page: 12C
The cold weather has finally frozen waterways and allowed anglers to
venture out onto the ice.
But a major question ice fishers must always seriously consider is how to
determine when the ice is thick enough to safely support their weight.
The answer to that question depends on a host of variables.
Four inches of new ice on a small farm pond is usually much stronger than 4
inches of old ice on a huge body of water such as Harveys Lake.
New ice is generally stronger than old ice, and ice that thaws and
refreezes isn’t as strong as ice that never, ever thawed.
The U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in New
Hampshire offers some well-researched guidelines. The Army lab issues these
guidelines for anyone interested in cold-weather recreation activity on
ice-covered waterways.
If you are on foot, research indicates, make sure the ice is at least 4
inches thick.
Snowmobiles and light RVs such as quads require 5 or 6 inches of ice.
If you’re really daring and want to venture onto ice with a
four-wheel-drive truck or SUV, wait for the ice depth to reach 8 to 12 inches.
Those are the minimum – the minimum – recommended ice thicknesses.
The military lab researchers assume that people active on the ice have
taken a close look at the waterway and have considered several other factors.
Ice along shorelines can be weakened by the buckling action of wind driving
ice against the land. That means ice along the shore is almost always weaker
than ice in the center of the waterway.
Ice is usually thinner and weaker at the edge of open water, where wind
might blast the warmer, open water underneath and erode it from below. Common
sense then dictates that ice anglers should not venture near open water on big
lakes such as Wallenpaupack.
Moving water deteriorates ice from underneath, which means anglers need to
be extra cautious when fishing ice on backwaters of moving water, such as the
Susquehanna River, or at impoundments in which water levels vary, such as Lake
Wallenpaupack or the Francis E. Walter Reservoir.
There are no fixed rules regarding ice safety and ice thickness. Too many
variables exist for such rules to be considered totally dependable all of the
time.
Ice anglers need to be responsible for their actions and should observe a
few precautions.
Anglers who pull ice-fishing sleds onto the ice or use the now-standard,
5-gallon plastic bucket should have a long length of coiled rope on hand.
Knots can be tied to the rope, and the rope can then be used to help pull
an unfortunate person who has plunged into the icy water to safety.