Back before I was a fishing editor, I used to work in a paint store. One of the owners of that shop was a man who would become a great friend, Denis Paquette. He was not a fisherman and he was fascinated by the fact that I was so enraptured by surfcasting that I would trade sleep and comfort to fish into the wee hours of the morning and still drag my exhausted butt to work the next day. One winter morning he was reading the paper and there was a piece on ice fishing.
He called me over and said, “Do you do this?” I replied, “I have ice fished, but it’s not something that I do regularly.” He laughed and said, “Good! Ice fishermen seem like the kind of people who will do anything to not have to be at home!” While I may not agree with that distinction, from the standpoint of the un-obsessed, it’s a pretty linear avenue of thought. Hanging around on a frozen lake, often with no shelter from the whipping winter winds, waiting for a flag to fly, sounds like something only a person with a really good reason to avoid being home would do… like everyone else has tuberculosis. But, as we all know, ice fishermen are among the most dedicated and obsessive segments of the angling community.
Winters aren’t what they used to be and, as a result, ice fishing opportunities aren’t as reliable as they once were. But these last few years have brought the return of the ‘old school’ winter, albeit for short segments of time. Making it possible for coastal anglers to ice fish without having to travel to interior Massachusetts or points further north. Social media and fishing reports, like those we collect every week, have fueled a huge surge in ice fishing interest. If you need more proof, look no further than the New-England-wide shiner sellout during the first week of January this year. If you didn’t get your bait before that first weekend, you weren’t getting bait, it was that simple! Safe ice, makes ice fishermen do crazy things.
A new and enthusiastic army of ice fishing recruits taking to the frozen lakes and ponds means there’s an army of inexperienced and ill-prepared anglers charging out onto the ice and with that comes certain inherent dangers that the inexperienced may not recognize before they become a serious problem. We hear about ice fishers falling through the ice every year, luckily most of them survive because they are prepared, or someone who is prepared is nearby and offers their aid and expertise.
There are three tools that can save your life, whether you’re a seasoned veteran of the frozen lakes or a rank amateur making your first steps onto the ice. The first is a spud bar. This is nothing more than a heavy chisel with a long handle. The practice of “spudding your way out” is an accepted rule among ice fishermen whenever walking onto new ice or if a recent thaw has made things look or feel suspect. This involves plunging the chisel into the ice every few steps to check for weaknesses, and every 50 to 100 feet, chipping a hole all the way through to gauge thickness, this practice saves lives.
The second is a pair of ice picks, these are worn around the neck on a coiled lanyard. You’ve probably seen ice anglers with an orange or red thing across their neck that looks like some kind of high-vis harmonica harness, those are ice picks and when the handles are separated, they reveal two steel spikes. If you fall through the ice, you’re not going to get a grip on the wet ice with your fingernails or anything else, but by jamming these picks into the ice, you can pull yourself out of the water and continue to drag yourself away from the dangerous spot on your belly. These things have saved an untold number of lives.
The last life-saving tool is a healthy dose of common sense. While not all unsafe ice is easily deciphered by sight, most of it can be identified by looking for standing water, dark patches, slushy spots or excessive cracking and/or unevenness. No matter how well you did in one section of the lake last week, or how badly you want that big fish photo for publishing here in The Fisherman or posting on your Instagram, if the ice looks suspect, don’t take the risk! Every year, ice fishers lose their lives by pushing it, and many of them had all the right physical safety gear, but they paid the price by not listening to their gut. A sensible mind, saves the most lives of all.
