Winter Wondering: Judging Ice for Safe Catches - The Fisherman

Winter Wondering: Judging Ice for Safe Catches

Pre-season preparation and planning goes a long way towards hardwater success.

When December comes, ice anglers want to get on hard, clear ice before snowfall, because first ice sometimes means the best catches of the season. And if a substantial ice season follows, it doesn’t take long before the condition of safe ice changes.

Not all of what ice becomes is pleasant. Water and slush on top of it is a mess, but many of us find every form of ice fished on interesting.

Whatever the condition of ice, safety should be first concern.

Five-inch thick “black ice” cut by a power auger resulted in this pickerel.
Five-inch thick “black ice” cut by a power auger resulted in this pickerel.

Winter Options

It’s been more than a decade since someone riding a snowmobile on Lake Hopatcong went through and died, but I never forget. Most of the frozen lake allowed for easy riding, but not all of it. Since lakes and reservoirs don’t freeze evenly, be careful about letting your guard down when venturing where no boot prints mark safety. I insist everyone in my party have ice spikes at ready disposal. (I own enough of them to pass around.) If you go through, jamming the spike into the ice with your fist around the grip and pulling yourself out will save your life. You would find it impossible to get a grip on the ice with wet hands. I keep a 50-foot length of heavy rope with my equipment, too.

Ponds of a few acres or more usually do freeze evenly, and I have fished them covered by 3 inches of hard, clear ice. But 4 inches is a better idea, especially when fishing with a friend who might stand close to you. If you’ve never ice fished before and want to try, it’s a good idea to find a friend who is experienced and who will begin to show you how to judge safety. I was 15 my first time out, led by someone experienced. When I heard the rumbling of settling ice, I jumped. Without being told the weight of the ice forces cracks that sound off like thunder, I would have turned around and gone home. A frozen pond or lake is a different world – an appeal to why we go out there – and only experience can answer many questions.

Ten inches of hard, clear ice underneath snow and slush on top supported this angler as he played a Lake Hopatcong pickerel.
Ten inches of hard, clear ice underneath snow and slush on top supported this angler as he played a Lake Hopatcong pickerel.

Regardless of uneven or even freezing, lake, reservoir, or pond ice can be thin over a spring release from the bottom. I’ve never encountered the problem, but my brother Rick went through the ice of Assunpink Lake and later told me a spring was the cause. Other ice fishermen have told me it happens too. So does common sense. Weak ice may also be caused by residual vegetation. Again, I’ve never had a problem with release of gases and slightly warmed water thinning ice over thick vegetation, and I’ve ice fished Lake Musconetcong on numerous occasions where thick vegetation was encased in ice I stood on, but I want to pass on hearsay for safety sake, because it seems vegetation could cause a problem.

Whether you see vegetation underfoot or not, using a cutting bar as a walking staff when exploring new territory is a good habit. It’s easy to test ice ahead of you by a few hard whacks. My bar is a 5-foot hollow iron shaft with a chisel head, plenty heavy to gain force and drive it through. When ice is about 4 inches thick, I use it to cut holes faster and more efficiently than bothering with my power auger.

Season’s Journey

Most winters, the ice season develops progressively through various changes, but during some, 4 or 5 inches of ice – thickening a little, receding back a bit – lingers for a few weeks, and that’s all the season we get. Other winters never develop an ice season at all, but in the more common event of lasting ice with its condition changing over time, the coves of lakes become safe to walk on before the main lake points do. Differences in ice thickness on reservoirs may be even more varied. Five years ago, lake trout got caught through Round Valley ice from 90-foot depths, though some of the surface never froze. In March, ice had thickened to 18 inches near the boat launch, but while standing on it, anyone could see distant open water near the back of the reservoir.

When Round Valley Reservoir freezes at all, let alone that thick, we enjoy a lengthy ice season. Why limit the definition of “season” to the 4 on the calendar, when the dictionary indicates the word has more freedom?  During that amazing ice season of 2015, I measured Lake Hopatcong ice 26 inches thick on March 9. An especially long season like that one begins to feel like a permanent reality, during which the most dedicated of us can express our passion by putting in time out there.

I felt a moment of deep appreciation for ice anglers near the end of the 2001 season. I began ice fishing that January and finished in March, when I heard about ladders used to traverse from the bank to the ice mass. Late season melting resulted in open water 6 feet from shoreline edges. I felt this maneuver is not only practical, but defining of people who care deeply about the season and complete it. I don’t recall the number of times my buddy Joe Landolfi ice fished that season, but it was more than 20. I felt like setting all else aside and doing the same, but I needed to work long hours to support my family.

Ice with no snow on top for boot treads to grip can be extremely slippery if light rain falls and freezes; people have broken bones by falling. Korkers cleats can make an otherwise very difficult outing functional. Especially because tip-ups require quick reaction, some brand or other of cleats are indispensable when you would slip. Usually, though, a good pair of warm pac boots gain firm traction even on ice without snow.   

Rain, Sleet & Snow

Snow will almost certainly come during a sustained ice season. If the ice is 4 inches thick, hard and clear, it will hold the weight of you and moderate accumulation; but by cutting a bunch of holes, you may find the snow has sagged the ice plate enough that water upwells from those holes, goes over that ice, and to some degree melts it, making for a condition I would avoid until severe cold freezes the water. Ever since I braved ice 4 inches thick that sagged and took on water of Budd Lake, I have avoided any similar situation. I had no spikes that day. Way out towards the middle and alone, I got nervous, and I don’t care to feel that way ever again. Rain can erode ice that would otherwise be safe, too.

Sometimes ice thickens to 7 or 8 inches, and then rain falls on snow cover. Fishing on slush-covered ice is a mess with as many as 4 inches of water testing boots, but if the ice underneath remains hard and clear, it holds the weight with you on it. Determine the strength by cuts and examinations. If you find that instead of dense ice, the vertical striations of ice beginning to melt from the surface towards the water underneath, don’t proceed unless at least 7 or 8 inches of hard ice is underneath the rotting ice near the surface. It does take some thickness to support a lot of slush and water with you on it as well. 

Joe Landolfi had demonstrated that ice at an edge is thick by walking to it and measuring 8 inches by hand.
Joe Landolfi had demonstrated that ice at an edge is thick by walking to it and measuring 8 inches by hand. Lake Hopatcong docks like this one are kept clear of ice by bubblers.

Water on top is extremely cold and does not melt ice fast, unless occasioned by mild temperatures when the snow is first to go. Seven, 8 inches, thick, hard and clear. That ice is a strong foundation, but judging such a mess would drive a greenhorn batty.   On a different occasion, the glop might develop a false layer of ice on top of water underneath. Sometimes, I’ve walked on a false layer 2 or 3 inches thick, but other times, no. It’s then a matter of awkward crunching through that false layer as I walk, but again, so long as the main layer of ice is thick and hard, it’s safe going. That main layer will not melt appreciably during the course of an outing.

Comfort is a common concern, and I’m always meeting people who tell me ice fishing is not for them, but speaking for myself, I will venture out on any kind of ice holding me (with that previous exception of Budd Lake). Experience informs sense, and ice anglers accept conditions they find and work them to their advantage. Everyone knows it’s possible to go through, but the point is to both determine safety and be prepared if you make a serious mistake. Instead of feeling ill at ease, know what you’re about, and enjoy the outing.

Some ice anglers think extreme cold is too uncomfortable to deal with, but again, effective preparation solves any problem beforehand. Dress for the weather. My son and I have fished at 0 degrees on two occasions. On one of them, a writer for the Piscataway Community News met us at dawn to go out on Lake Hopatcong. He – an absolute greenhorn – enjoyed with us wind chills much lower than 0. He came dressed as I insisted he do and never complained. Ten inches of ice had an inch or 2 of snow on top, and as you can imagine, everything was frozen dry. Classic conditions.

They never last very long even when they seem to.

THE LATE INNINGS

The season nears its end as ice rots. Cut it, and you will find vertical striations, shards you can easily break apart. That rotted ice is too weak to stand on, but if the ice is 8 inches thick, and the striations penetrate only 4 inches of that total, the 4 inches of hard and clear ice will hold you. But beware, because the ice might not be safe where you intend to go.

Always keep in mind – in any event – that lakes do not freeze evenly. How do you know the good ice underneath the rotting ice is thick enough out further off a point? Likely, it isn’t. Power augers are great, but if you’re scouting new territory, test the ice with a splitting bar. When it’s thick and rotting, that bar involves all but too much effort, so I don’t recommend anyone venture out who will slacken at the effort of judging safety correctly.,

– B. Litton

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