Last Ice...

[MossRoad]

That maybe because we have more memories to reminisce.

Yep. Really good memories. The bad ones get squeezed out at times like that.

 

[MossRoad]

We watched a big group of Sandhills kettling yesterday. I went inside to get my wife, she'd never seen it before. They kettled for 5 minutes or so until they found the current they wanted, then dropped into the V formation and headed your way. That coupled with the Mesquite trees starting to bud tells us Spring us on the way down here.

The first time I ever saw sandhill cranes I was ice fishing with my wife and another friend. It was about 28 years ago. A late winter day, sunny, about 50+ degrees, with 3-4' of fog sitting on top of the ice. You could just see people's heads and shoulders if they stood up. Off at the southern edge of that lake, there was a large grassy field, all brown from the winter. You could see the heat shimmering up from it. That's when I heard that unique sound that sandhills make. I'd never heard it before. I started looking around and here comes this line of about 50 of them across the lake, only a couple hundred feet up. When they got over that grassy field, they just put their wings out and started circling and circling, never flapping, the whole bunch of them just rising up on that heat. They must have been a couple thousand feet up before they took off again to the north. Outstanding! That was one of the best days ice fishing I ever had and I didn't catch one fish.

It was so warm we were just in sweaters, no jackets. But the whole time we were out there, you could hear water trickling very loudly. If you drilled a hole, it wasn't long before water was swirling down it like a drain, bringing all the dirt and dust off the top of the ice. By the time we were getting ready to get off the ice, we got back to shore, and what had been a 6" gap of water when we came on was now 3 feet!

We looked around, and someone had put a picnic table in the water as a bridge a couple hundred yards down, and that's how we got off the ice. Would have been knee deep if not for that table.

Went home and looked up the sandhill cranes. Very nice. Now they are every where. Early and late winter migrations south and north, but they now nest here in summer as well. I actually heard them in every month this year. They never went too far south.

 

[ArlyA]

Here is some older lake ice photos we have. This is shove ice along the lake superior shore line.

 

[MossRoad]

Nice. I won't go near that stuff. When I was a kid, an entire family died up near Benton Harbor walking on ice piles. It broke off, they fell in and couldn't climb out and died a slow death. I think I was 7-8 years old, so late 60's.

It's beautiful stuff. We go walking along the shore and find ice piles in April sometimes.

 

[MossRoad]

How's this for coincidence? Right after I posted that, there's a new blurb about 3 people falling off the pack ice in Bridgman, MI yesterday afternoon. They chased their dog. All survived, fortunately.

Dramatic ice rescue on Weko Beach | WSBT

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^
I read that one, and here's another;
Crews rescue more than 100 from Lake Erie near Catawba Island State Park
Actually it was more than 100, not more than 1 person.

 

[MossRoad]

I edited your link to reflect 100.

I recall a few years ago when a similar thing happened on Lake Erie, the Coast Guard went out to get people, a few of them refused rescue because they said they didn't need rescuing, and didn't ask to be rescued, and if they rescue you, you can't take your gear with you. So they stayed out on the ice, waited for the wind to shift, the ice flow eventually shifted directions, came back to shore ice, and they walked off scott free.

I'm not one to temp fate too hard. If I feel the ice isn't safe, I'll buy some fish sticks at the store. :licking:

 

[oosik]

The first winter here we found out that you do not venture out on my lake in the winter. Too many springs with only a quarter inch of ice and a foot of snow hiding them. Fortunately - my son & I were pushing an Avon inflatable ahead of us when we went thru.

Still - very wet, very cold, very enlightening. We fish in the summer now.

 

[MossRoad]

The first winter here we found out that you do not venture out on my lake in the winter. Too many springs with only a quarter inch of ice and a foot of snow hiding them. Fortunately - my son & I were pushing an Avon inflatable ahead of us when we went thru.

Still - very wet, very cold, very enlightening. We fish in the summer now.

I grew up on an oxbow lake, about a mile long and a hundred yards wide. There is a very high bank on the outside bend of what used to be a river bank. About 90' up. All the water pressure in that high bank pushes down and springs pop up in the lake all along that high bank. Especially after heavy rains and heavy snow melts. The ice can be a foot thick and 5' away from you it's paper thin because of the stream of 50 something degree ground water coming up from 20' down. Some places you can see it swirling the water in the holes. In summer, swimming along in 80-85 degree water you can feel the 50 degree ground water blasting up. Gives you the shrinks. :laughing:

And the springs move around a lot. Sometimes they come out of the bank right at the water's edge. One winter it was about 0F, snow cover everywhere on January 1st, and right where the high bank meets the water, there's about 1 foot of mud about a hundred feet long and 50 robins pecking away. That's the earliest I've ever seen robins around here.

Anyhow, best to drill a lot of test holes. A lot of guys carry a heavy spud bar and whack the ice three times in front of them as then go along. If the spud bar pokes through, turn around and go back.

I carry a whistle and ice picks around my neck at all times when on the ice. I'm thinking about getting an ice fishing jacket. They keep you warm, and they float! Makes it much easier to self rescue.

 

[oosik]

I've gone thru the ice two times. Once on the my little lake - the other on my big lake. Both times I went completely under. Both were because of hidden springs.

The feeling is mind shattering. The only thing I could relate it to - standing in the middle of a freeway and being hit - head on - by a semi truck going seventy miles an hour.

It completely knocks the wind out of your lungs. You will not be able to breath in until you have almost passed out.

The one time - the Avon inflatable saved me. The second time - my overly curious Lab came out to see what all the commotion was about. I grabbed his collar - it sacred him spitless. He threw it in 4WD reverse and pulled me all the way to the shore line.

I DO NOT - EVER - go out on either of my lakes in the winter now.

I think I may have finally learned a lesson and been EXTREMELY lucky. I really don't need a third lesson.

 

[k0ua]

I've gone thru the ice two times. Once on the my little lake - the other on my big lake. Both times I went completely under. Both were because of hidden springs.

The feeling is mind shattering. The only thing I could relate it to - standing in the middle of a freeway and being hit - head on - by a semi truck going seventy miles an hour.

It completely knocks the wind out of your lungs. You will not be able to breath in until you have almost passed out.

The one time - the Avon inflatable saved me. The second time - my overly curious Lab came out to see what all the commotion was about. I grabbed his collar - it sacred him spitless. He threw it in 4WD reverse and pulled me all the way to the shore line.

I DO NOT - EVER - go out on either of my lakes in the winter now.

I think I may have finally learned a lesson and been EXTREMELY lucky. I really don't need a third lesson.

Geez... yeah, I would say you have had your "free ones", and you don't need to be testing the "third time is a charm" theory. I hope you treated that Lab well the rest of his life. Doggie treats and comfy doggie beds and all.

 

[oosik]

Yeah - James. I don't need that lesson again. And I don't want to be charmed either. I'm charming enough - just the way I am.

From that day on - Sam slept right up on our heated air bed. Right between the wife & I. I think he knew that he had done a great thing.

I had tried three times to get back up on the ice. The ice around the spring was too thin - wouldn't support my weight. The ice began cracking again when I grabbed his collar. That and the fact that I grabbed him - most likely - is what scared him so much.

After that - even Sam wouldn't go out on either lake in the winter.

 

[k0ua]

After that - even Sam wouldn't go out on either lake in the winter.

Smart dog!

 

[Sigarms]

I read the title, looked at the pic, knew exactly what you meant. These moments are good for the Soul.

I read the title, looked at the pic and knew exactly what the OP meant as well.

Yesterday (2 days after the original post) I was thinking I may have to get my first mow of the season in as some of the grass is getting pretty tall.

Moments on the ice may be good for soul, but I don't miss them:laughing:

 

[bigtiller]

I haven't been ice fishing since my fishing buddy moved away. I always let him go first on the ice. Then I would step in his tracks. I thought that if the ice would hold him, it would hold me. Same way walking back to shore. There never were 2 sets of foot prints when I was on the ice.

 

[MossRoad]

I haven't been ice fishing since my fishing buddy moved away. I always let him go first on the ice. Then I would step in his tracks. I thought that if the ice would hold him, it would hold me. Same way walking back to shore. There never were 2 sets of foot prints when I was on the ice.

See, I think of it more like when you can't open a jar of pickles, so you hand it to someone else, and they go POP! and off it comes. They you claim "I loosened it for you!"

That's why I never walk in the same footprints of others when on the ice.

 

[MossRoad]

I read the title, looked at the pic and knew exactly what the OP meant as well.

Yesterday (2 days after the original post) I was thinking I may have to get my first mow of the season in as some of the grass is getting pretty tall.

Moments on the ice may be good for soul, but I don't miss them:laughing:

I like the changes of season that we have here. Winter cleans things up and makes the air nice a crisp. No allergies. No bugs. Cross country skiing. Ice fishing. Sledding. I'll take 15F all day long on a sunny day.

Spring when everything starts to green up is pretty amazing as well. The switch to DST means walks after dinner with my wife. Firewood cutting out at the remote property on weekends before the bugs start coming out.

Summer mowing, garden, walks, swimming in the pool (really just drinking beer floating on a raft), beaches at Lake Michigan. Long drives on warm evenings with the windows and sunroof open. Lightning bugs.

Fall leaves and colors, more firewood after good frosts, walks in the woods with the leaves crunching under your feet.

I wouldn't want to live in a place that doesn't have those dramatic shifts in season.

 

[ArlyA]

Seems everyone who's ever stepped onto ice, gets sucked in and dies? Gee whiz guys, thousands of people are out on froze bodies of something everyday, and you rarely hear about it.

In the second photo, is called an ice volcano. These are created by waves pressuring the water and forcing it up somewhere, within the shove ice. We find large rocks 30ft above the lakes level push up by these ice currents. Who made the bird tracks?

 

[MossRoad]

Great blue heron?

 

[ArlyA]

Oh gee no. Its a bald eagle with about a 8" reach. Or would the size be called?

Great blue heron?