Ice safety info
 

I've been looking here on AO. Saw a chart last year/year before that on ice thickness for walking/atv/vehicles, but can't seem to locate it. I'm hoping someone has it and could post it again please?

I'm wondering what everyone feels is the SAFE working ice thickness for a 1000 pound ATV (ATV itself weighs 1000#). I seem to recall from said chart that 4" of ice was good for a single person walking, but can't remember the rest of the chart.

Just thinking ahead for the hard water season.

Thanks in advance.

J.

Ice safety
 

AO link from Jan/2021: (scroll down to Moose knuckle's post)

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showt...fishing+safety

Attachment 175446

Godzilla needs 100 inches of ice to fish. hehe
https://www.pennlive.com/life/2020/0...it-safely.html

Judging by some of the overnight temps, this is a timely reminder for some lakes.

Keep in mind the ice thickness varies substantially early in the season from one spot to the next, especially if the temperature varies a lot as it did last November.

My first trip last year I went out and scouted a local stocked pond on a Friday afternoon, spudding my way to my spot to make sure it was safe. Temps were mild that evening (as they were in general early last year). The next morning I was the first person to arrive at the lake, in the dark with my little headlamp on following the trail I scouted the previous day. All was going good until I got about midway to my spot in 10 fow and the ice chisel went through in one whack. I slowly turned my sled around and went back the way I came and fished there for the day. I did have my Striker Predator suit on and the ice picks equipped. But who wants to go for a swim in the dark all alone at 6am...not a good start to the day.

TLDR: It's going to be a long time before quads can go on the ice. While I'm often the first to walk out on a body of water, I almost always let someone else try with a truck/car/UTV/quad first. Too many variables (varying ice thickness, underwater vegetation shallow, travelling speed on the ice, etc.) come in to play when you start taking a vehicle on the ice. Stay safe.

And WOOHOO!!! :sHa_shakeshout::sHa_shakeshout::sHa_shakeshout:

Back to ice fishing season. Open water angling is just a means to bide time waiting for the real season to start. :)

6" is generally considered safe for a quad btw. But people should think about the points I made above before going out on 6", especially if you don't have a lot of experience on the ice.

In my opinion, it is too early for ice fishing right now.

Ha ha ha.... Thanks everyone.

ABGP wins an AO award for actually stating a starting number of 6". While I totally respect that a number was given, I always try to play it safe, so I'll wait for a thickness of 10+ inches as there were quite a few other aspects mentioned as well - I really appreciate those mentioned.

And yes Dewy, I agree that it's too early for thinking of ice fishing right now, but I'm just trying to gather important information at this current time

Thanks all!

J.

this ?
 

My butt hole twitches like a rabbits nose every time I go out on the ice for the first time....regardless how thick.

If you scroll to post #17 in the old thread referenced in 57charlie's second post in this thread, you'll see a post I made which includes Canada’s ice bridge guidelines say ice should be considered effectively half as thick if a vehicle is parked on it.

10" for quads and sleds is overkill IMO if we're talking about good clear ice. And there would be dozen's of trucks in Snipe Lake if you needed 22" for a 2500 4X4. But this graphic comes from the same group that fences 200' out from the open water on stocked waters they aerate. :scared::scared::scared: