Unusual ice fishing happenings

[jimmer]

Dan mentioned in the post about Simcoe perch fishing that the safety covers in a hut didn't work for a specific person and he went right through up to his neck.  I'm sure many of us have some funny and not so funny stories about being on the ice.  I remember many years ago heading out with an operator out of Big Bay Point, we were transported to the hut on an open sleigh.  One of the guys we were with started into the sauce early and decided to get up to go out for a leak.  He proceeded to step into the hole, jump up, run outside and do a face plant breaking his nose.  I don't think he remembered any of it.  Never good to get inebriated out on the ice or water.

Personally, the worst for me was renting a hut, fishing for about an hour, then leaning back for a snooze only to be woken up by a knock on the door to say it was time to head in. Slept the whole day away. Doh

[Rod Caster]

Expensive nap haha

 

5 or so years ago, I drove out on Nipissing a few kms early in the season (prob mid January) looking for my hotspot and started drilling a few holes looking for depth. I was off my location , so I jumped back in the truck, door open, foot hanging out and proceeded to reverse for a few metres without looking behind me where I was going. Then, my back two wheels drop down. Fast and hard! Still in reverse I jump out over a 2 foot wide pressure crack and have a couple heart attacks as I wait for my truck to drop to the abyss, and try to remember the wording of my insurance policy.

Nothing happened. It stayed still. Two rear wheels mostly submerged and frame dragging on the ice. I looked around and saw that the crack was flat (as in, not upheaved ice, no 'tombstones'). I decide to jump back in, 4x4 on, hammered the gas forward and I still can't believe it, but that Mazda pulled itself out.

I panicked at the thought of driving back 6+ kms in my mental state and mused to myself "if you leave now, you'll never come back". So I drilled holes, fished all day, caught a bunch of pickerel and learned this lesson : simply look where you are driving, idiot.

[Acountdeleted]

Leaving Simcoe a few years ago we are walking back and there is a massive pressure crack. It's getting dark and we can't see where is safe to cross. 

 

I see some orange spray paint and say 'the orange X must be where it is safe to cross' (famous last words) 

an entire sheet of ice tilts up as I step on it, I thought for sure I was going to slide off under the ice and be totally screwed. Thankfully I was able to get back into firm ice before it was too late. 

My buddy had a good laugh once he realized I wasn't going to die. 

[DJGeneral]

It was my second time going ice fishing with my dad ,his buddy and his two sons

while walking out to find a spot on the ice to get set up

the younger one of his two sons slips and falls on his arm

and just starts waaaaaaailing crying at the top of his lungs

his dad helps him up and asks him he can move his arm he says yes but it hurts

anyway his dad convinces the little guy to still stay and fish and that his arm is not broken  not wanting to cut our trip short because we just got there

the day goes on with his son crying in pain in agony from time to time

so the next day my dads buddy calls and says his son had hairline fracture in his arm from the fall!

LOL poor guy!

I stepped in a few holes in my time not fun!

and the first time we ever heard pressure cracks we high tailed it outta there!

[Acountdeleted]

Another time I'm going to fish a well known lake in Barrie. There was an area I always thought was a park path on to the ice. Turns out it was a stream as I learned on this day when I went through it. Only to my hip but I had no way to dry off and warm up. Ended my day real fast. 

[Old Ironmaker]

Back in the mid 80's I organized a trip with several cousins and Uncles from the US of Italian decent to Bear Creek Cottages on Nippising . Uncle Pete made a pot of tomato sauce, onions and hot dogs, my least favorite thing to eat. He brought tomato puree not sauce and ended up with gallons of the crud. We had to dump it the last day and he dumped it on the ice behind the hut over a hole. When Dan came to pick us up it looked like a murder scene. He stood looking at it and didn't ask a question. I asked Dan what he thought it was he said he didn't want to know but he was going to have to make a head count.

The last time we had ice on Erie my wife and I rented a hut for Perch. I just baited her hook and was tending to the stove when she said "Fish on!!" seriously woman, 60 seconds in. As I looked down the hole there goes my Xmas gift, expensive Oakley's, bye, bye sunglasses. I jigged for an hour trying to get them back until the current took them away. If I had my dollar store sunglasses on it would never have happened. Of course she was the only one to catch fish that day. Of the many trips those 2 things stick out in my mind. Good times I miss.

Edited December 1, 2017 by Old Ironmaker

[manitoubass2]

Oh man lol

Sled and I went through the ice 2 years ago. Thank God I was wearing a suit. Retrieved my sled in the spring but it's pooched.

Took a buddy out for his first time I've fishing rainy river and we headed out in the evening. Walleye bite was hot and he's having the time of his life. Walleye bite dies off and the ling turn on. He gets the first and I've never seen someone so afraid of a fish??? hes got line wrapped like crazy as he lands it and the looks and sounds he sqeels as he unhooks it and the ling is wrapping around his arm????

 

 

[jimmer]

13 minutes ago, manitoubass2 said:

Oh man lol

Sled and I went through the ice 2 years ago. Thank God I was wearing a suit. Retrieved my sled in the spring but it's pooched.

Took a buddy out for his first time I've fishing rainy river and we headed out in the evening. Walleye bite was hot and he's having the time of his life. Walleye bite dies off and the ling turn on. He gets the first and I've never seen someone so afraid of a fish??? hes got line wrapped like crazy as he lands it and the looks and sounds he sqeels as he unhooks it and the ling is wrapping around his arm????

 

 

Those ling can be pretty freaky the first time you encounter one. We saw one of our buddies freaking at the site of the

ling coming up through the hole and he didn't want to touch it until someone yelled they're good eating.

It came out of the hole quickly after that, but still unsure about touching the thing.

[NAW]

I haven't logged in to OFC for ages!  This is great post to get back in to it! 

My fishing partner where out off snake island.  White shoal area.  He was on his Artic Cat, and I was on the Bravo.  It was -30 and storming like crazy.  All the roads where closed.

Well, he stops in front of me, and I knew we weren't at our spot yet.  Motors running, sleds not moving.  Turns out his driveshaft is broken in half.  Lovely.

So we park his sled, and double back to Alcona on the bravo.  (short track, he's 6' - 250 and I was 230 at the time..)

He has to drive all the way down to king city on closed roads to get his dads truck, trailer and quad so that we can get the sled back to his house... 

I didn't want his sled sitting out there alone.  So I drove back out the with bravo, and actually found his sled in the white out!!!  I didn't think I would..  

Decided this was a waste of time, because we weren't at the "good spot".  Try to fire up the bravo...  Won't start.  So now, I am stranded in a -30 white out, beside a sled with a broken drive shaft...  It took my partner 4 hours to get down the king city and back to Alcona, and another 30 minutes to get out to the broken machines with the quad..  Then two runs back and forth to get out broken down sleds off the ice.  It was nearly dark before the hole ordeal was done, and I didn't even mark a single fish... !!!!

 

But we were back out the next day, riding double on the quad hoisting white fish!!  

[DRIFTER_016]

Back in the 80's I was out on Simcoes laker grounds 12 miles out.

The hut operator took us out in the Bombardier in the AM and we started fishing.

Sometime around lunch there was a huge rumbling and the hut jumped nearly a foot up off the ice and a fountain of water came up through the 4'X6' hole!!!!  

Everyone piled out of the huts to see what the heck just happened.

Nothing to be seen anywhere.  

When the outfitter came to pick us up at the end of the day he told us a large pressure crack formed and he could not go over it so we would need to climb over and walk the last little bit.

We get to the pressure crack which had formed 20 or 30' from shore and was 15-20 feet high!!!!

It went on for miles in both directions.

Must have been awesome to see it let go. The amount of energy released must have been huge.

Almost like an earthquake on the ice.

An icequake!!!!  

[manitoubass2]

43 minutes ago, DRIFTER_016 said:

Back in the 80's I was out on Simcoes laker grounds 12 miles out.

The hut operator took us out in the Bombardier in the AM and we started fishing.

Sometime around lunch there was a huge rumbling and the hut jumped nearly a foot up off the ice and a fountain of water came up through the 4'X6' hole!!!!  

Everyone piled out of the huts to see what the heck just happened.

Nothing to be seen anywhere.  

When the outfitter came to pick us up at the end of the day he told us a large pressure crack formed and he could not go over it so we would need to climb over and walk the last little bit.

We get to the pressure crack which had formed 20 or 30' from shore and was 15-20 feet high!!!!

It went on for miles in both directions.

Must have been awesome to see it let go. The amount of energy released must have been huge.

Almost like an earthquake on the ice.

An icequake!!!!  

Similar thing happen to me on lake Superior. I nearly soiled myself

[Headhunter]

I was perch fishing Cook's bay on early ice, might have be3en 4-5 inches of ice. I could hear the ice cracking, coming from the big lake, making it's way down Cook's Bay. It just kept getting closer.

There was no snow on the ice and as it drew closer, I could see the crack forming as it ripped down the bay. Well, dosen't the silly thing head right for me and split right down the middle of my ice hole.

Pretty sure I wore out the seat of my float suit from the inside that day!

HH

[AKRISONER]

may have told these before but whatever

was fishing with the old man a couple of years back when the old man gets a phone call, he answers the call and then hangs up...it was my brother, he wanted my dad to drive over and pick him up so that he could ice fish too. The old man slips his rod into a crappily made snow "rod holder" but i can already tell he doesnt have enough snow there to hold a turd. sure enough a pike smashes his bait as he lifts his hand away from the rod and boom the rod is gone down the hole. I look at my dad with a face "that was stupid" ...the old man just sit there staring at the hole in disappointment. about 30 second later my dad jumps up in a flash and shoves his whole arm right into his hole and retrieves his fishing rod...the pike had swam away with his rod, but then came back past his hole and sure enough the rod floated right back up it. He fights the pike and lands it and takes it home for dinner.

Last year i was fishing craps in late march when all of the snow had melted but the weather was cold. The whole lake was glare ice and it was windy as hell, we were having a little trouble with the flip up in the wind so i hop outside to try anchor it down better when i hear dave from inside the hut, Scott what the hell is this!!!!! i quickly run back to the door and peak inside and there is a friggin big old bowfin with its head sticking out of my hole staring at dave! I scream grab it! and the bowfin makes a quick escape.

 

3 hours ago, Nick Wagar said:

I haven't logged in to OFC for ages!  This is great post to get back in to it! 

 

 

Good to see you back Nick!

Edited December 1, 2017 by AKRISONER

[BillM]

Best memory was probably with my dad when I was maybe 10-11 years old.   We were fishing out of Lefroy and parked the truck on the ice maybe 50ft from shore.  Walked out with our hut and fished all day.   We come back to the truck and find the ice had bent and there was about 2ft of water (Almost to the top of the tires).   We had 5 vehicles parked around us like a normal parking lot (we got there in the morning, no one else was there)..    My dad is so pissed these idiots parked so close, lol!!!   Luckily we were in a 1980 Toyota 4x4.   He took off his boots/socks waded in, turned the hubs, got in the truck and put it in 4 lo.   Truck just crawled out of there without an issue.   I can't say the same for the other 4 cars around us, lol.    

[Old Ironmaker]

No wonder people think ice fishermen are daft. All these stories sound very familiar. More can happen in 1 day icefishing than a season on the water.

Fished out of a hut off St. Williams. A storm comes through about 3PM, no way they are coming out to get us in white outs. Long story short we ran out of wood around 5. It's cold. I tie line to buddy and he goes to the hut 25 feet away, as if it would hold a 200 lb man. He's gone for 15 minutes, I'm yelling for him. 10 mins latter I hear him yelling open the door, he has the other hut door with him to burn. Picked up at 8 PM.

[npt1]

I was ice fishing out of St. Williams ,  shallow water, around 6 feet,  water was very cloudy and grayish.

Previous trips from other times, water was always very clear,  hmmmmm.

no perch or any bites at all,  decided to try for pike so I tied on a large Red and White Spoon

and started bottom bouncing it,  felt a tug and set the hook.

HAH, what I brought up thru the hole was a BBQ chicken carcass.

In a while the water cleared up and we started catching some nice perch.

Still had a good time.

[Old Ironmaker]

How about one I can't forget. We book with a new guy in Quinte. Leave at 4 or 5 AM from Hamilton and hit a snow squall on the 401. To show how long ago we are on the CB with truckers to find an exit without a jackknifed trailer on it, it was bad. Got off past Port Hope and highway 2 wasn't any better, no 4X4's then we're in my 78' Dodge Ram. Finally find this place at 09:00, how we found it I will never know, only NASA had GPS, maybe. Talk to the operator ( a basic single outhouse behind his parents farm) and he says OK lets go, then he turns to me and says "Buddy do you mind driving the sled ? I'm still hammered from last night." To make it any worse not a single bite all day until we hit  the peelers in Trenton.

Edited December 2, 2017 by Old Ironmaker

[porkpie]

Cooks bay, minus 20 and blowing, two grown men in a fishtrap pro with 18 beers as company. Heater was a Coleman single burner naptha stove.  Every hour or so I'd have to refuel it with white gas.  Every hour my hand got shakier and more white gas would dump on the already wet ice and mix with the water.  About 6 hours in on the relight, the water/gas mix on top of the ice lit up and started crawling up our boots.  Never seen a portable hut flip back that quickly, and I still have the slightly burnt sorrels I was wearing.  No more beer in the hut. Don't use white gas stoves for heat anymore either.  

 

 

[Big Cliff]

Ice fishing on Ruby lake up in French River years ago. A pike hits the tip up and I land it. We were just about ready to head for home but I decided to gut it right away. As I do I see movement in it's stomach so I open it up, It's a small perch still alive so I put it back in the water, took a couple of minutes but it seemed fine and eventually swam away. You have to think: what are the odds, that I would be fishing in that spot on that day at that time, that the pike would swallow that perch then would hit my bait right away, that I would elect to gut the pike right away, that I would see the movement, and release that perch.....Moral of the story, no matter how bad things seem don't ever give up hope!

 

Ice fishing Simco many years ago, I had an old Bronco II. My nephew and I were out fishing from Lefroy. Time to head for home we decided to cut across the ice to Big Bay Point where he lived. The ice wasn't very thick so we had the windows down and we were probably doing something around 90. As we are getting closer to shore we see a big sign, we couldn't read what it said so we headed over toward it until we realized it said "THIN ICE". There was a big pressure ridge and as we moved farther down the lake trying to get to shore we finally spotted an opening in the pressure ridge and it looked to be frozen over so we made a b-line for it. Turns out that 2" of ice isn't enough to support a Bronco II but if you are going fast enough by the time the ice does let go you've covered about 15 or 20'. Our front wheels made it to safe ice and thanks to speed and a skid plate so did our back wheels. Poor nephew never did go ice fishing again LOL.

Elliott Lake, 6 of us head out on our snow machines, now back in those days a 12 hp was a good sled, they were big, they were slow, and they were heavy, Well, it's -30 or so and the wind is blowing like stink, we're probably 5 or 6 miles from town and we hit slush, I mean really bad slush, over your boots kind of slush. We finally managed to get three of the sleds out but by now we were all soaked and exhausted, By the time we got back to town our boots were so caked with ice we had a really hard time even getting them off. Took a couple of good shots of brandy and a long hot shower just to get our body temperature back up but we all survived. Could have been very different if we hadn't managed to get those three sleds out.

 

[manitoubass2]

Cliff, I did that last summer with a baby duckling

Those pike just don't stop once they are in the feed

[gordy28]

Having deja vu as I feel like I have posted this before - so excuse if its a repeat

Brother and I were up in Hali to clear out his cottage (just sold)

On our way back we were going to fish  - ended up parking at Clansmen hotel and renting one of there huts for the afternoon

No bites yet - sitting, having a good laugh and a nip of whisky

I get what I think is a hit - jump over to grab my rod and my brand new Leatherman falls out of my pocket and down the hole  - 100 feet down

As I am both yelling and laughing I turn to say something and procede to kick my brand new St Croix ice combo (first time ever used) and it falls into the other hole

Basically I dropped or kicked over $200 worth of gear into Boshkung lake in 2 minutes!   

We didn't even catch a fish - but its a good story I guess

Cheers

Gordy

[GBW]

When I had my Clam2000 hut I had a strap give way on a windy day and take me for a ride on the ice till I hit enough snow to stop.  I think I went like 50' and only lost the jig that was tied on.