Prudent outdoorsmen treat ice conditions the same way that the late President Ronald Reagan dealt with the former Soviet Union during the Cold War: Trust but verify. Ice conditions can be as unpredictable and variable as the Maine weather.
As most snowsledders and ice fishermen learn, from trial and error, ice on a lake or pond can be perilously thin in places you least expect it. A spring hole or moving water near an inlet or outlet can inhibit ice formation, or a covering of new snow over shell ice can insulate the ice and slow ice making, even in extreme cold. Prevailing winds can also produce thin ice conditions on one end of a lake, even though the safe ice may be perfectly safe in other more sheltered areas of a lake or pond.
Game Wardens will tell you that the typical snowmobile-through-the ice incident always occurs at night when a snowsledder tries to cross an unfamiliar body of water. Many a drowned snowmobiler simply rode his machine into open water never to be seen again — except by the Warden Dive Team.
Whether you are an ice angler or a snowmobiler, the smart move in unfamilar “ice territory” is to chop a hole in the ice near shore and check its thickness before venturing forth. Matt Scott, former Maine Deputy Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife, passed this chart along to me, which he prepared a number of years ago. It is a good rule of thumb and as applicable as ever:
ICE STRENGTH TABLE
Modified From the Northeast Logger Magazine, 1968
Inches of Ice Permissible Load for Clear Blue Ice
- Unsafe for humans
- One person on foot
- Group in a single file
- Snowmobiles & ATV’s
7 Passenger car (2 tons)
8 Light truck (2.5 tons)
10 Medium truck (3.5 tons)
12 Heavy truck (7-8 tons)
15 10 tons
20 25 tons
25 45 tons
30 70 tons
36 110 tons
Note: The above table is for clear blue ice on lakes and ponds.
Reduce the strength values by 15% for clear blue river ice.
Slush ice is only 50% the strength of blue ice.
THIS TABLE DOES NOT APPLY FOR PARKED LOADS !
As Scott’s chart indicates, quality of ice is part of the safety equation as well. In Late March, when many ice fishermen love to take advantage of warming afternoons, once-blue ice can begin to honeycomb and deteriorate. Once an avid ice fishermen, some of my best and worse ice fishing adventures occurred in March. If you have ever had your snow machine and tote sled bog down in a lake’s “slush fields,” you know what I mean by worse. But that’s a outdoor tale for another time.
Enjoy the Maine winter. Play safe!
______________________
The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He isalso a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WQVM-FM 101.3) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is [email protected] and his new book is “A Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook.”
Comments are no longer available on this story