Ice Saw / Hole Size and your Legal Obligations??

[millsboy79]

I have been contemplating a purchase of an ice saw. Love the idea of sight fishing and find it extremely helpful and fun way to fish.

I am just hoping to hear people's opinion of the best way to "guard" an open hole to the point where it would be safe to walk on again?

Thoughts?

[NSR Fisher]

Grab some sticks on shore, something natural that will de-compose. Put the sticks up in each corner of the hole you have cut, if they don't stand up nice you can paste them up against the side of the hole with slush using it almost like clay, they will freeze standing up straight that way.

If you're really set up with the right equipment, try and pull the brick up onto the ice (slide it onto a garbage bag or something so it doesn't freeze in place), and slide it back in at the end of the day, it really helps speed up the process of the hole re-freezing.

If you don't have the gear or are completely alone, you have to sink the brick which can be tough (again, those big sticks I talked about come in handy) but that increases the hazard of the hole exponentially and you are forced to mark it with sticks at that point. Just leaving it there should be a criminal offense if you ask me.

If you're really desperate and can't find sticks, make some big slush/snow/ice chunk piles around the perimeter of the hole as tall as possible, making it really obvious that it's marking something. Most guys who ice fish slow down on their quad/snow mobile when they see something obvious like 4 pillars of ice shaped in an obvious rectangle. If possible, use a little bit of that non-toxic food coloring and just dye the top of those pillars to make them really stick out. You really only need a single drip mixed in a cup of lake water to completely dye the top of the ice pillar.


Also, some extra advice:

Make sure to plan where the hole will be in relation to the tent, and the side of the hole that is facing away from the center of the tent, drill those holes at a nice angle sloping down and away from the center of the tent. That way when you sit a bit back from the edge on the inside of the tent, you can see much further away, like actually shockingly so. If you sit at the right angle and you have good lighting, you can see probably 10 extra meters in the direction of the slope.

______ ....__x_______
........../....|

I don't know if this little emoji works but imagine you're sitting on your bucket where the 'x' is and that little back-slash shows the direction you angle the holes. Ignore the dots they are just place holders to make the emoji work haha. Down and away from where you're sitting is the concept.


Just be careful not to walk around on the ledge of ice that has the sloped cuts under it, the ice is de-stabilized above and there is a risk of that side of the hole caving in partially.


Hope this helps, and tight lines!

[NSR Fisher]

Here is a sweet video demonstrating what I explained above. It also demonstrates how tough it is to sink a large sized brick of ice!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LecgrSbdzmg&t=54s

[TylerThomson]

Here is a sweet video demonstrating what I explained above. It also demonstrates how tough it is to sink a large sized brick of ice!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LecgrSbdzmg&t=54s

That's a uncut angling video where he catches a big laker, which was awesome, but no ice slab. Still a cool video

[millsboy79]

I have seen the video he is actually talking about. I believe he takes a young fella out to catch some tigers.

I was just worried about the hole afterwards. But it sounds pretty simple ... just don't be a douche lol

[NSR Fisher]

Wrong link! The next video in that play list is the one where he cuts the slab. Same lake, different video! I saw the thumbnail and thought it was the right one.

Here is the correct video!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-sFG-BEfxQ

[nast70]

Our family went to Yellowknife a couple years ago. One morning there was a story about this in the paper. As I remember it, a fisherman left a block of ice out, I think it was in 3 pieces as I recall. A fellow was ice-kitesurfing and nailed the block. There were no serious injuries, but the message was clear; "break down the ice blocks and fill the hole best you can." It's way colder there than here to aid in the re-freeze, but I think that's the safer route. Maybe still mark it with food coloring and stakes though?

[millsboy79]

Our family went to Yellowknife a couple years ago. One morning there was a story about this in the paper. As I remember it, a fisherman left a block of ice out, I think it was in 3 pieces as I recall. A fellow was ice-kitesurfing and nailed the block. There were no serious injuries, but the message was clear; "break down the ice blocks and fill the hole best you can." It's way colder there than here to aid in the re-freeze, but I think that's the safer route. Maybe still mark it with food coloring and stakes though?Food coloring is a good idea (along with the rest)

Thanks

[TylerThomson]

They also make biodegradable marking paint

[CBintheNorth]

I stepped into an unmarked 3'×3' netting hole at Lac Ste. Anne beside Alexis roughly 20 years ago. It was nearly a white-out and -22. The hole was covered by 1" of ice and 2" of snow. The "stewards" didn't feel the need to mark it at all which, had my BIL not been with me, would have surely caused my death.
Some way to stand several tall sticks around any hole big enough to fall in should be required to carry by law.
I would think whatever you used to cut the hole should work somehow, or perhaps a pic?
In my opinion coloured markings in the snow should only be in addition to raised markers.
Good luck out there.

[RavYak]

You are legally liable for charges up to manslaughter for any holes you make in the ice. How they would be able to prove it was you I am not sure but something to think about anyways.

I don't think using an ice saw on busy lakes is very responsible even if you try to mark it. Way too easy for someone to fall in or hit it with vehicle etc and I have seen people remove sticks etc from a spot because they don't want to draw attention to their fishing spot. If fishing remote lakes I could see it but still make sure that it is marked somehow, I would say marked with branches and some flagging or something like that to make it obvious there is a hole.