Caution on the ice

Champlain Islander · 01-08-2005, 04:43 PM

I have been ice fishing for 3 weeks now and there is over 12" of good ice where I fish. In the past 3 days there have been 3 different incidents of wheelers or snow machines going through the ice on Lake Champlain. Unfortunately one accident cost the lives of 2 men and the two others resulted in the drivers being saved but the wheelers were lost. Good wake up call for all of us that push the edge.

johnch · 01-09-2005, 04:17 PM

If you think thats bad ,just wait for Lake Erie to get ice .
They head out for walleye and the ice cracks and a area of open water traps them or the ice shelf breaks and whole groups are headed for Canada on the free floating ice.
I have seen other years cracks apeare and the fishermen drive into the open water because they are not paying atenchen.
The coast guard and local rescue are always saving some fool that should be removed from the gene pool anyway.

Champlain Islander · 01-09-2005, 04:50 PM

I know what you mean. A few years ago there was a bunch of guys that were fishing for smelt at a place called Thompson's Point. It is at the south end of the lake and has the deepest water in the whole lake. The bay froze and there were about 40 people out there along the edge slamming the smelt. The wind came up and the ice separated from shore and started to drift towards the broad lake. I guess the ice pack was about 10 acres when it broke loose and it was about 100 feet across when the army guard choppers finally got the last one off. The water was 300-400 feet deep and the wind was 40 mph and the choppers had a hard time flying.

jrbsr · 01-25-2005, 10:21 AM

Quote:

The water was 300-400 feet deep and the wind was 40 mph and the choppers had a hard time flying.

Boy were they lucky.

GOD was looking out for them.

PikeTipper · 01-25-2005, 07:36 PM

Yeah you always hear about a big rescue out on Erie almost every year. You really have to be careful on those big lakes, or any lake for that matter.

People actually fish for Smelt? With a hook and line?

Champlain Islander · 01-26-2005, 01:03 PM

Pike tipper the only legal way to fish for smelt in Vt is by hook and line. We used to be able to net them on Lake George in NY but not here. They are usually in fairly deep water from 40-120' and most fish for them with a hand line and a couple of pequway hooks and a scooter. The bait is usually a small slab cut from a smelt usually near the tail and hooked twice. It used to be really good here but when the Salmonid restoration in Lake Champlain started the numbers of smelt dropped. There are still some areas that have good catches but most people here fish for perch, blue gills, crappie, and sunnies.