Walking the general rule of thumb is about 4" thick, while it is said 1-2" of good ice will hold a human, what you don't know is how thick the ice is in all areas. The 4" rule allows for some additional safety margins. Walk slowly, never run and if it feels unsafe you are much better to lay down and drag yourself vs stay upright, this will disperse your weight more evenly. Never test the ice right at shore and assume it is the same elsewhere, in early ice it forms here first and in late ice it melts here first!

As for a vehicle 12" is considered the rule, but up north they run logging/equipment trucks on 8". The key is weight distrubuted and slow/constant speed. When ever you drive a vehicle on ice do not go fast is can cause a rif(basically a wave under the ice covering) and you may go oops! The same goes for an atv or skidoo, if you are not sure their is a good 8" ice covering don't balm on at full tilt. Also when driving on the ice it is better to steer clear of extruding points or rapid movement areas shorelines, as they may have natural springs or thinner ice due to the water temp. They are excellent places to fish in most cases but just walk and test before you assume. If your in a vehicle on ice then forget the seatbelt law and door locks ! If she goes poof...then get out and forget your cellphone and CD's they won't work on the bottom of the lake anyway!!!

As to fishing I can't agree any more than with Hiawatha, when I ice fish it would look like swiss cheese if you flew over in a plane! Drill in zigzag fashion deep to shallow and work it till you find them. I fish much the same structure as I would in the open water, but pay a bit more attention to the flats that saddle deeper water. I use light line, spinning out fits and run a tip up to cover more area. I mostly use small painted jig or similar (walleye flyer's) for perch, pike and walleye. I will tip them with minnows, beef heart or maggots (especially for them smaller fish). For the most part my presentation to this fish is very subtle. I jig it up let it fall to the bottom to create a dust cloud and then draw it upto 24" suspend from the bottom, doing this about every 10 minutes. On trout I use search lures(silver/flash spoon with hook removed) with sinking bait on a snell about 24" below. I will also run a tip up with floating berkley power bait and vary the depth from 12-36" off bottom.

I fish it like summer keep switching till I find what they are keying on, past experience narrows my choices but sometimes it is a entirely different lure, bait, presentation that envokes the strikes.

PS the cracking and booming of ice is normal, while it is a bit leary at first it doesn't not mean your falling through! Trust the amount of ice under your feet if you have verifyied it's thickness/integrality and get use to hearing it move/shift/grow etc.

Another little tip I use is watch the line constantly. Especially when fishing perch and light biting walleye. Many times you will feel nothing at all but your line will go slack, reel up quick and rip that barb into his face. Skeeter has a good point with stirring up the botttom with your lure. This is a great visual as well as sound stimuli for fish. I usually just pick my lure off bottom a few inches, jig a bit, then hit the bottom again. Careful with this though, you can never really have the lure to high (fish can see up) but you can have it too low (fish can't see down). Another thing to consider is when you are jigging just don't snap it and let the line go slack and the lure sink back down. Keep tension on the line as the lure sinks because this is when strikes most frequently occur. If the line is slack you won't feel nothin. In my experiences pike prefer a rather slow presentation, have caught my limit on my dead set but not a bite jigging many times. Walleye like a little more action to the lure. Pike are very agressive, will nail the bait sideways, hold it in their mouth, turn and inhale. If using a tip up for pike by the time you run to the tip up the pike usually has it deep. Walleye are a bit the same i guess because they actually bring water in as they feed, kind of inhale the bait with water. Its a watered down meal but thats what i have read. Perch is a game of patience though. Can drink a case of beer before you finally land one. Rig the bait on the hook so it seems appealing but at the same time don't leave too much exposed or else they will rob ya blind every time. In the summer here we turn our perch upside down in the boat to retrieve our leeches. lol best of luck on the ice.

I am on Lake Champlain almost every day and I usually chase crappie, gills and sunnies. Get the lightest rod you can buy with a small ice reel and go with 4 pound mono. We use small ice jigs like demons and tip them with maggots or waxies. Get lots of different ice jigs in different colors and when the bite starts to fall off try a different color. When you are on the right color they will really take the jig well and are easy to hook. When you feel a bite and they aren't on the line it is time to change colors. I usually fish in weedy bays in 5 to 15 feet of water. Crappies are usually high in the water column and like a decending bait. Bluegills and sunnies are usually closer to the bottom and they too like a decending bait. Pan fishermen are social people and the best tip I can give you is look for the crowds. Bring a sled with a couple of buckets because when they bite it is easy to fill up. Stay warm and be safe.