Put a premium on ice safety if fishing this winter
Take time to put a premium on ice safety
I have done some stupid things in my fishing life, in open water and on the ice.
Just thinking of those times – cutting a hole through what turned out to be an inch of ice on Lake Moraine, bouncing around and into the air in a 12-boat on a wildly tossing Lake Ontario – makes me ill. I was very lucky to escape my own foolishness.
Others have not been so fortunate. We have had several incidents lately that were tragic or nearly so. There was a loss of life on Basswood Pond in Otsego County, a rescue in Hinckley Reservoir and another rescue on the Seneca River.
Further afield, two young brothers died after going through the ice on a pond near their Wisconsin home. An 80-year-old man, wearing a flotation device, died when his vehicle went through the ice on Minnesota’s well-known Mille Lacs Lake. There were rescues of scores of anglers on Lake Erie and on Red Lake in Minnesota.
According to meateater.com, there were 65 ice fishing-related deaths across the country in 2019. Of those, 32 involved snowmobiles, six involved ATVs and UTVs, and three involved car trucks.
I don’t have more recent numbers.
This year’s ice cover has come extremely late across the northern tier of the country. Warm temperatures for much of December and January prevented buildup, and warmth and rain since have eaten away at ice. It’s not like the old days, when we usually could be safely ice fishing before the first of the year, and often could still be fishing well into March. According to some estimates, Minnesota has lost 10 to 14 days of ice over the last 50 years.
According to data compiled at SUNY Oneonta’s field station in Cooperstown, Otsego Lake froze completely over for at least part of the winter from 1842 through 2001. Since then, there have been three years when there were no days with complete ice coverage.
Also, ice-up has come later and ice-out has been earlier. In 2023, the lake was completely covered with ice on February 4, and was completely open February 20, although some ice did form again later.
Not all ice incidents are tied to ice fishing. Dog rescues seem to be a big trigger, and sometimes people are just out for a hike and encounter a problem. When I was in elementary school, a young boy drowned in a creek near my home when he ran out on the ice to pick up a fish. I remember my uncle admonishing us to never do anything like that. I have never forgotten had sad I was for that boy and his family.
We used to ice fish quite a bit – it’s only a few times a year now - and loved it. Oneida Lake and Lake Moraine were our big targets, and we did especially well on Moraine, where we collected a lot of big, fat bluegills, some good crappies, and way too many undersized perch most days. We also occasionally would pull in huge largemouth bass and respectable pickerel and had a lot of fun doing it.
But we had our moments, too. As noted, I once found myself on an inch of ice after moving maybe 50 yards away from a solid eight-inch base. I hadn’t considered a small stream that flowed into Moraine a short way north. Moraine also was the site of my only dunking, when I went through up to my hips 10 yards or so from shore. That ice had been seemingly solid as a rock when I walked out there about four hours earlier.
So, how do we ensure safety on the ice?
Carrying a spud and testing the thickness as you walk to your spot is one thing. (Be judicious with that spud. There are many stories of them rocketing through thin ice and landing on the bottom. My cousin did that just recently.) Or drill test holes every few yards. Don’t go alone unless you know for sure that things are super solid, and probably not then, either. Do not assume that your path is safe just because people already are out there. Avoid spring holes, outlets, and inlets; even tiny streams can thin ice far out into a lake.
Pay attention to the weather. Rain, warmth, and wind can chew up ice in a hurry. Be properly dressed, in layers, and be aware of signs of hypothermia in yourself and companions. (Mumbled speech, shivering, loss of balance.) Use a shelter (back when I started, they almost all were homemade and not convenient). and if you don’t have one, pick a moderate, almost windless day to fish. Consider wearing a flotation device, wearing cleats, and carrying ice safety picks. Don’t drink alcohol or keep it to a minimum.
Scary? A bit, maybe, but a good fishing day on the ice is a wonderful thing, a great way to fight cabin fever, and maybe a good way to get yourself out of your comfort zone. Plus, some argue – and I tend to agree – that fish caught through the ice will taste better than any you catch in open water.
The bottom line is this: be cautious, be smart, be safe. No fish is worth falling through the ice.
NOTEBOOK
Several outdoors luminaries pass on
Central New York recently lost two dedicated outdoors people, and another well-known angling personality also passed on.
Retired Environmental Police Lieutenant David J. McShane died January 22 of an illness related to his assignment to the World Trade Center in 2001. McShane, 50, had served on a search and rescue mission after the attacks of September 11 that year.
A native of Marcellus and a graduate of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, he served Region 6 in the Verona area early on. He worked in Region 7 for the bulk of his career. He is survived by his wife and three children.,
John Forney, who headed Cornell University’s Biological Field Station at Shackleton Point for four decades and helped make Oneida Lake one of the most thoroughly studied bodies of water in the country, also died last month.
Forney, 98, helped preserve the lake’s tremendous fish factory reputation through half a century of changing environmental and biological conditions. A native of Nebraska, he was the founding director of the field station in 1954, and was extremely highly regarded, and, in my experience, a very nice man. He occasionally was referred to as “The Elvis Presley of Oneida Lake,” or “The Godfather of Oneida Lake.”
Many area anglers either knew or were familiar with Mary Clark-Dette, daughter of famed Catskill fly tyers Winnie and Walt Dette, and a legendary tyer herself.
Mary also died in January, at 92. She helped run the family business and was known for being as talented and amiable as her parents, who founded their Roscoe, N.Y. fly tying company in the 1920s. She was a member of the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum Hall of Fame. Her grandson, Joe Fox, carries on the business at Dette Flies in Livingston Manor, N.Y.
CNY Sportsman Show set for Verona
The long-running CNY Sportsman Show has a new venue, and is looking for exhibitors.
The show, which benefits Holy Cross Academy in Oneida, is set for March 16 at the Verona Fire Department, 5555 Volunteer Avenue, off Route 365 in Verona.
The show spotlights hunting, fishing, camping, boating, outdoor artists, guides, and much. It will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Information on the show and for potential exhibitors is available by calling 315-363-1669, or emailing CNYSportsmanShow@gmail.com.
Write to John Pitarresi at 60 Pearl Street, New Hartford, N.Y. 13413 or jcpitarresi41@gmail.com or call him at 315-724-5266.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Outdoors column: Be safe on the ice while fishing in the winter
