Spring Ice Fishing Safety 

Winter is beginning to loosen its grip on the San Luis and Upper Rio Grande Valleys. The evidence is shown by the great warm days and the intermittent blasts of snow typical to the Colorado mountains this time of year. As I pack up my gear for another ice fishing adventure this weekend, I can’t ignore an awareness of that little nagging in the back of my mind. This particular nagging stems from my look at the forecast that has temperatures in the high 50’s. I always check forecasts before venturing out into the mountains, no matter what my planned activity.

I’ve been a huge participant in numerous winter activities since I was a young child growing up in southeastern Wisconsin. One of my favorites was to drive out on frozen lakes to our “shanty” and spend the day with mini fishing poles bobbing up and down hoping to entice an unsuspecting fish to bite the meal worm attached to my jig. For over three decades, I have lived here in Colorado where I don’t find too many people driving out onto the ice. Our gorgeous weather produces what I call “soft spots” in the ice that I, simply, have no desire to find out how soft they really are.

In the early 90’s I was riding across Lake Dillon on my snowmobile when I entered a “soft spot” and began to sink. Scared and not knowing exactly what to do, my instincts took over as my thumb pushed the throttle to the hilt and held it there until I reached what I was sure was dry land.  There was no indicator that the soft ice was any different than the rest of the ice I had already travelled across. That was the last time I knowingly rode a snowmobile across ice in Colorado.

As I think about the nagging in my mind, I recall a story I heard earlier this winter when someone had broken through the ice in Beaver Creek Reservoir and caught themselves before going under. It was later determined that the ice was “generally” 8 inches thick in the area, but in that particular spot, it sure wasn’t. I was frightened just hearing the story.

I’ve been ice fishing several times this year and when temperatures are below zero and my hand auger blades are out of sight when I finally break through, the nagging just isn’t there. Oh, maybe when I take that first step onto the ice, I sometimes have a barely conscious thought of “is it safe.” But I do consider that thought, that gut feeling, that nagging each time.

I’ll bring my shelter, which looks very different than the old version of the shanty, this weekend, though I doubt I’ll need it. I have friends in town who have never ice fished before. This will be a new adventure for them, and I hope to make it as fun as I can. We’ll bring a grill along with all the fixins’ and make a great family day of it. It will be interesting to see the younger kids create the new games they do when the fish aren’t biting, for 5 minutes.

I’ll let the nagging take a backseat in my mind for today, but when we hit the ice this weekend, I’ll be alert. I’ll be looking for any signs of instability in the ice. My first steps might be a bit tentative. Especially along the edges. I will have each member in our group come out one at a time. Once we are out farther on the ice, I feel safer. I just take more precautions on the edges. I’ll look and listen for large cracks and evaluate them to see if they are moving or expanding.

If anything, even remotely, appears amiss or promotes additional nagging, we’ll pack up and get out of there. I recognize that it may be a little early for such high alert, but I always trust my gut feelings and this spring will be no exception.  I encourage everyone to exercise the utmost caution when going onto the ice. Enjoy those spring fishing days. They could be going fast!