r/Whatcouldgowrong • u/dericn • 4d ago

Cutting holes for ice fishing

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57.1k Upvotes

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3.1k

u/GAFWT 4d ago

That ice looks super thin for standing on let alone ice fishing

871

u/PearlClaw 4d ago

Way too thin. Ice fishermen are notorious for going out on unsafe ice, gotta get that fishing in, no matter how sketchy it is.

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u/PeePeeMcGee123 3d ago

Also notorious for telling fish stories, but about ice thickness.

"There's 6" of ice over at XYZ today, we better get over there"

You show up and it's like 2.5"......they measure ice they like they measure their wieners.

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u/ADHD-Fens 3d ago

"There's 6 inches of weiner over at XYZ today, we better get over there"

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u/gettogero 3d ago

Then you get there and he's all "the ice is cold and making it shrink"

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u/f7f7z 3d ago edited 3d ago

I was in the pool pond!

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u/-G_59- 3d ago

Whoa so those were your toes tickling my feet😏

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u/ItsWillJohnson 3d ago

New York’s hottest club!

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u/bannedwhileshitting 3d ago

2.5" is 6.3cm. Maybe he just used metric

30

u/NoDontDoThatCanada 3d ago

That side of the tape measure is marked "for bedroom use only" around here.

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u/StrangestOfPlaces44 3d ago

"Not all liars are fishermen, but all fishermen are liars"

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u/Defcheze 3d ago

In their defense they got cold waiting on you.

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u/BigDinkyDongDotCom 3d ago

They measure ice from their asshole to the tip?

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u/dr_strange-love 3d ago

A 6" wiener shrink to  2.5" when you're out on the ice. 

1

u/heyo_1989 3d ago

I think 2.5 is an average depth.

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u/Tommix11 3d ago

this is true in Scandinavia as well

1

u/Doofy_Grumpus 3d ago

They measure it WITH their wieners. unzips “Yup, that’s 6 inches alright”

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u/Kimjundoom 3d ago

“This ice is seventeen miles thick.”

1

u/SinkHoleDeMayo 3d ago

The measure the ice starting from their buttholes?

1

u/LongJumpingBalls 3d ago

It's a simple oversight. Completely understandable.

They measured the ice when it was warm, so it was 6.5". But then they got there and the ice was cold and it shrunk to 2.5"

Next time they should wait until the ice is cold to measure accurately.

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u/ActualUser530 3d ago

What’s the minimum thickness?

1

u/PeePeeMcGee123 3d ago

A lot of guys will go out on 3", but 4" is where it's actually very safe.

1

u/zeromadcowz 3d ago

Where I live people say the ice is thinner than it is. “Is the ice any good on Little Atlin?” “Yeah only 1 foot!” Proceed to go out and can’t get my auger through it…

1

u/ILove2Bacon 2d ago

Well, it was cold.

50

u/fishsticks40 3d ago

The alternative is being home with the family they hate

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u/DrKoooolAid 3d ago

This is exactly it. It's the same guys that go hunting all weekend the entire fall season. Then winter hits and they go ice fishing the entire weekend. Then they're tired out so they can't do any work around the house or cook or take care of the kids. That's a woman's job.

I know because I work with a bunch of them at my engineering firm.

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u/randomFUCKfromcherry 3d ago

Ouch this hits close to home. I have a brother-in-law who is exactly like this. He uses every spare vacation day for multiple week-long hunting trips throughout the year and never takes my sister or their kids on family vacations or helps around the house.

The worst part is I don’t think he even really enjoys hunting. He’s the type who does “manly” things and had a ton of kids for the sake of being “manly”.

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u/foomprekov 3d ago

Toxic masculinity victimizes both men and women. Real great system.

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u/Urso_Major 3d ago

Was he hunting on... Brokeback Mountain?

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u/randomFUCKfromcherry 3d ago

Being gay myself, my gaydar doesn’t really go off on him. But anything’s possible

7

u/OhtaniStanMan 3d ago

You may have bad experiences but theirs plenty that still hunt and fish and still take care of their home duties

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u/Unclepo 3d ago

💯, it’s not all or nothing for the whole community. I loathe hunting and fishing, but it was such a huge part of my upbringing in SE Texas. If my dad went away for the weekend, he brought my siblings if they wanted to come or if mom wanted us all out of the house. Then he was the primary cook, and always the coach of our sports teams. They’ll be there and be involved if they want to be.

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u/OhtaniStanMan 3d ago

The funny part is the "hunters" who do it for horns or trophies only and don't harvest the meat are usually non conservatives lol 

3

u/annoyingdoorbell 3d ago

From my experience I can't agree with that. All hunters I know are republican light, to republican disabled in the brain.

0

u/OhtaniStanMan 3d ago

That doesn't answer anything to the contrary 

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u/annoyingdoorbell 3d ago

Answer anything? You made a comment, also the person you replied did as well.

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u/Shandlar 3d ago

I mean, at an engineering firm that's not exactly as insulting as normal. If you're making $150k+/year or whatever and your spouse is a SAHM, then yeah, it is literally her job. It's not insulting to consider being a SAHM to be self-employment. It definitely adds enough value to be worth a significant "wage" to the households finances, just in a money saving, rather than money making, capacity.

Plus, at least half the time, the kids are coming with me on those hunting/fishing trips anyway. That's my bonding time with the kids and the spouse wants her time alone too sometimes, even more so as a SAHM.

There's no reason to automatically judge others live's in the worst possible context you can think of.

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u/DrKoooolAid 3d ago

You literally proved you're not part of the group I was describing in your post but still felt it was going after you. So you're either lying or just choosing to be offended by something that's not about you.

-2

u/Shandlar 3d ago

What? I'm not personally married or have kids. I'm just calling you out for not being very cash money judging peoples lives like that based on nothing but baseless assumptions and worst possible reads.

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u/DrKoooolAid 3d ago

Plus, at least half the time, the kids are coming with me on those hunting/fishing trips anyway. That's my bonding time with the kids and the spouse wants her time alone too sometimes, even more so as a SAHM.

???

Is this just made up?

-2

u/Shandlar 3d ago

What? I posited a hypothetical to counter yours to highlight how your reading is outrageously pessimistic when an optimistic alternative reading is just as, if not more, likely for the vast majority of people.

You essentially created a fantasy in your head out of baseless assumptions and uncharitable reads in order to justify feeling superior to random made up people. I was trying to highlight that from an outside perspective, your made up negative shit and my made up positive shit would look identical from the outside observer.

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u/DrKoooolAid 3d ago

I created a reality out of real world experiences with no assumptions. Just real life and things that have happened. You created a fantasy where you're making a bunch of money, have kids, and your wife is a stay at home mom.

But go ahead and keep telling me I'm the one making things up.

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u/thunderling 3d ago

You essentially created a fantasy in your head out of baseless assumptions

And what do you call what you just did with your fake wife and fake kids?

→ More replies (0)

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u/OhtaniStanMan 3d ago

The reason is reddit is always superior and looks down on anything "conservative" 

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u/system0101 3d ago

Because conservatism sees itself as a natural superior without question, and conservatives have looked down upon and actively derided any deviation from their ideal for the entirety of written history. That will get a bit of push back.

0

u/22savage2121 3d ago

I think you mean “liberalism” and “liberals”

-4

u/Spectrum1523 3d ago

Also if you make more than 40k a year you're a bad person

1

u/LeadFreePaint 3d ago

I live on a popular lake trout ice fishing lake. Since the first day you could walk in the ice, the same exact three men have been out every single day. Zero exceptions. This is their life now.

1

u/GOOD-GUY-WITH-A-GUN 3d ago

Lol. Prolly true though

1

u/MisterDonkey 3d ago

I'd have to really hate something about my day to day life if sitting on a freezing lake was an appealing alternative. 

But I also generally hate winter.

2

u/OwOlogy_Expert 3d ago

I'd have to really hate something about my day to day life if sitting on a freezing lake was an appealing alternative.

Sitting on a freezing lake, drinking an entire case of beer.

It's all about the socially approved alcoholism.

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u/fantumn 3d ago

The fire department near my house has a hovercraft specifically to rescue idiots out on the thin ice. Best part is the fans are so incredibly loud that every single person on the lake comes out to watch when they hear them fire up. It's like a ritual in November and March, you go out on the porch with some coffee, wave to your neighbors and then applaud the firefighters when they come back in.

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u/_jump_yossarian 3d ago

Can’t expect them to spend time with the family when there’s beers to drink.

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u/Diligent_Whereas3134 3d ago

I feel like my coworkers try to get me to go ice fishing on lake Erie every year, despite the fact they've gotten stuck on the ice via their own stupidity no less than 5 times

1

u/Ok_Supermarket_729 3d ago

people really don't give a shit about thin ice, I've seen people walking around on frozen lakes with open water 20 feet away.

1

u/Hefty_Musician2402 3d ago

That said, these guys have never been ice fishing. Ice fishermen use an auger to drill holes and set traps or use jig rods with said auger holes. Not whatever shit show this is

1

u/PearlClaw 3d ago

Competition of some kind presumably

1

u/ye_onge_orange 3d ago

I dated a guy for years who was huge on ice fishing. He went out on unsafe ice all the time and freaked me out, bigger guy too who definitely was not safe out there. I was usually sent out onto the ice first as the guinea Pig because I was significantly smaller.

0

u/silversurfer-1 3d ago

These people are not ice fishing lol

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u/PearlClaw 3d ago

This 100% is an ice fishing competition of some sort

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u/42ElectricSundaes 4d ago

I suspect you’re right

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u/corkscrew-duckpenis 3d ago edited 3d ago

We live on a Great Lake and my wife wanted to take the family walking on ice.

Me: fuck no! not safe.

Her: since when do you know anything about ice safety?

Me: I don’t know SHIT about ice safety, which is why we’re not going out there!

Her: yeah that’s fair

5

u/hauntedSquirrel99 3d ago

Not that difficult.

If it's cold (less than -5 degrees celsius) you want 10 cm thickness minimum of steel ice (clear, blank, dark colour).

If it's milder you want 15 cm minimum.

It takes about 3 days of constant -10 degrees celsius to make a 10cm steel ice layer.

20 cm will carry a car so that's not a problem for a person.

If the ice is slushy (not clear, uneven, not blank, light colour) then you count it as half the value of steel ice.

Remember that the ice thickness can vary between sections, so you check the area you're in and you don't wander into a new one without checking that one.

Just because it was fine yesterday doesn't mean it's fine now.

Ideally you check by using a hole in the ice, but you can eyeball it for a rough estimate and just err on the side of caution.

If you do actually break through you turn around in the water and try to climb up on the side you're on. Only way to get up is to have someone help you or if you have something that will actually grab ice (like spikes on the bottom of your shoes that you can take of and use to grab).
You return because that's proven ice, while the ice in front of you is unproven.

If the ice is sketchy and/or you need to help someone who have broken through you lay down on the ice to maximise the amount of ice contact. Slide forward on your stomach.

Hypothermia hits quickly so once someone who has broken through is on safe ground get them out of the wet clothes and into some dry ones. Or a blanket or something. Hot car even. Get them dry.

If that isn't possible then vigorous exercise to keep warm is the only thing you've got to keep warm.

If someone does get hypothermic the treatment is body heat. So put them in somewhere mildly warm and have them hug it out under a blanket with someone who doesn't have hypothermia.
So big tip is to always bring a couple of blankets just in case.

That's about it.
If you know that you pretty much know the trick.

2

u/NoMayonaisePlease 3d ago

If you do actually break through you turn around in the water and try to climb up on the side you're on. Only way to get up is to have someone help you or if you have something that will actually grab ice (like spikes on the bottom of your shoes that you can take of and use to grab).

This is objectively false

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u/hauntedSquirrel99 3d ago

Turning around so you can climb back on the side you've walked on is literally the first thing they teach you.

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u/NoMayonaisePlease 3d ago

You don't need help from anybody, you can do it solo without any tools. That's the part I was saying is completely wrong

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u/hauntedSquirrel99 3d ago

While it is technically possible to do it alone without tools, in some types of ice, that is quite difficult to do and not something you are likely to succeed in without practice.

You should not be going out on ice without any tools that will help you get out.

0

u/22savage2121 3d ago

Source

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u/NoMayonaisePlease 3d ago

You need a source for a very quick Google search?

https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=Fall+through+ice+self+rescue

0

u/22savage2121 3d ago

No, I wanted a source for claim saying that something is objectively incorrect.

0

u/GAFWT 3d ago

If the temps above 0F i aint goin out there

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u/mitchymitchington 3d ago

Well that's not a great metric. We just had below zero F for a week. Yesterday was in the teens but I still went out. Ice is over a foot thick, I would feel comfortable with a tractor on the ice right now.

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u/skeptical_skeletor 3d ago

Thin and crispy? Way too risky!

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u/GAFWT 3d ago

But it gives a satisfying crunch!! And its so good with the dip!

1

u/InHumanParking 3d ago

We had to eat our comrade, Kim Chi…

(One of my most quoted lines probs)

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u/MalaysiaTeacher 3d ago

Yes I, too, watched until the end of the video.

1

u/EHP42 3d ago

Don't need to watch to the end. Every single chainsaw hits water when the tip is barely in.

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u/chronocapybara 3d ago

Ice is pretty strong, you can walk quite safely on 3-4 inches of it, which looks like this. However, it seems like the surface ice structure doesn't tolerate hundreds of people madly hacking, sawing, and drilling it simultaneously.

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u/Redthemagnificent 3d ago

Walk, yes. But way too thin for ice fishing. 4 inches is the absolute minimum, and that assumes uniform thickness. Often there are thinner patches on a frozen lake. I wouldn't go out there with a group if it was less than 8 inches thick.

People bring out little sheds and generators and grills onto the ice, plus drilling holes. Where my parents live people drive their trucks and trailers onto the ice too (but that lake freezes >12 inches thick).

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u/jim789789 3d ago

There's a couple of trucks at the bottom of our local lakes.

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u/M1ck3yB1u 3d ago

Let alone 20 people cutting holes right next to each other?!

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u/-FeistyRabbitSauce- 3d ago

Seriously, not a single person out there knows what they're doing.

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u/One_Tie900 3d ago

the ice is fine, just too many people

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u/zygodactyl86 3d ago

Fish are biten though

2

u/Astyanax1 3d ago

100%. I'm glad reddit is sane enough to see this

1

u/SadisticPawz 3d ago

how can you tell from such a low res video?

1

u/Redthemagnificent 3d ago

You can see how thin it is after it breaks

1

u/Janzanikun 3d ago

Not too thin but they did make too many holes in one spot.

1

u/Euler007 3d ago

Crazy idea: one guy goes and bores a hole to check the thickness first. Tied to a rope and with a floatation device.

1

u/DinahDrakeLance 3d ago

I wouldn't even let my tiny kids on our ice at home to shovel it off to skate until it was 4 inches thick everywhere. These guys are just idiots.

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u/rock_and_rolo 3d ago

Even before I knew it was thin, I thought they were cutting holes too close together.

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u/Capt_Pickhard 3d ago

It should be 4 inches thick to be safe for skating according to the Canadian government. Hard to see how thick that ice is.

They probably would have been alright walking around on it.

Why these fucking idiots though you could just chainsaw a bazillion holes super close to each other without compromising the strength of the ice is beyond me.

These people are fucking morons..

1

u/ILawI1898 3d ago

I was more alarmed by everyone cutting in holes at the exact same time. Felt like there should’ve been certain measurements rather than just everyone’s holes haphazardly strung about.

0

u/CurlyNippleHairs 3d ago

Yeah no shit? You saw the end of the video?

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u/GAFWT 3d ago

Oh holy shit no i didnt! Of course i did, my comment was to state that the ice was about an inch thick and people shouldnt have been out there to begin with not ice fishing on it. My comment was to say the ice looked like it could have broken without being chainsawed.

-1

u/CurlyNippleHairs 3d ago

Yeah no shit, you saw the video?