A little Ice fishing help?

[Red C]

I'm a good fisherman and have been doing it 5 or 6 years now but I'm new to ice fishing. Anyone who ice fishes please answer me a few questions. First of all I live in wisconsin so what is a good Temperature to ice fish and what time between december and February is best? Second, how do I determine if thick the ice is? How thick should it be to safely walk on it? Also what do I do if something goes wrong and the ice starts to crack or I fall through? One more question, I plan to fish for large and smallmouth bass, how do I catch these things through the ice?

 

[Chodge]

Red, I would highly recommend the following:

1. Make sure the ice is thick enough to hold you. "How thick" really is not a good question. When you are standing on it, will it really matter. If 3 inches is not thick enough, you will know pretty quickly.

2. If something goes wrong, you'd better be prepared to be cold and wet. You're pretty much out of luck. If you are on the top floor of a building during an earthquake, you pretty much have to ride it out. You will be in the same situation.

3. Best recommendation is to go to a place where there are other people there, doing the same thing. Then, you know you're not doing something real stupid. And, you can talk to them to learn a few tricks.

Now, why someone would want to go out and sit on a huge ice cube to watch the tip of a fishing rod is beyond me, but I certainly wish you the best of luck.

Stay warm, and dry.