Whats your weight footprint and threshold?

[Big E]

Well with most of us just getting ice and having a bad itch that needs to be scratched it could lead to a dangerous situation.  Tonight I was doing the numbers for possibly going out this weekend and I'm on not feeling to good about my weight footprint on only 4 inches of ice.

Here's the figures:

Me:  325
Clothes and Boots:  10
Shanty:  116
Auger:  38
Camera & Flasher:  15
Poles, Gear, Buckets, Lunch, etc:  20

Total:  524

Think I'm good on 4 inches of new ice?

[jimmygunns]

I wouldn't go out too deep, or alone!  Bring suitable flotation for yourself!

[USMC130FE]

Big E,
remember that the weight of anything other than what is on you has it's own footprint for weight.  If all that other gear is in shanty/sled its weight is very minimal and could probably be held up on a inch of solid black ice.  If the weather permits just bring out the minimums, IE, hand auger, bucket, flasher and poles.  Just use common sense, bring safety gear and have fun. 

Tight Lines
Steve

[JJ]

I've seen plenty of 4 wheelers on 4" of ice, I think you're OK.

[edfalc]

I WEIGH 280 and 4" scares me

[AirManCam]

I weight 190, and I've had a 500lb fourwheeler on an inch and half of ice, just messing around to see if it would hold it and it did.

[John_BZ]

we have broken 6" of good hard ice with our snowmobiles before. at the same time just messin around in a very shallow bay we have had 3" of ice hold the same machine just fine. ice is funny stuff, not to be taken lightly. that said my personal threshhold is 2" over shallow water and 4" over deep water.

[WHITETAIL111]

I weigh 225lbs and we carry 25lbs of beer.  I'm not going to risk going through on 4" of ice and ................losing my beer.
I think as long as your on a "consistant" 4" of ice your fine, but "consistancy" might be a problem with early ice....just be careful out there.  Not worth losing your life over.

[Kyle_]

put all your gear in your sled, and make the rope extra long(25-30 feet?) then you can subtract those figures from the overall equation 

[rchaze60]

I for one will not go on ice less than 4" I went out this week and the ice was a good 6" thick and we had a great time time fishin and listening to the ice talk

[BlueDuck]

On early ice, I like to see people out there bigger then me.    Ealy ice can be tricky.  4" here dosen't there is 4" over there. 

[Lobes]

If it's 4" of good clear ice you can dance on it!!

                           
NBG

[gcrossman]

NYDEC has this posted.  www.dec.ny.goc

Ice Thickness Table Ice Thickness Permissible Load
2 inches one person on foot
3 inches group in single file
7.5 inches one car (2 tons)
8 inches light truck (2.5 tons)
10 inches truck (3.5 tons)
12 inches heavy truck (7-8 tons)
15 inches 10 tons
20 inches 25 tons

[Pike Runner]

You should be safe with all you r gear in the sled. But the lake I'm on now has 3 inches to 9 inches of water, from the shore to were i fish, so if worried, stop and check very so often. The rope at 25' on sled is a good idea for early ice, until you know the ice thickness in all areas you will be on.

[spun out fishing]

1in of black solid ice will hold 125-150lb person standing on it,sitting on a bucket a different story.  myself i weigh about 170 and once we get 2-2 1\2 in of solid black ice you cant get off the bay.  mind you i fish pike and perch on a bay thats 2-4ft deep you go through your cold until you get to the truck.  every lake is different so be careful, but i'll agree 4in of ice you can dance on it.

[ice dawg]

I was crossing a lake Wednesday afternoon to check out a reef on the other side and the front wheels of my wheeler dropped down about 8" in a slushy spot. I backed out and went back where I came from. The ice where we were fishing was about 8 to 10". My pucker factor was pretty elevated after that little incident.  

[bassranger]

I was out last week on 2.5" it was me a heafty 260 pounds, a buddy maybe 150, and three labs between 70-90lbs a piece thats about 650lbs. there were times when we were all standing real close together or a 10" hole even.  of course the place I was fishing is no more than 4 feet deep so at least if I go for a swim I can stand up to get out.

[hard_water]

fellas im a big boy i am 6' 375 with all my clothes on i bet i go 410 and if i get 21/2 or 3 inches of good black ice im on it, yeah its a little scary with the water dancing out of your holes with every step you take but again pfd's your picks and some common sense and you gonna be alright. by common sense i mean dont go running out on 20 or 30 feet of water carrying the kitchen sink!!!!!! stay on top

                                                                            water

[johnnyboy8451234]

put all your gear in your sled, and make the rope extra long(25-30 feet?) then you can subtract those figures from the overall equation 

I use the long rope also spread the weight out and dont crowd friends around a hole till about 5 inches of ice.. my buddies like me to test the ice out for them..  300lbs with no gear
they figure if I dont fall in there all safe.

[djkruszewski]

I'd definitely wait a few more days, until you have 6 inches of ice.  keep in mind that no ice is uniform in thickness!!  you may have four inches when you walk out there, then you may hit a thin area of 1-2 inches and down you go.  my rule of thumb is, i wait until there's 6 inch of ice, even if i hit a thin spot i will still be on 3-4 inches!!  your safety is worth the wait for a few more days.  if you have 4 inches now, it's only going to be another 3-5 days before you will find 6 inches, of course this depends on snow cover too!  play it safe and wait.  we were on 5 inches last year and the ice was cracking all around us, it was 6 inches when we checked near shore and even half way out it was 6 inches.  we ended up moving closer to shore where it was 6 inches and had no problems.  anything less than 6 inches is iffy, in my opinion.  good luck on your ice fishing and safe ice quest!