Wardens warn to stay off ice

[***WaterWolf***]

http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=Portal+News&id=86499&v=article-2008

[Double-L]

   Thanks for posting; people should take heed to this warning......Good ice is not that far away... ""PATIENCE"".........Lou

[bee]

A good warning but that is their job. Go slow check often.

[JimmieDean]

Sounds to me "someone" wants us to wait a couple of weeks so we have to purchase a new license. $$$ Just kidding Gov!


Be SAFE!

[Mainehazmt]

ol crick cops  geee

[ctibbetts]

The wardens always warn to stay off the ice.  Even that year 4-5 back when we had over a foot on Jan 1.  That's their job- to keep people safe.  That doesn't mean that all ice isn't safe, or that most of us here aren't being safe.  It's the average Joe Blow and flatlanders that don't know how to be safe that need looking out for.  THey see someone checking bait traps on a farm pond and see the "safe" ice.  Next thing you know they're driving the Winnebago out on the Andro to catch those thirty pound pike they heard about at the bait shop.

[Ice Chip]

Hey, hey, hey, easy ctibbetts don't say that to loud.  People will want to know where your talking about.

[lv2huntandfish]

I wonder what they would have done if they saw me fishing on symmes that first day

[jakezdad71]

i have seen a warden twice in the past week, he never stepped onto the ice. granted, i did tell him there was only 2.5"( was actually 4"),  the first time i saw him.hoping that would keep him at bay as for he was much bigger than i am, it worked.

[ctibbetts]

Hey, hey, hey, easy ctibbetts don't say that to loud.  People will want to know where your talking about.

Sorry- I meant to turn up my sarcasm filter a bit higher.  Good thing no one has any idea what I'm talking about.

[ferrari175]

Just got back from my 1st trip of the year on a small pond in southwest part of the state, 5-6in of good Ice, was a little surprised. 

[gamefisher]

Bee's right - the wardens have to say this because of all the nimrods to incompetent to check for themselves.......whate ver happened to PERSONAL RESPONSIBILTY  Anything that was caught last weekend will easily have 6-8" by Sun., my bait pond made nearly 2" last night.  Looking good for alot of fishable water for the opener. 8) Check as you go gents.

[EmeraldShiner]

Bee's right - the wardens have to say this because of all the nimrods to incompetent to check for themselves.......whate ver happened to PERSONAL RESPONSIBILTY  Anything that was caught last weekend will easily have 6-8" by Sun., my bait pond made nearly 2" last night.  Looking good for alot of fishable water for the opener. 8) Check as you go gents.

Well said gamefisher, walking out on early season ice with a sturdy spud is one thing if careful you might fall in up to your waist in the worst case, assuming you are very familiar with the water body! But hey, guess what, every single year at this time some knucklehead decides to reinvent the laws of physics and the nature of thin ice by driving a snowmobile or 4 wheeler over a razor thin sheet of barely frozen water. I have personally witnessed this on all too many ocassions while living on the shore of Maine Lakes over the last 4 years, the worst of which was a young man in his early twenties plunging  through thin ice with his 4 wheeler into 25' of water less than 15' from shore on Lower Narrows Pond in Winthrop, at the time there was less than 3" of ice with a very late freeze up in the winter of 2007. This happened just after dusk and on into the early night, Maine Game Wardens saved that young man's life that night. Right now is strictly walk on with chisel checking thickness as you go, my fishing does not get going until Jan. 1st on the B lakes so should be fine by then, just my $.02 worth.

[cdc]

The warden I talked with today didn't tell me to stay off the ice.
  He even told me how much ice was out there.

[maineduckhunter]

So are they going to warn us to stay off the ice after March 31st when we can still be fishing?