Rock test

[bigr]

I Walton i'll be expecting the dropping a rock from the red bridge report from you as soon as you see ice. Thanks. Be sure to let us know how heavy a rock was used for our calculations. Also the distance it traveled.

[marmooskapaul]

A rock thrown from sea level...not an elevation ....weighing 1.2 lbs and with an average apex of 23 feet....will..if bounced hard off of the ice surface...signify  approximately 1 1/2" of hard ice.

If you fall through the ice....go back and throw a bigger rock.

Merry Xmas

Paul

[bigr]

And there you have it. The science behind the rock test. Thank you.

[rivereddy]

I'd love to see the equation......  dF = R(MA) - (MF + ft)   Where dF is the likelihood of a dunking, R(am) is apex of the toss times the mass of the rock, minus the mass of the fisherman (MF) and his tackle(ft).  Assuming your standard issue limestone riprap and adjusted for altitude and ambient air pressure of course.........

Now that's some serious BS


rivereddy

[I Walton]

Here is some information about the Rock Test. This morning I went to Red Bridge and noted some skim ice on the cove at the southeast side of the bridge and more near the boat docks at the Marina. A rock dropped from the bridge took 2.3 sec. to hit the water. A few calculations later seems to indicate the rock would be hitting the non existent ice at 25 mph.  The water is fairly clear and only 5 feet above winter pool. It is falling at 1.5 ft/day so in 3 days it will be at winter pool. With the low temps we might have ice early next week! The selection of the rock is a complicated process requiring a rock, of granite composition,  larger that a baseball but smaller than a softball. Saturdays predicted snow could present a problem!

[bigr]

Thanks I Walton. I knew we could count on you for a up to date test. Is it true that a feather falls at the same rate as a rock considering they weight. Something to do with the gravitational pull from the earths core. I'm sure you know to use the same weight rock for tomorrows test.

[bigwillie]

If I drive over Red Bridge and see ten guys fishing that means at least three inches of ice.  If I only see two guys fishing, come back tomorrow.  Repeat as necessary.

[aquarium234]

We used to send out our heaviest friend with a rope if it held him we figured it was safe......

[I Walton]

Went to Red Bridge about 1:00 PM and saw 4 people fishing from the bank in open water near the marina. Tried the rock test and it went through the ice with ease! But on the positive side that was the first time there was ice to go through. Lake frozen over to the east but open to the west still. The lake was down 1.4 ft. at 714 ft. which is still 2 feet above winter pool. By Tuesday the level should be at winter pool!

[bigr]

Thanks again Iwalton. I've been watching conditions also on both resi's. We'll be fishing on hard water soon. Have you been seeing all the eagles around the resi's this year? Seem to be more than ever. They are getting to be so many year round its not hardly worth mentioning anymore. I still enjoy seeing them when I'm out.

[tater140]

I drove over the missy dam on saturday.  Looked fairly muddy and wide open, although I did get a picture some one sent me off of red bridge and there was a fair amount of ice out there.  I didn't throw any rocks... I doubt I could have hit the water off of the dam anyhow.

[10point]

Any chance it's fishable by Saturday?

[Baitnswitch]

I kinda like the "throw ur fat buddy on it" approach. I happen to have one,  give it a go n report back to ya!

[fishinator]

I'm the fat guy with a float suit and spud in my fishing group. I always have to go first.

[High Tide]

A rock thrown from sea level...not an elevation ....weighing 1.2 lbs and with an average apex of 23 feet....will..if bounced hard off of the ice surface...signify  approximately 1 1/2" of hard ice.

If you fall through the ice....go back and throw a bigger rock.

Merry Xmas

Paul

We should have put you into concussion protocol last time we did a rock test and I missed wide and cracked you with that boulder. LOL

[bigr]

I believe the east side that has been frozen since last Saturday should be fishable by Saturday with caution as always. Buddy fish and a floatation/rope is my rule. Also I would go along with the fat guy thing too except I'm always the fat guy.

[rivereddy]

Back in the day, lets say about 20 lbs or so,  We always carried an 8 foot 2x6 in the back of the truck.  Yup I was a "plank"
walker to get out on that early ice.  We rigged a rope harness to a life jacket and, using a spud I would work my way out testing for thickness.  We often fished strip pits back then.  Many were over 20' deep less than 10 feet from shore so a dunking was a fast invitation to disaster.  I remember one trip in particular.  I was "thumping" my way out as my buddy let
out the rope holding the harness.  I had just gotten to the end of the board when I saw a large crappie frozen in the ice.
"Oh man," I exclaimed.  The next thing I knew, the whole world in front of me was receding backwards at an alarming rate...  I landed with a crash on the ice and slid back to the bank. My buddy mistook my exclamation for thin ice and
"rescued" me with a good yank on the harness rope...  Now a days, I want to see someone heavier than me on the ice
before I venture out.

fish on,

rivereddy

[Jigmup]

A rock thrown from sea level...not an elevation ....weighing 1.2 lbs and with an average apex of 23 feet....will..if bounced hard off of the ice surface...signify  approximately 1 1/2" of hard ice.

If you fall through the ice....go back and throw a bigger rock.

Merry Xmas

Paul

[ftwwalleye]

Tape a rock to your leg. Walk out on the ice. If it breaks it's too thin and walk back to shore and drink a beer. Repeat every 24 hrs. 

[I Walton]

Summation of rock test for Thursday and Friday. Thursday the rock easily broke through and the ripple broke near by ice making a very large hole. Friday the entire area as far as I could see was iced over. The rocks made clean holes which indicate about 3/4 inch of ice. The warm forecast points to next week as the earliest the skinny people could get on the ice.

[printer]

Heard they were fishing 105 Bridge, 7 cars

[bigr]

There's been people fishing since last Tuesday. I'll be there by 4 this evening.

[tater140]

Be careful out there.  I was on at the 105 on wednesday.  the ice varied a lot from 2-4"... Should be better by now but it wouldn't hurt to spud around to make sure.  There was a few spots my spud would blow right through and 2' beside it was solid.
Tons of dinks in there, not sure what is up with that place.  Felt like the ratio was about 25 dinks to every keeper.

[Gills-only]

Don’t want to get on that bad with that ratio, I’ll just set here and watch the snow come down!! Just what we need !!

[fishinator]

I thought 25:1 is the norm there. At least thats how it has been for me the few times i made the trip.  Tons of sorting. 

[tater140]

Every year I go down there to fish spring/summer/fall and hope to see it improved.  For me it's been that way for the past 5 years or so.  I have gotten into nicer schools of fish from time to time but nothing like it was 7-8 years ago.  I have been trying to turn loose the bigger fish I catch 11"+ in hopes of doing my small part to improve the fishing there someday.  Wed. it was tough even finding a 9" fish.  Normally I would have moved around a bit to try and find better quality, but the conditions weren't there to really go walking around too much.

[bigr]

A lot of fun today. Ratio for me was maybe seven to one. The one s are very nice fish. Way better than not catching any and I brought home just what I wanted to clean. Maybe 20 guy’s fishing this evening and several had near or limits of big crappies from what I over heard as they talked to others. I be there again in the morn