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It seems that you are asking about using snowshoes to walk on thin ice, not to walk in deep snow.If that is the case, I would say never.I have snowshoes, but rarely use them. When I do the snow needs to be really fluffy and deep. I have never used them ice fishing. I think would have to be walking at least a 1/2 mile in over a foot of fresh snow to make the decision to put on the snowshoes.
Curious if anyone uses them and thinks they help? At what point do you start considering throwing them on? Seems a lot of places will be safe enough to talk on but not safe enough for snowmobiles and such yet. I find the wooden woven ones tend to work better than the plastic types.
Typically I find with deep snow it brings along Slush…so they might provide you a better base to walk on rather then sinking into the slush…depending on the depth I would think….I snowshoe often, but I’ve never used them for ice fishing
I have 2 pairs, one for me and one for someone that might need them when the snow is deep.It took a little time to get my walking rhythm down, but when I did it made walking in deep snow a heck of a lot easier.First time out was on a late winter trip where we had 4' of snow and when I tried without I sank waist deep, with them on I sank less than a foot (I weighed around 275 lbs. at the time).After I made it out on the pond a fellow angler came trudging out.As he past I asked how was the walking and he saw my shoes and said that he followed my footsteps and when he sank waist deep he realized he had to go the long way to avoid the deeper snow.They are good to have when needed, as without it will exhaust you just making it to the spot you want to fish.