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IceShanty Main => General Ice Fishing Chit Chat => Topic started by: river_scum on Feb 08, 2019, 08:04 AM

Title: what makes those holes
Post by: river_scum on Feb 08, 2019, 08:04 AM
I know we all see them.  a (non man made)hole in the otherwise thick ice with open water.  some as big as u head others golf ball size.  still others that are not open but are very clear and thinly iced.  anyone know what causes this?
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: 3300 on Feb 08, 2019, 08:09 AM
drain holes.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: Huntindave on Feb 08, 2019, 08:23 AM
I know we all see them.  a (non man made)hole in the otherwise thick ice with open water.  some as big as u head others golf ball size.  still others that are not open but are very clear and thinly iced.  anyone know what causes this?

This happens when folks drop or throw their wax worms onto the surface of the ice.  The wax worms will melt into the surface.  Later the ice embedded wax worm, will be spotted by a passing woodpecker and the rest is self explanatory.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: Chris338378 on Feb 08, 2019, 08:26 AM
Drain holes and springs.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: river_scum on Feb 08, 2019, 08:28 AM
but its not draining anything, its 10*.  all the other ice is 8+inch thick.  there are several of them around the area. 8-10 fow under that.  I have seen things, like rocks and leaves, melt into/threw the ice but these don't look like that. you could be rite still.  we had a major warm up last week.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: Philip on Feb 08, 2019, 08:45 AM
This happens when folks drop or throw their wax worms onto the surface of the ice.  The wax worms will melt into the surface.  Later the ice embedded wax worm, will be spotted by a passing woodpecker and the rest is self explanatory.

 :unsure:
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: PoleJerker on Feb 08, 2019, 09:35 AM
 :unsure:
This happens when folks drop or throw their wax worms onto the surface of the ice.  The wax worms will melt into the surface.  Later the ice embedded wax worm, will be spotted by a passing woodpecker and the rest is self explanatory.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: POk3s on Feb 08, 2019, 09:40 AM
Warm springs, gas pockets, etc. we have a bunch of them out west here where most of our fishable lakes are reservoirs.

We have lots of warm springs around here being close to Yellowstone and having the mountainous terrain that we do. Besides that, methane leaks from the earth are constantly being released. I’m sure this still happens on natural lakes as well.

As for the woodpecker theory.....that certainly is interesting.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: JonPerry on Feb 08, 2019, 09:54 AM
It's the winter version of crop circles.  ;)
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: Huntindave on Feb 08, 2019, 09:57 AM

As for the woodpecker theory.....that certainly is interesting.

I was hoping it would be entertaining as well.   ;) ;)
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: slipperybob on Feb 08, 2019, 01:22 PM
Hopefully it's not one of those holes where you can see the water bubbling or the water flowing in there.

That's the one thing I don't like about fresh cold hard snow.  It often covers up those holes.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: Kevin23 on Feb 08, 2019, 01:24 PM
Just drains. Stars as a little tiny hole where two cracks meet, and as water is draining down it from melt or rain it gets bigger and bigger and bigger.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: mrjohnny on Feb 08, 2019, 03:51 PM
that explains why those peckers were out there yesterday..same spot where two guys were fishing..
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: perch chacer on Feb 08, 2019, 05:49 PM
Just drains. Stars as a little tiny hole where two cracks meet, and as water is draining down it from melt or rain it gets bigger and bigger and bigger.
2X drain holes.  You said you had a week of warm weather.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: marmooskapaul on Feb 08, 2019, 07:15 PM
but its not draining anything, its 10*.  all the other ice is 8+inch thick.  there are several of them around the area. 8-10 fow under that.  I have seen things, like rocks and leaves, melt into/threw the ice but these don't look like that. you could be rite still.  we had a major warm up last week.

Wait a minute!!! You still got that much ice a little north of me...lol.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: iceman10 on Feb 08, 2019, 08:51 PM
I know we all see them.  a (non man made)hole in the otherwise thick ice with open water.  some as big as u head others golf ball size.  still others that are not open but are very clear and thinly iced.  anyone know what causes this?

Damn it I thought she moved away 😁
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: river_scum on Feb 09, 2019, 06:00 AM
Wait a minute!!! You still got that much ice a little north of me...lol.

angola area did a  week ago. now its 5-6 paul.  watch the edges they were open.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: FishGut on Feb 09, 2019, 08:31 PM
This happens when folks drop or throw their wax worms onto the surface of the ice.  The wax worms will melt into the surface.  Later the ice embedded wax worm, will be spotted by a passing woodpecker and the rest is self explanatory.

  ;D

Yer my kinda liar. Opa taught me to convince folks to eat live lightning bugs *you glow when you go! I SWEAR*
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: HardIce32 on Feb 09, 2019, 11:26 PM
😂😂😂👍
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: flagup! on Feb 10, 2019, 09:33 AM
yup definitely ice peckers.       :roflmao:
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: ice dawg on Feb 10, 2019, 10:18 AM
This happens when folks drop or throw their wax worms onto the surface of the ice.  The wax worms will melt into the surface.  Later the ice embedded wax worm, will be spotted by a passing woodpecker and the rest is self explanatory.
WOW, that blows my theory about warm fish farts.  :o ;D
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: bigwheelrn on Feb 10, 2019, 11:00 AM
The wax worm woodpecker thing seems plausible, although I have not seen a woodpecker all winter!
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: Huntindave on Feb 10, 2019, 02:26 PM
The wax worm woodpecker thing seems plausible, although I have not seen a woodpecker all winter!

Well then you are obviously not throwing enough wax worms onto the ice.  Think; one for the hook, one for the ice; one for the hook, one for the ice; one for the hook, one for the ice; etc.   See of that helps and then report back to us.  @) @)
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: Gorilla on Feb 11, 2019, 07:22 AM
(https://media.giphy.com/media/tyttpHduQdg3d6O8jAs/giphy-downsized-large.gif)
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: Noon on Feb 13, 2019, 09:30 AM
Next time you see these holes please take a picture. My curiosity has spiked and I've done a little digging and a bunch of different possible explanations came up (none of them include ice digging woodpeckers ;D) There are some articles about how the pressure and temperature changes under the ice due to solar radiant heat warming water and causing a convection causes drain holes. But these sound a little different than what you described. The other plausible explanation would be dust holes also known as cryoconites. These are caused by small particles of dust landing on the ice and the sun warming them up and melting ice around them then having enough water and the right combination of sunlight and shade (the shade allows it to be darker in the hole thus absorbing more heat from the sunlight) to continue to grow. However, most of the research I can find on the cryoconites is in glaciers. Not sure if this is because researchers arent funded to inspect such conditions in lakes and ponds or if it doesnt happen the same there.
I have also seen lots of images where different gases have caused holes in the ice but I would expect you would see frozen pockets of these gases near and around the other holes.

The holes you are asking about could be caused by some of the things I mentioned above or it could be something totally different.

Regardless of what I found, my nerd instincts have kicked in and I would love to get more information from all of you.  ;D
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: fishermantim on Feb 13, 2019, 10:09 AM
How do you know they were not man-made? (That would imply that you saw the holes form right in front of your eyes.)

Sounds more like old auger holes that were partially melted. If there was no draining going on, then the holes would remain circular, but draining will erode the hole edges making them irregular.

Smaller holes could be from dark objects that melted thru the ice due to sun light heating the object.
Could be a rock, a leaf or something another angler dropped (dark weight, rubber stopper. etc...).
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: RuralMT on Mar 15, 2019, 10:08 PM
Quote
How do you know they were not man-made?

If he's describing the same thing I've seen here in NW Montana, they're definitely not the result of an auger.  Again, if he and I are on the same page, he's describing what I call "spider holes" which (in my case anyway) have cracks radiating out from them.  I've also wondered what caused them and, not knowing, definitely avoid them.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: hunts2long on Mar 16, 2019, 06:28 AM
You guys do know "that the FISH GODS" only fish when we are NOT fishing.
How many of us have asked, "God where are the fish?"...h2l
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: bullpine on Mar 16, 2019, 01:24 PM
They are caused by the galactic overlord Xenu.  Ask any scientologist.  They also invented the flasher on one of their 76 home ice planets a long time ago.  If you fall into one of these holes your soul is captured forever in the deep.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: Longshoremen on Mar 22, 2019, 07:11 AM
that explains why those peckers were out there yesterday..same spot where two guys were fishing..
(https://i.postimg.cc/5jsRVJQ5/IMG-1257.png) (https://postimg.cc/5jsRVJQ5)
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: Gunflint on Mar 22, 2019, 07:53 AM
True Story of 2 weeks ago:

I took my 6 inch Nero auger and made a hole in 30 inches of Ice to get four 5-Gal buckets of water for my cabin (no winter plumbing).

The weight of the ice/snow forced the warmer lake water UP the hole and created a big shush area - and the hole grew in diameter as this happened.

Ultimately, I almost fell into it when I kicked off the 1 inch of ice that had formed overnight on a cold evening to get more water.

My 6 inch hole was so big that I could stick my 5-Gal bucket actually down into the hole to fill it with water! Probably 18 inches across in 30 inches of ice!

Pretty scary actually.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: fishermantim on Mar 22, 2019, 10:02 AM
It's LASERS...dang fish with lasers on their heads that haven't quite got the ability to target.....
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: Seamonkey84 on Mar 22, 2019, 03:21 PM
Those holes are tell tale signs of snow snakes. As the weather warms, be careful of them, along with snow fleas and ice worms. You dont want an infestation in your shack.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: zwiggles on Mar 22, 2019, 03:42 PM
Current is another factor not mentioned yet.

The woodpecker theory is the most entertaining idea I’ve heard yet.
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: Longshoremen on Mar 22, 2019, 04:40 PM

(https://i.postimg.cc/mzw7wjM3/IMG-1256.png) (https://postimg.cc/mzw7wjM3)
😜
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: JonPerry on Mar 22, 2019, 05:04 PM
Snow snakes & ice mites when they curl up in groups to stay warm. ;D
Title: Re: what makes those holes
Post by: Fish Farmer on Mar 23, 2019, 07:26 AM
Once while busting through skim ice to troll Lake Champlain we saw a crow pecking the ice for something.