what's the strangest, scariest, bizarre experience you've had on the ice?

[Neil McCauley]

There's a thread over at the NY subforum on this (http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=311810.0) and it has some great stories.

Wondering if Maine has some too??

[Conley1993]

Buddy fell through moosehead last year in the middle of February, luckily just broke through with one leg. Only soft spot in the entire area, definitely caught our attention.

[Snopro]

Many strange things on hermon pond!!

[Anomaly]

Many strange things on hermon pond!!

True THAT!

[pfeifferpower]

was going to check trap on martin meadow pond nh... beautiful day 38 degrees sunny,walking along calm as could be.was a foot away from my tip up,,,stepped obviously in a old day or two previously drilled ten inch hole,,,fell thru past my knee,,,as i fell my throat went right onto top of my heritage tip up.....couldnt breath,,,,didnt know how bad it was,,after a few i was ok,,,,kinda a freak thing,,,,,scary too me anyway

[lobsterman]

i had about 300 feet of moose pond Bridgton crack right open its was crazy it was open after it cracked about 15' across and there was a tleast 10" ice

[TheOutdoorsman]

This year, there was a lake down here that doesn't normally freeze until late, but when it did, it froze very quickly.  We had about 5-6 inches of crystal clear ice that you could see right through, but when I was out there fishing it was trying to relieve the pressure all day. 

We are all familiar with how ice cracks and makes noise to relieve the pressure, but this was pretty insane.  Every time a hole was drilled, a crack would break right through it as I was drilling.  Because the ice was so clear and there was no snow on it, that was a bit creepy.  It would also crackle and crack while walking on it...seeing a crack form within a few feet as you're walking along was enough to make anyone feel pretty uncomfortable.  Every now and then a really big shift in the ice would cause the whole sheet to move up and down, as if a wave came through. 

If there had been snow on the ice, it would have just been a lot of loud rumbling and some shifting...but the craziest thing was being able to see all of the cracking as it happened.

[Shawn Breton]

The strangest thing that has happeneded to me on the ice id say when I was fishing crystal lake derby and this person came and drilled all his holes witching 3 feet of each of mine.

The scariest thing that has happened to me on the ice id say this time I was out on sabbattus lake and you hear this huge crack sounds like a earth quake and the ice drops about 2inches.

The most bizarre experience would have to be the day I ran into a hippy ice fishing in shorts and t shirt

[Slammin_Brookies!!]

When I was like 11 I went fishing opening Day with my Dad and all my uncles. I fell through all the way and my Uncle saw it and pulled me out. My mom still remembers it well because she was more upset at my Dad and Uncles for making me stay it Dads old Ford Bronco with the heater on all day so they could stay and fish. I remember mom giving Dad an ear full that night.

[Smelta]

Snow snakes scaling Kineo. I can't barely talk about it.

[woodchip]

I had to work half a day pulling out a wheeler on tracks its rear tracks went in under a pressure ridge that had opened up 4' wide under 2' of snow.

[TogueRogue]

Quite a few years ago now...but a bunch of us were fishing the "Rotary Derby" on Winni off of Gilford Beach...we could drive our vehicles out where we were (14" ice) but it was plain to see the dividing line between good and bad ice..a defined color change between our gray ice and totally black ice out further where it was 3 to 4" of ice..no one was fishing out there...along about 8:00 AM we see a new ford pick-up pulling a trailer w/bobhouse aboard come out from behind Varney Point on the right heading out over the black ice about a quarter of a mile beyond us...we could literally see the ice waving and buckling below them as they drove out...suddenly we see the doors fly open and two guys jump out and sprint away from the truck as we see the nose break through and then the whole truck, trailer and bobhouse takes a nosedive to the bottom (about 50' of water)..suddenly about 15 seconds later the bobhouse comes rocketing back up through the ice..we could see the driver with his hands on top of his head jumping around and scraming something..couldn't make out what he was saying but I'm sure there were a lot of "expletives deleted" ... You can't teach stupid!       TR

[woodchip]

I pulled a guy out of Crystal lake Dry mills years ago  He walked out on hard ice into slush that went tru  he was up to his chin when he grabbed the rope.

[chief10point]

here  is one for you   I live in maine I have icefished my whole life  about 20 years ago myself and 3 buddys on a sub zero superbowl sunday morning we headed to parker pond for some early morning fishing  with all kinds of ice we had fished this spot many times before but due to rain the days before the road to t he camp that we park at was all ice and undriveable so we choose to drive our 2 door car to our spot from the boat launch  still being dark out and a little water on the ice we headed across the lake    feeling uneasy cause I never drive out in vechicles on the ice I told everyone to roll down there windows thank god we did  we was coming to our spot something did not look right as we drove the car into a open pressure ridge that was about 60 feet wide  we went down about 40 feet thankfully we all finaly made it out the windows and surfaced in the middle of the hole and was able to get each other up on to the ice  now here is where it gets crazy  still being dark out we spot a camp that had lights on so we headed to it to get warm and get help  when we got to the camp there was nobody there we still went in and stripped down we took the bedding off to wrap up in and called the wardens and family  in front of the camp was a bunch of traps (tipups)  frozen in the ice there was a dog running around the camp and in the camp was a crockpot that was on and burnt seafood in it still no people the wardens came out took our statement  wardens were also wondering where the owners were we left them a note with our #s explaining what happened and that we would pay for any damages  a couple of days went by and the warden called me asking questions about the camp and if we had turned the heat up or if we made a fire in the wood stove ect. I thought oh no the camp burnt down or something   I asked him what was going on and he said the people that own the camp are still missing and they think they might be in the same hole that we drove into   sure enough our car was ontop of a jeep with the two owners a girlfriend and her 16 year old daughter  apparently they went for a night ride and went into the same hole as us unfortunately they did not make it out.   I have not driven on the ice in a car or truck since   

[TightLinesMaine]

One time i was fishing 40+ ft of water out on thompson lake, had a flag and something stole my bait (a shiner) and like 30 mins to an hour later another flag goes off in the vicinity and i set the hook feels like nothing, reel it up to find the shiner i lost earlier half chewed up snagged on the hook along with the other shiner i just put on.. was a different trap too i still have no idea how it happened...

[ZeroGravity]

January 16, 1991, four of us staying in Northeast Cary on Moosehead, decided we would venture over to Chesuncook Lake for a day of ice fishing.  We snowmobiled a good distance up the lake and had an amazing day of fishing, in fact, it was so good we took it right to dark...  When we decided to call it a day, a storm front blew in and we were dealing with whiteout conditions...  Short story was that we were lost, had to set up this dinky shack for the four of us, one beer, a couple of hot dogs...  wind, freezing rain, pretty much the longest night of my life...  Once daylight came about, we got our bearing and headed back to the trucks... On the radio, they were reporting about Operation Desert Storm where the U.S bombed Iraq...

Many lessons learned that evening...

Have an awesome day!

   - ZG -

[apresby11]

here  is one for you   I live in maine I have icefished my whole life  about 20 years ago myself and 3 buddys on a sub zero superbowl sunday morning we headed to parker pond for some early morning fishing  with all kinds of ice we had fished this spot many times before but due to rain the days before the road to t he camp that we park at was all ice and undriveable so we choose to drive our 2 door car to our spot from the boat launch  still being dark out and a little water on the ice we headed across the lake    feeling uneasy cause I never drive out in vechicles on the ice I told everyone to roll down there windows thank god we did  we was coming to our spot something did not look right as we drove the car into a open pressure ridge that was about 60 feet wide  we went down about 40 feet thankfully we all finaly made it out the windows and surfaced in the middle of the hole and was able to get each other up on to the ice  now here is where it gets crazy  still being dark out we spot a camp that had lights on so we headed to it to get warm and get help  when we got to the camp there was nobody there we still went in and stripped down we took the bedding off to wrap up in and called the wardens and family  in front of the camp was a bunch of traps (tipups)  frozen in the ice there was a dog running around the camp and in the camp was a crockpot that was on and burnt seafood in it still no people the wardens came out took our statement  wardens were also wondering where the owners were we left them a note with our #s explaining what happened and that we would pay for any damages  a couple of days went by and the warden called me asking questions about the camp and if we had turned the heat up or if we made a fire in the wood stove ect. I thought oh no the camp burnt down or something   I asked him what was going on and he said the people that own the camp are still missing and they think they might be in the same hole that we drove into   sure enough our car was ontop of a jeep with the two owners a girlfriend and her 16 year old daughter  apparently they went for a night ride and went into the same hole as us unfortunately they did not make it out.   I have not driven on the ice in a car or truck since

You win!

[#1-Poppy]

Hey Chief

That is incredible, I believe I remember either hearing about it or reading about that many years ago... Glad you all survived, but sad for the family that didn't.

[indy597]

here  is one for you   I live in maine I have icefished my whole life  about 20 years ago myself and 3 buddys on a sub zero superbowl sunday morning we headed to parker pond for some early morning fishing  with all kinds of ice we had fished this spot many times before but due to rain the days before the road to t he camp that we park at was all ice and undriveable so we choose to drive our 2 door car to our spot from the boat launch  still being dark out and a little water on the ice we headed across the lake    feeling uneasy cause I never drive out in vechicles on the ice I told everyone to roll down there windows thank god we did  we was coming to our spot something did not look right as we drove the car into a open pressure ridge that was about 60 feet wide  we went down about 40 feet thankfully we all finaly made it out the windows and surfaced in the middle of the hole and was able to get each other up on to the ice  now here is where it gets crazy  still being dark out we spot a camp that had lights on so we headed to it to get warm and get help  when we got to the camp there was nobody there we still went in and stripped down we took the bedding off to wrap up in and called the wardens and family  in front of the camp was a bunch of traps (tipups)  frozen in the ice there was a dog running around the camp and in the camp was a crockpot that was on and burnt seafood in it still no people the wardens came out took our statement  wardens were also wondering where the owners were we left them a note with our #s explaining what happened and that we would pay for any damages  a couple of days went by and the warden called me asking questions about the camp and if we had turned the heat up or if we made a fire in the wood stove ect. I thought oh no the camp burnt down or something   I asked him what was going on and he said the people that own the camp are still missing and they think they might be in the same hole that we drove into   sure enough our car was ontop of a jeep with the two owners a girlfriend and her 16 year old daughter  apparently they went for a night ride and went into the same hole as us unfortunately they did not make it out.   I have not driven on the ice in a car or truck since

ummmm....yeah....close the thread down, you got this locked up.

[Keychain]

Agreed!   Crazy story...

[JDK]

Back when I fished Long Lake, I had a hardside at Barn Brook near the snowmobile trail.  Back then, the lake was open to smelting at night only from January 1 to January 15th.  Early one season, the lake was glare ice and there was a pressure ridge right when you came on the lake.  While smelt fishing, I heard a sled coming down the trail and cringed as I knew what was going to happen.  Sure enough there was a boom, bang, and the sound of a guy sliding across the ice.  Sled had quite a bit of damage but thankfully the young man was OK.  He did slide a long ways and I'm sure the Russian judge would have given him a 10.

Jump ahead a month or so and the conditions had changed considerably.  There was a ton of snow and slush.  It was snowing pretty hard that day and the salmon were biting pretty well.  I heard a sled coming down the trail, go past me and then come to a slow saddening stop.  I didn't have the heart to look.  All of the sudden I heard yelling and crying. so I went out to see what was going on.  Believe it or not, the same young man (17-18 years old) was sitting on his sled, crying his eyes out and yelling for help.  I waded out to help him but honestly believe he would still be there crying if I didn't. 

[MGK]

I fish with JDK on a regular basis. That's strange, scary and bizarre all in one.....

[MGK]

here  is one for you   I live in maine I have icefished my whole life  about 20 years ago myself and 3 buddys on a sub zero superbowl sunday morning we headed to parker pond for some early morning fishing  with all kinds of ice we had fished this spot many times before but due to rain the days before the road to t he camp that we park at was all ice and undriveable so we choose to drive our 2 door car to our spot from the boat launch  still being dark out and a little water on the ice we headed across the lake    feeling uneasy cause I never drive out in vechicles on the ice I told everyone to roll down there windows thank god we did  we was coming to our spot something did not look right as we drove the car into a open pressure ridge that was about 60 feet wide  we went down about 40 feet thankfully we all finaly made it out the windows and surfaced in the middle of the hole and was able to get each other up on to the ice  now here is where it gets crazy  still being dark out we spot a camp that had lights on so we headed to it to get warm and get help  when we got to the camp there was nobody there we still went in and stripped down we took the bedding off to wrap up in and called the wardens and family  in front of the camp was a bunch of traps (tipups)  frozen in the ice there was a dog running around the camp and in the camp was a crockpot that was on and burnt seafood in it still no people the wardens came out took our statement  wardens were also wondering where the owners were we left them a note with our #s explaining what happened and that we would pay for any damages  a couple of days went by and the warden called me asking questions about the camp and if we had turned the heat up or if we made a fire in the wood stove ect. I thought oh no the camp burnt down or something   I asked him what was going on and he said the people that own the camp are still missing and they think they might be in the same hole that we drove into   sure enough our car was ontop of a jeep with the two owners a girlfriend and her 16 year old daughter  apparently they went for a night ride and went into the same hole as us unfortunately they did not make it out.   I have not driven on the ice in a car or truck since

You win

[Bowdoin Boy]

About 8yrs ago me my son and a Buddy were fishing Kezar lake next to a Pressure ridge and we see this 4 wheeler come screaming down the lake with a guy and his girlfriend HEADING RIGHT at a pressure ridge and we are waving him off and no response until he gets right to the 4' deep 10' wide wall of water he tries to stop but couldn't so he lands right in the middle of the water up to the seat of the wheeler he jumps off to the pressure ridge and leaves his Girlfriend on the wheeler .. Thank God it wasn't open water just standing water. I can say SHE WAS NOT IMPRESSED with him leaving her to save himself.. LOL

[tkmoney_99]

No disrespect to the other stories but anything next to Chiefs story seems like small potatoes. Not sure I would step foot on ice again. Was this Parker in Casco?

[TogueRogue]

here  is one for you   I live in maine I have icefished my whole life  about 20 years ago myself and 3 buddys on a sub zero superbowl sunday morning we headed to parker pond for some early morning fishing  with all kinds of ice we had fished this spot many times before but due to rain the days before the road to t he camp that we park at was all ice and undriveable so we choose to drive our 2 door car to our spot from the boat launch  still being dark out and a little water on the ice we headed across the lake    feeling uneasy cause I never drive out in vechicles on the ice I told everyone to roll down there windows thank god we did  we was coming to our spot something did not look right as we drove the car into a open pressure ridge that was about 60 feet wide  we went down about 40 feet thankfully we all finaly made it out the windows and surfaced in the middle of the hole and was able to get each other up on to the ice  now here is where it gets crazy  still being dark out we spot a camp that had lights on so we headed to it to get warm and get help  when we got to the camp there was nobody there we still went in and stripped down we took the bedding off to wrap up in and called the wardens and family  in front of the camp was a bunch of traps (tipups)  frozen in the ice there was a dog running around the camp and in the camp was a crockpot that was on and burnt seafood in it still no people the wardens came out took our statement  wardens were also wondering where the owners were we left them a note with our #s explaining what happened and that we would pay for any damages  a couple of days went by and the warden called me asking questions about the camp and if we had turned the heat up or if we made a fire in the wood stove ect. I thought oh no the camp burnt down or something   I asked him what was going on and he said the people that own the camp are still missing and they think they might be in the same hole that we drove into   sure enough our car was ontop of a jeep with the two owners a girlfriend and her 16 year old daughter  apparently they went for a night ride and went into the same hole as us unfortunately they did not make it out.   I have not driven on the ice in a car or truck since

Yep! That one IS the most strange, scariest and bizarre story I have heard ever...Stephen King couldn't have wrote a better one!!!

[Fish Wayniac]

About 10 years ago me and my friends built a 6x8 shack. Brought it to Long lake in Naples. This was before my friends owned a snow machine or a atv.We pushed it out on the lake. We got tired and stopped to take a break. Well good thing we stopped for a break. We looked to see where we were and realized not much farther was open water.We said guess this is far enough!

[PerchPro113]

No disrespect to the other stories but anything next to Chiefs story seems like small potatoes. Not sure I would step foot on ice again. Was this Parker in Casco?

Sounds like Fayette. Here is a Sun-Journal article I found on google. This defiantly wins,
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1914&dat=19930206&id=IO4pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GmUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5729,1417137

[StolenB8]

here  is one for you   I live in maine I have icefished my whole life  about 20 years ago myself and 3 buddys on a sub zero superbowl sunday morning we headed to parker pond for some early morning fishing  with all kinds of ice we had fished this spot many times before but due to rain the days before the road to t he camp that we park at was all ice and undriveable so we choose to drive our 2 door car to our spot from the boat launch  still being dark out and a little water on the ice we headed across the lake    feeling uneasy cause I never drive out in vechicles on the ice I told everyone to roll down there windows thank god we did  we was coming to our spot something did not look right as we drove the car into a open pressure ridge that was about 60 feet wide  we went down about 40 feet thankfully we all finaly made it out the windows and surfaced in the middle of the hole and was able to get each other up on to the ice  now here is where it gets crazy  still being dark out we spot a camp that had lights on so we headed to it to get warm and get help  when we got to the camp there was nobody there we still went in and stripped down we took the bedding off to wrap up in and called the wardens and family  in front of the camp was a bunch of traps (tipups)  frozen in the ice there was a dog running around the camp and in the camp was a crockpot that was on and burnt seafood in it still no people the wardens came out took our statement  wardens were also wondering where the owners were we left them a note with our #s explaining what happened and that we would pay for any damages  a couple of days went by and the warden called me asking questions about the camp and if we had turned the heat up or if we made a fire in the wood stove ect. I thought oh no the camp burnt down or something   I asked him what was going on and he said the people that own the camp are still missing and they think they might be in the same hole that we drove into   sure enough our car was ontop of a jeep with the two owners a girlfriend and her 16 year old daughter  apparently they went for a night ride and went into the same hole as us unfortunately they did not make it out.   I have not driven on the ice in a car or truck since

**censored**. stunned.

[Ice Age]

Sounds like Fayette. Here is a Sun-Journal article I found on google. This defiantly wins,
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1914&dat=19930206&id=IO4pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GmUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5729,1417137

Straight up Shanty sleuthing right there, nice job.

Haunting little tale, Chief. Thank god you guys made it out if that's for real.