A little bit too excited for the hard water season?
Here in Wisconsin, for the most part, it’s officially the end of the open water fishing season. There might be a warm day or two where you can sneak out there (I saw a boat out on the lake behind my house today and it was about 45 degrees out), but for the most part, boats are in storage, rods, reels and tackle broken down and ready for winter cleaning, and if you’re like me… you’re just buying gear you won’t even get to use until April to fill the void.
I live on a pretty good-sized lake in southern Wisconsin, about 1,000 acres, and my last day on the water was November 23rd… way later than normal, actually.
However, the end of open water season means ice fishing is right around the corner. Like I said, I live on a lake and there is a thin layer of ice near my dock, and perhaps in some of the shallow back channels, but the main lake is wide open. I’d say it’s still pretty hit or miss across most of the state. Puckaway Lake is about an hour north of me… not far at all, and apparently dudes are so hungry for ice fishing, they’re driving their SUVs out there onto the ice.
And shocker… it fell through.
If you’re not familiar, you need about 4 inches of good, hard ice to walk on it, about 6 inches for an ATV or sled, and at least a foot if you want to drive a good-sized truck or SUV on it. With how warm it has been, I don’t think anywhere in the state has a foot of ice right now.
This fella on the aforementioned Puckaway Lake, which is a big lake (5,000 acres) but it only gets about 5 feet deep, had about 4 inches of soft ice and fairly warm temps… nowhere near thick enough to be driving on. Seems like he drove it out there, fished, and then when he tried to drive back… it didn’t go well for him.
He hops out the driver’s side window as soon as it breaks through the ice, and it’s honestly almost impressive how fast he got out of the car… but the damage was done.
@mason.koerber Idiot #icefishing #fishing #ice #falling #unreal #earlyice #wisconsin #wi #fyp #foryoupage #share #viralvideo ♬ Broken Window Serenade – Isaiah Sheffield
OOF…
@hambino88 The aftermath… #ope #lakepuckaway #wisconsin @Andrew Duernberger ♬ original sound – Hambino88
What are you thinking? Luckily the lake is so shallow you can’t even really sink a car in it, but unlucky for this Jeep owner, he’s going to have quite the colorful conversation with his insurance company about this. The Jeep was reportedly pulled out on Sunday.
A number of commentors on the video happened to be fishing within view of the guy (not with vehicles, of course), and confirmed there was only about 4 inches of ice… which the guy in the Jeep would’ve learned when he drilled through it. But just watching the video from my couch, the ice doesn’t pass the eye test. Hell, I’m not super-experienced on the ice, but I’d probably be a little hesitant to be out there at all with how warm the weather has been so far this year, but to drive my vehicle out there? My 3 year old knows better than that….
Good ol’ Wisconsin, eh? I love it here.
Just give it a month and this could be you:
@dustinesselman Only in Wisconsin. #ice #icerace #wisconsin #lakepuckaway ♬ Wisconsin – Mary Mack
