Crack

[eyeguy 54]

saw this on facebook. from the 19th. said red lake.  yowzer! 

[leech~~]

Ouch!

[kelly-p]

That had to be scary to suddenly move that far. Just a pressure ridge blowing miles away usually sends everyone rushing out the door of their house. Then when you get outside you realize that it was just a pressure ridge blowing and feel kind of stupid for being scared and hope nobody saw you. Then you look around and everybody is out of their houses pretending that they were not scared. Just stepped out for some fresh air.  I would guess that that crack must be almost in front of the door on the other side.

 

Column by Brad Dokken

 

It started as a distant rumble, like a freight train on the horizon.

Comfortably settled in our "sleeper" fish house on the south shore of Lake of the Woods, we all knew the sound. Not a train, but ice, a living skin between air and water as it thickened and expanded and groaned.

Think of angry seas. Frozen angry seas.

Rapidly gathering steam, the sound grew to a deafening crescendo as it passed below our feet. Walls shook. Water in holes drilled through 20 inches of ice bobbed.

The sound, which has echoed through untold ages on this frozen water, triggers a primitive, primordial emotion in human psyches. For a few seconds, all other thoughts ceased to exist as the sound overtook our senses and sent at least one member of our group -- and maybe more -- instinctively scrambling for the door.

Then, as soon as it arrived, the sound was gone, rumbling off on the horizon for distant, unseen destinations.

We caught our breaths, laughed the nervous laugh that comes from enduring an intense experience and went about our business of resting, relaxing and fishing from the comfort of our heated fish house.

All bladders survived intact.

There was no danger involved with this encounter. Only a sense of awe, of temporary fear. This was just ice on a big lake doing what ice on a big lake sometimes does. And when that ice is 20 inches thick, the result can be noisy.

[ozzie]

well they had a nice area open up to "troll" in!!!  WOW I have been out there and had some loud rumbles and seen some pressure ridges form but to have a crack of that magnitude form under the house would make a guys cheeks pucker!!

[ozzie]

confused by the pic though as to why it is still set up on the crack?  unless it shifted that much from the crack as you can see the little snow that is there from the banking of the house. 

[leech~~]

Any word how this all turned out for them?

[BartmanMN]

33 minutes ago, ozzie said:

confused by the pic though as to why it is still set up on the crack?  unless it shifted that much from the crack as you can see the little snow that is there from the banking of the house. 

 

Yeah, looks like they just 'went with it' and turned the house to align with their holes and kept fishing.

[kelly-p]

25 minutes ago, ozzie said:

confused by the pic though as to why it is still set up on the crack? 

The ice on the left hand side of the picture shifted to the left and up on the picture taking that end of the house with it pulling the house away from the banking on the other side of the crack. From what I heard they got it out of out of there without any damage.

  Years ago Shorty Hillman had people in a wood skid house over night. When Shorty got out there to check on them in the morning they were gone and all their stuff was still in the house. A crack had come across the lake and came right between the froze down skids. It pulled the house apart 1 1/2 feet right down the middle. Imagine being in the house in the dark, a big boom and the house splits.  The fishermen never came back for their stuff that was left in the house.

[ozzie]

that makes sense Kelly...I can't imagine the feeling one would have being in that situation!  WOW

[Hoey]

lucky to have some slack in the power cord or the geny would have been on the bottom.

[cookie129]

This happen ed to me year s ago The ice was 24 inches so the house was not blocked, The runners were froze in just enough so as the crack widen it ripped the 3 inch long welds apart and the house dropped 6 inches right into the crack. Then to boot  a front came in at it was 2o below with nw wind at 30 as I and tom repaired it right where it set .  Plus the way it cracked I had to drive on to a floating ice berg  as it had crack into a giant triange

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

My fishing partner and I were the ones who showed up to help these guys out.  No damage that we could see, even from the wheel dropping in the crack when it got yanked across.   Super good guys, just in the wrong place at the wrong time.    

[Living_The_Dream]

Looks like an opportunity to do a little ice fishing trolling.

[shaky legs2]

I was taking a nap one day in the fish house when the fly boys buzzed us and the sonic boom woke me up.  I thought the ice had heaved right under the house 

[ozzie]

had that happen once or twice also Shaky and what a sound that is!!!  hahaha

[kelly-p]

Hey shaky legs it's good to see that you still check on us once in a while. I was thinking of you and Doc the other day when I tried a spot you guys fished at a few years ago.  I started in 5 feet of water but decided that  I was too shallow so I moved deeper,,,, to 5 1/2 feet of water. It worked.  That was a fun spot and a lot of good memories of you and Doc. Beacons has put together a pretty good lake crew. Straight and wide roads. Pretty much all I do anymore is try stay out of the young pups way.

Living_The_Dream, You couldn't troll in that crack. I've been around you enough to know that you would get lost before you got to the crack.

  Speaking of cracks I saw some people having a bad time today. I was at the end of a new stretch of road Beacon's was putting out today watching over the plow driver in case he had any trouble. I looked out further southwest and there was a vehicle out there where none of us, not even Buddy Hillman dare go yet. Looking through the glass's we could see that it was a pickup nosed down into a crack or something. I called Westwind and Buddy to let them know that someone was in trouble out there and found out that it was someone that had been fishing on the south side of the lake and just decided to drive all the way across the lake to fish on the north side. I guess they found out why none of us were driving vehicles out there. The last  I heard someone was going to try get to them from the south side of the lake.

 

[cookie129]

They call me last night. They found some guys out there 2 miles away and walked over to them. he was able to pick his way over there and jerk them out. They plan on fishing with there wheelers the rest of the weekend.

[shaky legs2]

On 12/30/2016 at 9:41 PM, kelly-p said:

Hey shaky legs it's good to see that you still check on us once in a while. I was thinking of you and Doc the other day when I tried a spot you guys fished at a few years ago.  I started in 5 feet of water but decided that  I was too shallow so I moved deeper,,,, to 5 1/2 feet of water. It worked.  That was a fun spot and a lot of good memories of you and Doc. Beacons has put together a pretty good lake crew. Straight and wide roads. Pretty much all I do anymore is try stay out of the young pups way.

Living_The_Dream, You couldn't troll in that crack. I've been around you enough to know that you would get lost before you got to the crack.

  Speaking of cracks I saw some people having a bad time today. I was at the end of a new stretch of road Beacon's was putting out today watching over the plow driver in case he had any trouble. I looked out further southwest and there was a vehicle out there where none of us, not even Buddy Hillman dare go yet. Looking through the glass's we could see that it was a pickup nosed down into a crack or something. I called Westwind and Buddy to let them know that someone was in trouble out there and found out that it was someone that had been fishing on the south side of the lake and just decided to drive all the way across the lake to fish on the north side. I guess they found out why none of us were driving vehicles out there. The last  I heard someone was going to try get to them from the south side of the lake.

 

 

[shaky legs2]

Someone needs to check up on you to keep you honest.  One of Doc's boys had the fish house up on Red over the weekend so if Freddy was acting strange that might have been the reason.  I remember that shallow bite.  Purple smelt flyer with a minnow head and poofing the bottom like you taught us was the ticket.  Whenever Doc and I get together we talk about you, Patsy, Jon, grandpa, and of course Fred.  Great memories that can never be taken away.  I hope all is well with you and you have a good safe year ahead of you.

[gunner55]

 Miss Doc & Shaky's regular reports from up there, always good for a couple laughs

[kelly-p]

13 hours ago, gunner55 said:

 Miss Doc & Shaky's regular reports from up there, always good for a couple laughs

I just hope that someday I can get a "flurfy".  "Put it in the bucket shaky", again and again and again. If I remember right one of those shallow water places were 28 fish for Doc and 2 for shaky. I still feel that shaky hooked on to an old, old sturgeon that night. If it had been a better fisherman we might know for sure.  Fred would eat a bag full of dog biscuits sitting by shaky while shaky gave them to him.  The last biscuit Fred ate was the last time shaky gave him one. Fred has never touched a dog biscuit since.

[shaky legs2]

I miss that Dog.  Give him a hug from me.

[gunner55]

I seem to remember a rather lengthy discussion on minnows. What kind? How to hook them? How to fish them? What sex? Seems like it was at least 2-3 pages  Or how when Fred got rid of those biscuits, they knew that was a good place to fish, was another. Had me lmao

Edited January 4, 2017 by gunner55

[kelly-p]

12 hours ago, shaky legs2 said:

I miss that Dog.  Give him a hug from me.

Even after he turned your grill into yellow frozen "art".

[shaky legs2]

He not only turned our grill into frozen art but our cooler, slush bucket and everything else outside the house.  It was his way of saying that this is my house where I get bicuits and no other dog better venture in.  Over the years, Freddy marked some pretty good fishing spots for us.  Gunnar55, a lot of people don't feel that the minnow's sex makes a difference but not me.  The female fathead has a pointy nose, silvery sides with a white belly while the male has a blunt nose with little bumps and is much darker in color.  I think the flash and light color makes a difference.  As far as hooking them, I prefer to hook them through the bung hole if fishing a dead stick with a bare hook or a jig like a Demon or Phelps Tick.  Doc taught me that. For jigging with a Flyer or Buckshot Rattle the minnow head with guts trailing is the ticket.  Sometime when I am in the mood I will try to relate what Kelly and his family have meant to the Red Lake Fishery over the years.  If you have never read "On the Trail" I highly recommend it.  Five generations and still going strong in URL.  My personal history with the Lake dates from the early 60's but I have to say that it WA until 1998 and the beginning of the crappie days that I returned to the lake and met characters like Kelly.  Hudecs, Jim and the Waskish Minnow Station, Ibots, Fire engine red truck and press board houses, The pressure ridge bite where Kelly never had to move his houses all year, the Crappie highway and so many more.  So many stores so little time