# Ranger orders fisherman off 9" of ice



## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

One of my coworkers who lives in Columbus sent me this
http://www.abc6onyourside.com/shared/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wsyx_vid_2721.shtml


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

I don't buy for a second that ice is 9". Good call Ranger.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

I agree. There&#8217;s no way I&#8217;d step foot on my pond right now, let alone a river.


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## Pikedaddy (Jul 20, 2005)

It sounds to me like the ranger made a good call. Up here in the North East our ponds and lakes are still fine for fishing . The river is a whole different ball game, moving water can change in an instant. I don't know anybody who ice fishes the rivers in my area. I know that they ice fish the rivers up by the big lake , but that's all that I know of.


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## DaleM (Apr 5, 2004)

The call was the right thing to do.
I spent 25+ years on the Fire Dept. in that area and several times we had to rescue people off of the River that thought the ice was "safe" No river anywhere has safe ice. 
I'm surprised they didn't ticket them. I would hope adults had better sense than to go on the ice on a river. The guy that was ordered off made the comment he has been ice fishing for a long time and was on Indian a day or so before he was on the River. There is nothing the same about Indian and the river. He ought to be glad he has another day to get back on the ice, it could have been much worse.


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## foundationfisher (May 12, 2008)

i gotta agree. i've been ice fishing for 30+ years, and i'll never step on river ice in ohio.


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## fish master (Dec 24, 2005)

what ever floats or sinks ur boat, but iv always was told never to fish a river. no matter how tempting it is..but i dont think it should have been up to one guy to call it.. but thats why im not a PR i guess...~fish master~


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## booky (Oct 23, 2007)

Hasnt the ranger ever heard of thinning the heard?


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

Ahaha nice Booky


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## Muskarp (Feb 5, 2007)

1st off I wouldn't fish the river. But seriously, you guys saying they made the right call by kicking them off will eventually get yours. When big brother comes for your spot. Hell, most ice fisherman I've seen have been on ice they probably shouldn't have been on. Especially as ice honeycombs this time of year.


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## Lou K (Aug 30, 2007)

Been fishing river ice for over 10 years for crappie, gills, and steelies. You have to know what you are doing and running water doesn't eat away the ice that quick (the time it took to get out, go fishing, and then recross your entrance) or else when the river flooded you wouldn't see iceburgs 18" to 12" solid across. The biggest erosion occurs at the sides of the deepest side of the river and you can send out a plank, go to the end and drill a hole where the ice may be 8-10inches thick and by the shore it may only be an inch. Sure it can be tricky, but I can't say that nobody, nowhere, should ever fish a river in Ohio.

Not everyone has boats, ice fishing offers an inexpensive and very fun means to enjoy the wildlife. Safety is up to each angler in the end. That's why you don't go alone, but I can honestly say, you will miss a lot of great fishing if you never attempt the river ice especially in a winter like this one. 

I'm sure those guys new more about what they were doing then the Ranger who doesn't go ice fishing. Just my .02. We've all fished Lake Erie in too much wind and waves I'm sure as well.


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## FLT_TUBE_JNKY (Jun 6, 2006)

I stoped by greenlawn yesterday afternoon to see how much water was going over the spillway. Ranger was there and told me the story, there is 9" of ice in the cove where the boat launch is but whe west side of the river is ice free. He was there to make sure no one else decided to go out on the ice.


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## KaGee (Sep 8, 2006)

Ask the families in Fremont that recently lost 3 kids if river ice is safe.


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## DaleM (Apr 5, 2004)

> I'm sure those guys new more about what they were doing then the Ranger who doesn't go ice fishing. Just my .02. We've all fished Lake Erie in too much wind and waves I'm sure as well.



AS a matter of fact I seriously doubt they did. The Ranger is an ice fisherman and knows the danger of that area better than most do.
As I earlier said I worked in that area ( started in 1970) an the ice on the Rivers in this are are not "safe" the levels here vary as they pull water to keep the City's drinking water at the level that is needed. The 9" they quoted wasn't really close to 9" it may have been in a spoted area, but no way near 9" all over. That area has claimed way to many lifes in the past years. He was doing his job.
As for not having a boat, that has nothing to do with ice fishing. I've been ice fishing for almost 50 years, but still know Rivers are not the best place to ice fish. No one is doubting that it may be a good place to ice fish, just trying to make sure we don't read about another drowning for someone going out on what they think is safe ice.


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## Pikedaddy (Jul 20, 2005)

We have rangers for a reason . I think bashing them for doing there job is wrong . You guys have to remember rangers spend all day every day around bodies of water . I am pretty sure that they do know whats going on better than us. Most of the rangers out there are outdoors men , that's why they do that job.


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## Lou K (Aug 30, 2007)

I wasn't bashing a ranger for ordering people off the ice, but it sure sounded like the guys were out on safe ice, or else they wouldn't have been out there fishing, drilled their holes and what not before being told to get back in. There was someone on this thread who said no river ice is safe ever in the state of Ohio as well. And that my friend is fiction, especially in such a winter as we have had this year. I've been on river ice over 18" thick in the past 10 years on the river in Ohio.

Like another guy said, he doesn't think it's a good idea to ice fish a river, but it's the fact about big brother policing us. Just yesterday a guy got a ticket in Columbus for swerving to miss a pot hole. The police that were interviewed said, it's better to hit the pot hole than cause a wreck. Tell that to someone who ends up with a broken tyrod, belts busted out of a $200 tire etc. Instead he swerved and now may face $150 ticket.

Everyone's point is that "no ice" is "safe ice". Can't we just leave it at that?


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