DANGER THIN ICE ON EAGLE LAKE IN CARVER COUNTY

[GOLDTIP]

was leaving tonight was driving slower and felt a big bump  and my buddy said hey your back wheel just broke through the ice and i felt sick got out and looked and sure nuf it did apparently there is a spring there or something we drilled several holes around it and it varied from 3-16" can anyone tell me about springs   by the way it located off of the beach in between three houses  any help on the nature of springs would be useful

[jigglestick]

Got out?
I would have had that foot feed smashed tight against the floor board!
aint no time for pussy footin' :o

like they say, the ice is never safe.

don't know much about springs, but I have lived across the road from deer lake for 13 years now and I have never seen 1 vehicle out there ever. access is easy enough too.
the rumors spread about bad spots in the ice because of springs.
apparently those rumors get alot of respect.
I have been out there on snomobile and four wheeler. it looks like any other lake ice to me, but you never know.

[GRIZ]

I'm assuming the ice was good at one point. If it has been this way all the time and your the unlucky one who found it, then I'd guess methane gas. I've run into that a couple times while trappin.

Is it on the north end of the lake? Generally springs are on the north end of a lake. Just thinking of it, I can't think of a lake that has one on the south side.

I don't really know why that is but I do have an opinion on it. It's a simple matter of a spring being a headwaters. Just think of the lake as a widening of the river/creek. Around here they all flow south.

It would be interesting to here from people where the rivers flow north. I am wondering if the springs would be on the south end??

How far did you drill these test holes to find the ice thickness? If there happened to be a snowdrift during the ice making days the drift could have acted as an insulator.

Either way 3" to 16" is a wide variance. We have a lake around here that nobody drives on, with good reason. I seen this lake open up the up on the coldest day of the yr. Out in the middle opened up the size of a football field for no apparent reason. That was the same yr that lake opened up down near the sillys for no apparent reason.

Sorry to ramble on, prolly just made things more confusing.

[Joe]

Are you sure it's not from the aerator?

[GOLDTIP]

thanks griz yes it is more towards the north end of the lake i drilled approx 10' around the area and had a solid 16" as i got closer it varied from 3-14" within 3' of the spot i fell through     JOE i was told today that my buddies were checking things after i left and said the water was really warm so im mpretty sure it was a spring  they started the aerator on thursday morn and we r at least 125yds from it and about 30yds outside of the warning signs  what is your opinion i think we should be ok  or maybe not the fishing isnt any good lately anyway so i think im going to move the house today where i caught  fish last year about this time   WHAT DO YA GUYS THINK is it cause for concern anymore or not  besides drilling a bunch of holes everywhere

[Reder]

There were 2 active springs out there earlier this year. One where you were at at one out toward the middle. They have nothing to do with the aerators. these spots were really bad when we were first taking our wheelers out there at first ice. There was a bad spot last year closer to the beach. all you had to do was kick really hard with your foot and you had a hole to fish in. As far as springs always on the north side of the lake, don't believe it. There were springs all over on Waconia this year and 3 of them were on the south side. The one on the north side of the Island never got safe all winter. someone drove close to it during that really cold spell and it opened right back up.