Ice Castle removal - end of saga

Mark W

Mark W

Well-known member
For all those interested - the Ice Castle has been safely remoed from it's frozed watery hole. Step one occurred Friday evening and the final move occurred on Saturady. I was there Saturday and watched the action unfold.

Upon arrival at the lake, I noticed a 20' round crater/depression in the ie where the Ice Castle was sitting. Now things were beginning to make sense. It seems that the weight of the shack started the ice on a concave journey. As the ice started sinking, the holes that were drilled were lower than the water level and the water overflowed out of these holes and formed a lake around the ice shack (no water went up through the holes and intot he shack which is a good thing). Eventually this depression measured 10' in all directions from the shack. When the water froze, it trapped the Ice Castle. Funny hting was they couldn't even get into the shack as the woodn steps had "floated" in the water and when that water froze, the steps prevented the door from being opened.

Note depresssion around shack which has been jacked up onto 2" X 10"'s

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Anyway, on Friday a group of individuals armed with two pick ups full of rescue gear hit the ice. As it was only 11.5" think, they did not drive the vehicles onto the ice (smart move afte the dumb move of putting the shack out on thinner ice). Step one was to take some IceMelt and put it around the tongue jack. Next step was to start chipping away at the ice surrounding the tires. As they were doing this, they noticed the ice melt had melted the ice around the jack and was going all the way through the ice. They immediately lifted the jack and put some wood under it to prevent it from going all the way through the ice.

They kept chipping away at the ice around the wheels and slowly jacked up the rear quater while doing so. Eventually they were able to get all 4 tires out of the ice.

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End result - no one was hurt and everythign was saved. We moved the Ice Castle to a different location on the lake where it rests today. Since we were there, we did a little fishing before closing down for the day. My Son caught a few good sized gills and I was skunked for the first time this year. Figures this always happens when I'm fishing with my boy.

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Mark W

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Mark,

I was wondering about that when I was out on the ice this weekend. Always a good thing when retrieval is from above the ice rather than below the ice. :>)

Now about you getting skunked,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I guess I'll not mention the fact I had to quit fishing early when I reached my trout limit in two hours. Oops, I just mentioned it.
 
What kind of trout?
We used to catch nice brookies in one lake back in PA, they were stocked in the spring and had all summer & fall to fatten up.
They bite best in 2-3' of water, right against the rocky shoreline.
We'd lay down on the ice and look in the hole while jigging, watch them come up & grab the bait.
It was pretty cool to watch.
 
Thanks for the follow-up. That place looks like a palace.
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My cousin has a different mind set when it comes to stuff like this. His living is made in the fishing industry and anything fishing related - he goes top shelf. Should see his boat. Every year he gets a new one.

Lucky me - I take him hunting, he takes me fishing. Good trade as far as I am concerned.

That Ice Castle has everything. Stove, microwave, Dish TV, 10 fishing holes. 4 beds and a table that converts to another one, bay windows etc... No toilette. They had the option but chose to not do so. They can put one of those portables in the area behind my cousin (the place you mention Tod) and when spending entire weekends out on Lake of the Woods or Mille Lacs, they do so.

This is a far cry from my 2 man flip over. To tell the truth - for fishing I prefer mine. For everything else that goes with fishing, I prefer his. As mine is so mobile, if there are no fish, it takes me 2 minutes to fold down and move. It takes significantly longer in his.

Anyway - good day to be out of the house. Little on the cold side but nothing too bad. Last week was cold and with the wind, it was difficult to keep the shack stationary. This week is shaping up to be a great ice fishing week and it appears I may be travelling for work. I'm heading to Knoxville IA Dave, you anywhere near there?

Mark W
 
Mark,

Knoxville is about three hours south of me. How many days will you be there?
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Go down tomorrow and return when we are done with our factory experiments. Could be Wednesday evening, could be Friday or worse. These things never go as planned.

Where/how do you catch rainbow trout ice fishing? That would be a neat thing to see?

Mark W
 
Where/how do you catch rainbow trout ice fishing? That would be a neat thing to see?
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Mark,

Iowa DNR stocks several small ponds over the winter. This pond max depth is around 18ft. The trout will be anywhere from bottom to just under the ice. They tend to roam as packs so the fishing comes in spurts. I usually jig a jigging Rapapla or a jigging spoon tipped with wax worms.
 
Never caught a rainbow through the ice, just brookies. We used wax worms on teardrop jigs.
 
Now is Dave catchin' "rainbow" trout from one of those blue ice castles (portajon)? Those could also be called sewer trout. hehe Trip.
 
Does it even have a shitter in it? Looks like maybe to the right rear of the photo. Yeah, looks like it, but not much privacy.........
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Having stayed out on the ice for several days a few times 'privacy' would be the last thing I'd worry about at that point. :) When you know you don't have to go anywhere to fish, sleep or eat things get consumed that are best not disposed of in a confined area. Thankfully the wheelhouses I've stayed in did not have indoor plumbing, a small portable outside makes a good outhouse.

Mark,
Glad you were able to get it out without damage. I agree with you that for catching fish a small flip over is the best... but there is still a lot to like about a big wheelhouse.

Tim
 
Does it even have a shitter in it? Looks like maybe to the right rear of the photo. Yeah, looks like it, but not much privacy.........
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Having stayed out on the ice for several days a few times 'privacy' would be the last thing I'd worry about at that point. :) When you know you don't have to go anywhere to fish, sleep or eat things get consumed that are best not disposed of in a confined area. Thankfully the wheelhouses I've stayed in did not have indoor plumbing, a small portable outside makes a good outhouse.

Mark,
Glad you were able to get it out without damage. I agree with you that for catching fish a small flip over is the best... but there is still a lot to like about a big wheelhouse.

Tim
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My ice castle would have a shitter with a fan.
 
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