January 6, 2025 • 5 mins
Chas Thompson with MI Ice Guys and Team USA Ice Fishing joins us to discuss ice fishing safety as temperatures are dropping enough to freeze lakes.
More information can be found here: https://miiceguys.com/
More information can be found here: https://miiceguys.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And this is West Michigan's morning News Steve Kelly and
Red Bikinis. Schmidee. You'll be back with us soon, back
in the studio. One of our favorite guests, member of
Team USA Ice Fishing Ami iceguys dot Com, Chas Thompson,
Welcome back.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Good morning guys.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Usually it's all good news and we're fired up and
excited to talk about ice fishing. But we've had a
fatality already. We've had a bunch of near misses and
yesterday at East Grand Rapids, thirteen year old girl falls
through the ice.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's been like the Darwin Awards ice.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It's creepy out there, and now the temperatures are starting
you said, making it it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It's we're at the temperature where about every night we're
gonna get an inch ice once a lake locks up
and what I mean by that completely frozen across and
once it gets to that point, and we got nights
in the teens, days in the twenties, it makes about
an inch a night until it gets to about six
inches and it's gonna slow down a little bit. But
(00:57):
it's good ice because there's no snow. We missed that
bullet with that big storm went south of us. Dump
snow down south. That snow insulates and makes weaker ice.
So we're in the running for some good stuff. But
I ain't gonna tell you it's there yet. I mean,
we've had the stories I sent you, that one about
(01:18):
the lady that her dog chased the deer out on
the ice. The deer fell through. Then the little dog.
I mean, how big is your dog?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, sixty pounds.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Sixty pounds, Okay, you're more than sixty pounds, I bet. Yeah.
So what class in high school did you skip that
thinks the ice is going to hold you if your
dog fell through. Don't be that person. Okay, when you
go out on the ice, you need to do some
safe things. Number one, don't go alone. That's just ridiculous.
(01:49):
I mean, don't stand right next to each other either.
You want to be each other's rescue. Take a spud.
Spud's a big steel bar that you can chisel through
the ice with you like two good hits of that
that don't go through before you walk on it. I'm
a pretty good sized guy, but I still wear a
floating suit.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
That's amazing the technology in a suit that helps save
your life. I mean who knew right.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Well, you know everybody used to say, oh I got
car hearts. You ever had a wet pair of car
hearts on? Yeah, that's like putting a millstone around your neck.
You're going to the bottom. They don't dry out in
two years. So these modern suits, they're windproof. They got
lots of pockets for all your stuff, and they float
if you buy the good one. And if you're out
there listening in your fishermen in your house doesn't have
(02:39):
one and you like them, you might want to consider
buying them one, because this is the best safety device
out there.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
So Chaz, with all that said, what are you looking
at right now? Like, if we continue which we're supposed
to this weather, you know, could you be ice fishing
safely in some of the lakes by the weekend or not.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I'm playing Saturday, probably be checking lakes north of Grand Rapit. Okay,
you get up around that, you know the N. Forty
six line, You're going to be probably finding some that
are decent. And when I say decent, I'm saying two
three inches in most lake. But you got to look
out for things where there might be springs or weeds
(03:17):
coming through or a current from a stream.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Flowing in, especially that big Rapids quarter, because they're usually
about ten degrees colder than we are even right.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
You got those dips where it gets super cold like
that up or around there. You've got the ones out
towards the lake shore where they've been get lake in effects. No,
they're not going to be as thick. So center part
of the state. Get north of Grand Rapids, maybe off
to the east, and you can check some lakes, but
it's early ice procedure. Check the ice. Carry some other
(03:49):
safety equipment with you. You know, everybody talks about the
old school picks where you can climb out of the
ice yourself. Yeah, they're great to have, but don't have
them buried in some pocket where you can't get to them.
I thread them through my arms like Grandma used to
do with your mittens, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Oh yeah, Bill cos what do you call those idiot mittens?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah yeah, But when you scream and fail your arms
going through the ice, they pop right out like a
inspector gadget tool. So they're right there for you.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Here's the thing to remember that that jazz is talking
about too, honestly, because I was changing a trailer tire
because you know me, I'm a snowbill guy, right, Yeah,
And I was digging into because I was on my
mom's driveway up in Rockford. I was digging into the ground.
The ground isn't even frozen until basically about this week
when we started to get colder temperatures, it started to
do that. So if the ground isn't frozen, certainly the
(04:36):
lakes have some work to do.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah. There, they just turned, you know, before the first
of the year, to where now the bottoms are warmer
than the tops, and it's slowly making ice at this
first juncture. But the forecast looks great, like we're gonna
proceed on and it's some good ice. So we're gonna
have a season this year and it's gonna be great. Now.
(04:58):
The other thing I really like to have people carry
with him is the throw rope. That way, if you're rescuing.
If Steve and I go out and I got to
rescue Steve because he got a little aggressive and went
out a little fast, he goes through, I can throw
that about thirty foot rope right over the top of
his head and no matter how he flails, he's going
to get tangled. Up in it and then I can
(05:19):
yank him out from safer ice.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
You will find the podcast through miiiskys dot com and
we'll put that link in the podcast section at woodradio
dot com.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
We're at a time, Steve, but we got to talk
about the World Ice Fishing Championships. They're coming to Grand Rapids.
What when Valentine's weekend?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Oh my gosh, you gotta come back. Yeah, when do
you start? You got to come back. We'll talk about
that as we get a little closer. I had no idea.
Chas Thompson, Team USA Ice FISHINGMI iceguys dot com. Thank
you for coming in today. We'll see you in February.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah,
And this is West Michigan's morning News Steve Kelly and
Red Bikinis. Schmidee. You'll be back with us soon, back
in the studio. One of our favorite guests, member of
Team USA Ice Fishing Ami iceguys dot Com, Chas Thompson,
Welcome back.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Good morning guys.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Usually it's all good news and we're fired up and
excited to talk about ice fishing. But we've had a
fatality already. We've had a bunch of near misses and
yesterday at East Grand Rapids, thirteen year old girl falls
through the ice.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's been like the Darwin Awards ice.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
It's creepy out there, and now the temperatures are starting
you said, making it it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It's we're at the temperature where about every night we're
gonna get an inch ice once a lake locks up
and what I mean by that completely frozen across and
once it gets to that point, and we got nights
in the teens, days in the twenties, it makes about
an inch a night until it gets to about six
inches and it's gonna slow down a little bit. But
(00:57):
it's good ice because there's no snow. We missed that
bullet with that big storm went south of us. Dump
snow down south. That snow insulates and makes weaker ice.
So we're in the running for some good stuff. But
I ain't gonna tell you it's there yet. I mean,
we've had the stories I sent you, that one about
(01:18):
the lady that her dog chased the deer out on
the ice. The deer fell through. Then the little dog.
I mean, how big is your dog?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, sixty pounds.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Sixty pounds, Okay, you're more than sixty pounds, I bet. Yeah.
So what class in high school did you skip that
thinks the ice is going to hold you if your
dog fell through. Don't be that person. Okay, when you
go out on the ice, you need to do some
safe things. Number one, don't go alone. That's just ridiculous.
(01:49):
I mean, don't stand right next to each other either.
You want to be each other's rescue. Take a spud.
Spud's a big steel bar that you can chisel through
the ice with you like two good hits of that
that don't go through before you walk on it. I'm
a pretty good sized guy, but I still wear a
floating suit.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
That's amazing the technology in a suit that helps save
your life. I mean who knew right.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Well, you know everybody used to say, oh I got
car hearts. You ever had a wet pair of car
hearts on? Yeah, that's like putting a millstone around your neck.
You're going to the bottom. They don't dry out in
two years. So these modern suits, they're windproof. They got
lots of pockets for all your stuff, and they float
if you buy the good one. And if you're out
there listening in your fishermen in your house doesn't have
(02:39):
one and you like them, you might want to consider
buying them one, because this is the best safety device
out there.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
So Chaz, with all that said, what are you looking
at right now? Like, if we continue which we're supposed
to this weather, you know, could you be ice fishing
safely in some of the lakes by the weekend or not.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I'm playing Saturday, probably be checking lakes north of Grand Rapit. Okay,
you get up around that, you know the N. Forty
six line, You're going to be probably finding some that
are decent. And when I say decent, I'm saying two
three inches in most lake. But you got to look
out for things where there might be springs or weeds
(03:17):
coming through or a current from a stream.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Flowing in, especially that big Rapids quarter, because they're usually
about ten degrees colder than we are even right.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
You got those dips where it gets super cold like
that up or around there. You've got the ones out
towards the lake shore where they've been get lake in effects. No,
they're not going to be as thick. So center part
of the state. Get north of Grand Rapids, maybe off
to the east, and you can check some lakes, but
it's early ice procedure. Check the ice. Carry some other
(03:49):
safety equipment with you. You know, everybody talks about the
old school picks where you can climb out of the
ice yourself. Yeah, they're great to have, but don't have
them buried in some pocket where you can't get to them.
I thread them through my arms like Grandma used to
do with your mittens, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Oh yeah, Bill cos what do you call those idiot mittens?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah yeah, But when you scream and fail your arms
going through the ice, they pop right out like a
inspector gadget tool. So they're right there for you.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Here's the thing to remember that that jazz is talking
about too, honestly, because I was changing a trailer tire
because you know me, I'm a snowbill guy, right, Yeah,
And I was digging into because I was on my
mom's driveway up in Rockford. I was digging into the ground.
The ground isn't even frozen until basically about this week
when we started to get colder temperatures, it started to
do that. So if the ground isn't frozen, certainly the
(04:36):
lakes have some work to do.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah. There, they just turned, you know, before the first
of the year, to where now the bottoms are warmer
than the tops, and it's slowly making ice at this
first juncture. But the forecast looks great, like we're gonna
proceed on and it's some good ice. So we're gonna
have a season this year and it's gonna be great. Now.
(04:58):
The other thing I really like to have people carry
with him is the throw rope. That way, if you're rescuing.
If Steve and I go out and I got to
rescue Steve because he got a little aggressive and went
out a little fast, he goes through, I can throw
that about thirty foot rope right over the top of
his head and no matter how he flails, he's going
to get tangled. Up in it and then I can
(05:19):
yank him out from safer ice.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
You will find the podcast through miiiskys dot com and
we'll put that link in the podcast section at woodradio
dot com.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
We're at a time, Steve, but we got to talk
about the World Ice Fishing Championships. They're coming to Grand Rapids.
What when Valentine's weekend?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Oh my gosh, you gotta come back. Yeah, when do
you start? You got to come back. We'll talk about
that as we get a little closer. I had no idea.
Chas Thompson, Team USA Ice FISHINGMI iceguys dot com. Thank
you for coming in today. We'll see you in February.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah,
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