This past week, three anglers fell through ice on Lake Champlain and died. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department issued an advisory for people to stay off the ice and to be extremely cautious on all other bodies of water.
On Thursday 62-year-old Wayne Alexander of Grand Isle, Vermont died when he fell through the ice near the Grand Isle State Park. Then on Saturday 71-year-old John Fleury of Williamstown and 88-year-old Wayne Fleury of East Montpelier died after the enclosed UTV the brothers were driving at nearby Keeler Bay fell through the ice.
State officials issued a warning that the ice on Lake Champlain is unsafe. Christopher Herrick is Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“We’re specifically worried about the ice conditions on Lake Champlain. It’s a large body of water and the temperatures have been fluctuating, as you know, in the area. And so those conditions can be dangerous right now and that’s why we’re advising people to stay off the ice on Lake Champlain. In other bodies of water, smaller ones, the warm temperatures haven’t had the impact that we’ve seen on taking ice away like we have on Lake Champlain. So while we are advising people to be very cautious on those, it’s more of a concern about the greater lake.”
3rd Alarm Charters is a fishing guide service based in Vergennes. Captain Matt Trombley says you must be familiar with the body of water and ice conditions no matter what you are doing on the ice.
“We do see a lot of folks on the ice from snowmobilers, ATVers, kids with hockey and skating etcetera. And a lot of times people assume well there’s ice fishermen out there, the whole lake’s got to be safe. And this year it is not the case. There is definitely varied ice conditions from one body of water to the next. And, of course with elevation too. If you’ve got lakes that are in the higher terrain above 1,500 feet, they’ve been traditionally colder, so they’re going to have deeper ice thickness. You’ve got to really know every body of water, especially on a season like this.”
Trombley says they precheck the ice at any potential ice fishing location.
“We go out and check the ice with a tool called a spud bar. So we would go out and check the ice, drill some holes and not being near any sort of inlet or outlet where there’s moving water. If you’ve got a creek or a brook that runs into a body of water it’s going to have a different temperature than that surface water around the lake and again it’s going to weaken the ice in that area.”
Many anglers on the ice don’t use guide services. Town of Moriah Councilman Matt Brassard (“BRASS-ard”) is an avid winter angler who began more than 30 years ago with his father and uncles. He says he is always concerned about safety.
“Definitely never go out alone. I always have a set of creepers under my boots. Ice picks around my neck so if I did fall through, I can at least try to pull myself out of the hole and if I can’t I at least can hold on. There’s a thing they call a spud bar. It’s basically a chisel with a really sharp point on it and as you walk you hit it. You know if you hit it one time and it goes through that’s a sign that you probably shouldn’t be on the ice.”
But this year, during the unseasonable warmth, Brassard says he hasn’t stepped out on Lake Champlain.
“For me to go out and feel comfortable I like at least 4 inches of good black ice, which no place right now has just pure black ice. So ice conditions like what we have right now I myself probably wouldn’t go on anything less than 6 or 7 inches of ice right now.”
Commissioner Herrick says the lake at Keeler Bay is 47 feet deep and ice was 2 inches thick on Saturday. The National Weather Service reports Lake Champlain’s water temperature at 36 degrees Tuesday in Burlington.
