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Show I WILDLIFE REPORT ' UTAH STATE DIVISION Or WILDLIFE RESOURCES f By Jon Leatham I - -rJ cfll Conservation Officer l I "" Wl Ice fishing at this time of year can be an exciting activity if you feel hardy enough to try. There are a few lakes in Utah which are open to ice fishing. One of the most popular is Flaming Gorge Reservoir Reser-voir in Daggett County. Fisheries experts report Antelope Flat, Lucerne Valley and Sheep Creek Bay at Flaming Gorge are safe for ice fishing. Reports Re-ports thus far also indicate indic-ate Bear Lake, Mantua Reservoir, Utah Lake and Yuba Reservoir to be safe for ice fishing. Fishermen Fisher-men should take note of current weather conditions condi-tions before venturing out, however. Warm weather wea-ther could melt ice enough to lessen its carrying car-rying capacity. It is best to check with a Parks and Recreation Officer, Conservation Con-servation Officer or Forest For-est Service personel on current ice conditions in the area you plan to fish. Learn the safe techniques tech-niques for ice fishing and practice them. Two of the more important things to remember are: do not congregate in one small, limited area, and be sure to keep your hole in the ice as small as possible. A hole of eight to ten inches in diameter at maximum is sufficentfor almost any fish you will likely catch. Large holes are uncessary and dangerous. dan-gerous. After being used, the hole can freeze slightly and then be covered cov-ered with falling or drifting drift-ing snow. An unsuspecting unsuspect-ing fisherman might fall through this potentially dangerous trap. So lets be sure to think of the other fellows safety as well as our own. Ice fishermen and other oth-er winter sportsmen may find this table of ice strength from the American Amer-ican Pulpwood Association Associa-tion helpful. The figures are for clear, blue ice on lakes. Reduce the strength values val-ues 15 per cent for clear, blue river ice. Slush ice is . only one-half the j strength of blue ice. The ; table applies only for . moving loads, not sta- i tionary. Ice thickness two in- ches, one person on foot; ice thickness 3 inches, group in single file; ice ; thickness 7-12 inches, ' passenger car (2 ton gross); ice thickness 10 inches, medium truck (3 ! 12 ton gross); ice ; thickness 20 inches, 25 tons; ice thickness 15 ', inches, 10 tons. Although the silk in a ! spider's wed seems fra- ; gile, it is really one of the strongest materials ; known. This material will ; stretch one fifth its leng- ', th before breaking and ; possesses a tensile; strength of steel. ' |
