CAMPING ON THE ICE
How to stay comfortable, safe, and productive on overnight ice excursions
Whether it be to save money on lodging, maximize your time on productive spots, or for the shear adventure of sleeping on a frozen lake, many hard-water anglers consider overnighting in their shelters.
I found the tricks I learned sleeping on the frozen ground during Army exercises enhanced my overnight ice fishing experiences. I hope to share a few of those tips so you can be comfortable, safe, and productive.
CATCHING SOME FISH SLEEP!
An overnight trip requires its own set of gear. In the Army, our 10-man tents had no floor (much like a hub style fishing shelter), but we still slept directly on the ground on waterproof ground sheets, using a sleeping mat, and a layered sleeping bag system. Comparatively, you will want a floor system in your shelter to insulate your feet from the thermal draw of the ice. More importantly, it will keep your heat source from melting the snowpack and limit the buildup of humidity. The greatest enemy to sleeping bags and insulated shelters is moisture.
Next, elevate yourself with a cot. This will bring you closer to the warm air in your shelter. Add a sleeping mat. In the Army, we did this to add a layer of insulation and not so much to aid comfort. Even with an elevated cot, the extra layer will make a big difference.
A sleeping bag system that incorporates several layers is recommended. The Army system consists of an inner and outer sleeping bag, a liner, and a waterproof “bivy” bag to protect it all. Modular setups like this are great as you can add or remove layers as needed; however, they are expensive. An alternative is to make a liner out of a flannel sheet and layer two less expensive sleeping bags inside each other. The liner adds another layer of trapped, warm air but more importantly wicks moisture. Finally, the less layers of clothes you sleep in the warmer you will be. This way you are allowing your body heat to warm the insulating air in your sleeping bag.
SAFETY
Besides getting used to sleeping through the tremendous booms and cracks of the frozen lake, there is little hazard to sleeping on stable ice. The biggest danger comes from your chosen source of heat.
A heating source that vents the exhaust out of the shelter is ideal so that the water vapor and gases produced during combustion cannot build up in your shelter. Unfortunately, there are almost no commercially available vented propane heaters, and it is impractical to lug around a wood stove. Alternatively, diesel heaters, originally designed to heat tractor truck sleeper cabs, have surfaced, but my experience using them has been lackluster. They only produce the heat of a small propane heater and require a 12-volt source to work.
RADIANT PROPANE HEATERS
Most anglers reach for a radiant propane heater. Convenient and very warm, they unfortunately produce water vapor as part of the exhaust. Of bigger concern is the potential for carbon monoxide (CO) gas poisoning. The danger of CO is that it binds to the parts of your blood designed to carry oxygen throughout your body. CO is always produced during combustion, so the only safe way to keep the levels low is to have fresh air ventilate your shelter.
A common misconception is that CO is a different density than air. It is effectively the same density as air and as such, distributes evenly in an enclosed space. To combat this, leave an opening at the windward side of your shelter and open the venting on the opposite side. This way, fresh air will wash through your tent from bottom to top. A fresh air intake at ground level, such as a small tunnel under the snow flap, will also help keep the snow and ice from melting in your shelter.
STAYING EFFICIENT
The whole point of overnighting is to maximize your fishing time. All your effort to be a ‘first in, last out’ weekend warrior can be wasted through excessive gear management. To minimize the gear shuffle, I use an oversized, waterproof hockey bag to store all the overnight gear. I strap this storage to the top of my gear sled so it can be set aside quickly each time I set up for fishing. None of the overnight items get in the way of accessing my fishing gear.
The additional meals can also be a time-consuming task. Taking the time to prepare ready-to-eat meals before leaving home is key. Packing hardy soups or stews in a thermos or keeping it simple with precooked foods such as sausage or canned foods makes for a frugal, but efficient meal. Vacuum sealed cooked meals, reminiscent of the Individual Meal Packs (IMPs) I had in the Army, offer the convenience of a ‘heat and eat’ approach by heating the sealed bags in hot water.
POTTY PATROL
The unspoken bit about ice fishing also leads us to be the most underprepared to deal with it appropriately. Fortunately, there is an easy way to collect, store, and dispose of waste. A portable toilet is easily constructed with a garbage bag lining a 20-liter pail, held in place with a pool noodle cut to length and slit lengthwise to grip the rim of the pail. After each use, add some snow to the waste to absorb and start freezing. Each bag can then be tied shut, placed in the bottom of the pail and a new one installed. Baby wipes, one of the best items in a soldier’s kit, will keep one fresh as well as convenient for cleaning one’s face, hands, and dishes.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overnight stays on the ice are becoming more commonplace. In some jurisdictions, this has resulted in legislation making sleeping in your ice shelter against the law. Please check your regulations before proceeding. More importantly, ensure to do so in a safe manner.
THE PROBLEM WITH PROPANE
The convenience of propane can lead to disaster in extreme cold conditions. Several years ago on a lake trout trip, we faced several calamities. In the middle of an arctic air mass, we bravely (or foolishly) continued to fish. Celebrating his very first lake trout with a nice grilled steak, my fishing partner managed to freeze his hand attempting to hook up a propane tank to the barbeque. The hose, not rated for cold weather, snapped.
We decided to leave our hub-style shelter set up with all our gear in place over night to save setup. The tank top heater that kept us toasty warm the day prior had drawn so much humidity from the uncovered snow that we found an inch of hoar frost covering the inside of the shelter the next morning. There was a noticeable drop in insulating properties, not to mention an indoor rainstorm as the frost melted! It also took about an hour to dry out the heater orifices and warm the propane tank enough to regain the necessary pressure to run the heaters.
The final folly came while dealing with a frozen diesel truck engine whose block heater cord melted. We decided to heat the engine with our propane heater, but the extreme cold started to gel the propane and it caused the heater to erupt in flames! We narrowly missed burning the truck to the ground. I still use the heater, which works great when you are not trying to feed it napalm.
Propane freezes at -42°C and becomes dangerous. Bringing the tank into a warm space for the evening will help keep it from gelling. Be cautious when using propane at extreme temperatures and while using it as a heat source during sleep. We have lost too many anglers to carbon monoxide poisoning.