Techniques

A few years back I was in line for a burger at a fast food place up-north and when asked what I wanted I said 'three inches of clear ice', since the ice was way too thin to fish all year. An old gent next to me asked if I ice fished and I said yes, but not this year yet, no ice. He said he just got off the ice and we ended up sitting and bs'ing for a while. I asked his system for getting out on such thin ice and he said he and his friends take two sheets of plywood each out with a hole drilled in the middle. They slide the plywood across the ice, fish like mad until the board they're standing on starts sinking then jump over to the next board and fish like mad, scooting the old sheet into a new area to be walked on later. He said the cover an awful lot of lake that way early and late in the ice fishing season when the fishing is hot. I also asked if they ever go in, he said of course, a couple times a year!
This ain't for me, but then I'm not much into helicopter rides off of Lk. St. Clair either.

[WEEZER]

Freaks!
I use the plywood method sometimes to get to "Safe" ice. Explanation::: When fishing rivers(Saginaw) the wind will push the water out into the bay causing the water level to drop. This drop causes weak ice around the edges which makes for dangerous conditions if you don't have plywood or pallets down around the shoreline to distribute the weight.

[RemFire]

I'm afraid to even put this on here because someone may deciede to use it. However, MOST of us seem to be pretty level headed. So, PLEASE don't use this, but I read a old story about someone that used to use big snow-shoes to help distribute their weight early and late ice-fishing. However, the story did end with this daredevil going through and drowning. No thanks, I'll wait until it's safe, I've been through once before with a quad. Fortunately the quad floated with the big tires and we were only in four feet of water. Anyway, keep your coffee hot, and good luck.