The biggest ice fishing question this season hasn’t been, “Where are the fish biting?”  Rather, “Is the ice safe.”

Even veteran ice fishers are asking this question.

Not surprisingly, years ago when I taught a classes on ice fishing, the most common question was, “How can you tell if the ice is safe?”

My answer was always, “If you don’t know, don’t go!”

Last month, my column on ice self-rescue appeared in this space in the on-line edition.

The basic message was, your best chance of escaping a hole in the ice, by yourself, is to roll onto your back, then kick and use your arms to get back up onto the ice.

Then roll away onto safe ice.

Trying to pull yourself out forward doesn’t work because your butt stays too low in the water and, even with hand spikes, wet clothing makes escape very difficult and exhausting.

Anglers and their machines are still falling through the ice.

Last week on a lake west of Kalispell, a fisherman stopped by my ice house to tell me, the day before, he had fallen through the ice, pointing, “Right over there!”

An hour later another guy pointed to the same spot and said, “That’s where an ATV went through last week!”

Most ice fishermen carry a rope, but you can’t throw a rope unless there’s a weight on the end.

Pictured is an adaptation of Jim Vashro’s “throw-jug.”

Simply, an empty gallon antifreeze jug with one quadrant cut out and a 50-foot soft nylon rope is tied to the handle.

A 3-foot loop tied near the jug allows the rescuer to put an arm through the loop.  A small loop at the other end helps the rescuer pull the rope.

While the jug throws easily if the rope is just stuffed into the jug, it throws even better if shortened by the “loop-through loop” technique.

Tie a small 6-inch loop near the big loop, then feed half of a new 2-foot loop through it, making a new loop.  Then grab another 2 feet and feed half through the new loop.

Net effect is to shorten the rope, yet it feeds out without tangling.

Keep this partner rescue jug in your ice sled and, hopefully, you will never need to use it.