Hi Hacksaw,

Your experiment sounds like a good test and a real adventure, Good Luck. How far away from shore do you usually ice fish? If I could I would sure try to get to shore and utilize forest cover for my camp.

I was thinking about driving tent pegs into ice and had a couple ideas.

When ice fishing I always pack slush from cutting the hole around my tip-up rig to make them stand up. Slush freezes very solid in a short time and could be used to anchour a tent peg easily.

I have also had my ice fishing hut blown across the ice and damaged. To prevent this drill/chop a hole all the way through the ice, take a one foot piece of heavy stick (or anything sturdy) and tie a rope in the middle, put the stick down the hole, turn it sideways and pull it up against the bottom of the ice with the rope through the hole to the surface; instant strong tie point. I have done this with chain also when there was a risk of having my hut stolen. Whatever you freeze in this way you will probally not recover the lower portion.

I have used ice screws in the past to salvage snowmobiles that have got through the ice, they are very strong and remove a core from the ice. The are quite light weight but not cheap at $35.00 each. Here is a link to MEC http://mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302691749&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442242435&bmUID=1195866314130

Hope this helps,

Mike