I don’t know if anyone has brought this up lately, but with ice just days away I thought we should remeber how thick ive needs to be to be safe. I want everyone to be safe so they can post reports here on great catches, and not accidents.
Ice Thickness* Permissible Load
3 inches Single person on foot
4 inches Group in single file
7-1/2 inches Passenger car (2-ton gross)
8 inches Light truck (2-1/2-ton gross)
10 inches Medium truck (3-1/2-ton gross)
12 inches Heavy truck (8-ton gross)
15 inches 10 tons
20 inches 25 tons
30 inches 70 tons
36 inches 110 tons
*Solid clear blue/black and lake ice.
Slush ice has only half the strength of blue ice.
Strength value of river ice is 15 percent less.
The way the extended forcast for Northeast Iowa looks, it won’t be long for the hard water fishing. 
A father and his daughter drowned today in S.E. Wisconsin while ice skating on a pond. 
News reports said 4″ ice at pond edge but less near the middle where the water was deeper. BE SAFE, at first ice I carry a spud bar and use it to test thickness as I venture out.