Getting a snowmobile off a lake bottom requires a lot of work.
Thousands of ice fishermen and women are headed out to the hard water right about now hoping to catch their limit of fish. However, the ice is not guaranteed to be good everywhere and some fishermen will inevitably have some accidents out on the ice. One of the scariest ones is when a vehicle goes through.
Losing a pickup or car through thin ice is a frightening experience and an expensive recovery. It's not much better when the lost vehicle is an ATV or snowmobile.
In this video from YouTuber Wisconsin Fisherman, he recently lost an Arctic Cat snowmobile through the ice. The sled has been sitting on the lake bottom for 30 days now and a diver must go down to attach airbags to raise it to the surface. He documents the whole process of recovering his lost sled and fishing equipment.
The underwater camera revealed at least one fish found and made that sled its new home in the 30 days that this snowmobile was resting on the bottom of the lake. Other than being underwater for an extended period, the sled seems to be in decent shape. Unbelievably, in a follow-up video, he DOES get the snowmobile running again. We would have told you that machine was toast after even an hour beneath the surface of the waves. Wild stuff.
In the comments section, he notes that it cost them $200 to have the diver go down and recover his flasher, utility sled, and ice auger. Not counting a tip. No word on If the electronics survived the trip to the bottom.
This video serves as an excellent reminder of ice safety rules. The experts usually recommend four inches of ice for a fisherman on foot and five inches for snowmobiles and ATVs. If you're thinking about driving a car out on it, you're going to need 12-15 inches of ice. Aside from basic safety purposes, monitoring the ice thickness before you head out can help you avoid a costly mistake like this sunken snowmobile later.
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For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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