River watchers are keeping a close eye on the fragile ice that is covering many rivers and streams across the Maritimes.
Last week’s thaw and heavy rain have reduced the ice cover in some areas, resulting in ice jams and flooding.
Ice fishermen on New Brunswick’s Kennebecasis River are among those watching the ice.
“Put her down here two weeks ago and then last week I took her off, there was only about six inches of ice underneath the shack,” says ice fisherman Tim Wilson. “So, got her back here now and hope for the best, hope it doesn’t melt one more time.”
On Tuesday, there were about ten inches of ice under dozens of shacks, but the fishermen now have something other than ice thickness to think about.
There is a crack in the ice, almost a metre wide in some places, which runs right through the fishing village in Renforth, N.B. and beyond.
“That’s a wide crack, definitely wouldn’t want to put my shack on the other side of that,” says Wilson.
Veterans of the sport can’t remember ever seeing a fracture quite like this in the ice. They blame a combination of last week’s heavy rain and high winds which swept the area on the weekend.
This time of year, the river is used by more than just ice fishermen; it is also a magnet for skiers and snowshoers, along with snowmobile and all-terrain vehicle enthusiasts.
People use the ice day and night, when a new fracture might not be visible until it is too late.
“This crack being two feet wide, it could very easily happen, especially last night, that you could fall right into it and we don’t need that to happen,” says Gary Gower of the Renforth Ice Fishermen’s Association.
The crack has been marked with ribbons to warn unsuspecting travellers, but the snow expected to hit the region Wednesday will cover the markings.
The ice fracture did not grow wider Tuesday, though high winds forecasted for Wednesday could push the ice sheets further apart.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Mike Cameron
