I must admit, that even though I read countless ice fishing accounts that you can have a fire right on the ice, I still felt a little uneasy. The science and physics of it all made me think that the fire would melt the ice and we would eventually all fall through. In reality the snow and ice gets very slushy, but you never really burn a hole in the ice. In fact, if you have 10” to 12”of ice the fire barely makes a dent in it.
After much discussion, we decided to build our fire on the shallower end of the waterfront so we could have a fire with very low risk of falling in (and even if we fell through it would mean wet boots and knees and thats all). We also used some slate tiles as a base to the fire, thinking that it might help with the water and slush.
After we cleared a large circle in the snow, we used the snow to build a “snow wall” to break the wind. We set the chairs in a semi circle along this wind break. Our fire pit was about 6ft away and we piled our logs into a chimney and lit them up. This worked great! I mean it was truly the best. In the end it was a magical experience and I will do this again next time I am up…maybe with a little bit more wine.