"daniel peterman" wrote in
message
...
When I was just a little boy, sittin on my
daddy's knee (sorry Fogerty,
it's kinda universal) my father who was really
an accountant and
certified tinkerer presented me with a problem
He enjoyed challenging me with odd stuff and it
sharpened my mind.
Here was the problem... There is some metal
involved only because fish
are commonly caught on metal hooks.

I bore a hole in a frozen, then another one
about 10 yards away. The
object is to get a dragline laced with baited
hooks from one hole under
the ice to the other hole.
We thought of miniature subs and other weird
schemes( iwas only about 7
at the time) and it was cold alot in Michigan in
the 60s so lots of time
to ponder such things. We thought of RC trolling
motors and i never
figured it out or tried it(money)
It has been done for centuries
Do you know how?


Yes , I do, more or less. In 1972 , I was visiting
a friend in Alberta, when I came across a peculiar
mechanism in his back yard. I asked him what it
was , and was told that it was used to take a rope
from one hole in the ice to another so that a net
could be dragged between them.

My memory is a little hazy about the details, but
it was a plank about 2" thick,10 or 12 inches wide
and 8 feet long. There as a slot a couple of
inches wide and about a foot long in the middle of
it. A metal lever about 3 feet long was pivoted
on pillow blocks on the underside of the board
with about 6 inches of the lever extending through
the board. This end had another hinge joint on
the bit that extended through the board. and the
whole thing was spring loaded. The long end of the
lever had a ring in it ,to which a long rope was
attached. To operate it a hole was cut in the ice
and the plank was pushed in. It floated up against
the underside of the ice, and every tug on the
rope propelled it forward about half a foot. It
made a noise when the plank banged at the ice on
every stroke. You followed the noise and cut a
hole in the ice above it when you had enough rope
out, retrieved the plank, hooked your net onto the
rope and pulled it back to the first hole.

As I have lived in Australia or Fiji ever since
then, I haven't had much cause to think about it
until now.( ice in those quantities is a little
rare in this part of the world) This is pretty
accurate I think, but the detail of the joint that
contacted the ice is a little fuzzy in my mind. At
least it should point you in the right direction
if you decide to design one.

good luck
Tom