Today was a 5 for one simple reason...."I AM STILL ALIVE!" I took my wife and daughter out for some perch action today. Two gentlemen were headed in as we began walking out on the ice. They had done well and they reported 6 inch thick solid ice. I headed out to my favorite spot and as soon as we got there I began to drill a hole. I drilled a huge hole in short order with my 260 lb body! The ice gave me no warning at all. I went through the ice and under water in 1/2 a second opening up a hole big enough for 12 rods! Suprisingly the water wasnt nearly as cold as the air. Each attempt to pull myself up only resulted in the ice breacking worse. My wife and daughter came towards me to help and I yelled at them to stop. But my stubborn wife slid out on her belly reached out her hand and pulled me out of what would have likely been a watery grave. The biggest surpprise of all was that out of the 10 guys fishing close by, not one of them even got out of their chairs! I wouldn't expect anyone to go near me but a simple toss of a rope would have restored my faith in homan beings. The saddest part is that two of the guys had the nerve to laugh. Had my 13 year old daughter not been with me I would have gladly knocked the smile of that guys face. The ice on Silver is anywhere from 6 inches to 1/2 an inch thick and with the snow on top of the ice it is impossible to tell one from the other. There is one nice open spot on Silver about 6 foot wide and the water there is about 12 feet deep. There are a lot of nice perch to be caught there but I would avoid that spot! In 43 years of fishing I have always wondered what falling through the ice would be like. Now I know! Be safe out there and in my opinion avoid Silver until we get a couple weeks of below freezing weather. (I sure wish I had a photo to upload!) Lord Bless!