subject was brought up again today, ,n, want your opinion: story goes like this: guy walks out on kinzua ,n, drills hole in ice, no water, WTH, kneels down, looks in hole, sees water 10-20-30ft below, soils trousers, crawls verrrrrry carefully off ice. logic is ice forms, gets thick(12-18 in.), c.o.e. draws dam down, ice remains suspended with air gap underneath. have heard this since 80,s atleast. what say you?

Maybe Kinzua, but i've never seen this on shenango lake. The ice is so heavy that it settles and shifts as the water level drops. Thats why we always have the sloping shorelines here. I've been on the lake when the ice dropped to set back on the water. Only dropped a couple inches at most but water splashed out of our holes and scared the bejebbers out of everyone there.

I hear this story all of the time and there is no way ice can anchor itself to the shore lines and have enough strength to span from one shore line to the other. Ice just a couple of inches thick would weigh tons and to think it could be supported by a shoreline of grass and rocks is not plausible. I can agree with Chuancy as I have seen the creek drop a couple of inches and splash into the water quite violently. However, the creek is only 30 - 40 feet across and the drop was only a couple of inches.

It happens, but the gap it not uniform in thickness across the entire span. The center will be on the water(having sagged as the water dropped) but there can be empty space closer to shore lines. Kind of like how a winter pool cover sits on an above ground pool. In narrow inlets and creeks it can be empty space all the way across. It usually only happens with thicker ice and doesn't stay that way for very long. 

kid ; for this to happen like its told, wouldn,t you go downhill to get on, uphill to get off, n, would you notice the ice sloping ,n, say WTH before you went out far enough to have a 20-30 ft. gap? (actual numbers told to me with straight(if beery, bloodshot eyed) face). not being s.a., really want to know if this is possible. thanks wirenut

Sounds like a great question for MYTHBUSTERS or maybe someone on here knows someone from the coastguard at P.I. that could get us a definite answer. I do know that some of the ACOE dams in the area drop a lot in a day,but am not sure what happens under the ice & I take great care to make sure that I don't find out firsthand.  sam

This is a myth . If there was any truth to it you would find you-tube videos of it , pictures online , all the technology that is out there it would be easy to prove . The ice floats on the water , look at your chips after you cut  hole . Many of us over the years have been on Shenango , Tionesta , Woodcock , and other lake when it has been drawing water down (fun ride) . Also many of us have been out only to come back to find the lake level has risen and we had to use the shanty to bridge the shore to ice water . Next person that tells you this , ask them to show you the pictures or video , then fly the B.S. flag when they can not .     

I agree, with tecnology today there would be photos showing this over and over. Kind of like the one about my friend has a cousin that does repair work under water on dams and he sees fish so huge that they are scared to go back in the water ! Man I have heard every dam 's name with this tale ! 

I'm not claiming that a 20' gap is possible, but a smaller 1'-2' gap is given the right conditions. Check the army corps of engineer website I think it's reviewed in with the ice safety section.
I've seen it first hand. It was at a small dam in the rockies that held the water supply for a small moutain town. There was ice on this thing for 10 months out of the year according to the residents. There were also big signs warning you that the ice was unsafe due to fluctuation in the water level. It wasn't a very big reservoir , maybe 60 yards wide but about three times as deep. I never saw a hole drilled but the gauge indicated that the water was 8" below the ice the day I was there. I can't imagine drilling a hole either, aside from the obvious clearly labeled danger it was 4-5 feet thick at times. 
I don't have pics or a notarized witness statement but I might be able to find it on google earth and get co-ordinates.

As I said before , I would love to see pictures or videos of this myth to bust it . But physics tell me different , experience has shown me it does not happen .