Dock Bubbler Tampering..?

[krux5506]

My Father has been experiencing some interesting things with his dock de-icer/bubbler. The first instance being one of the suspension ropes being cut around December. A very clean cut, not a worn out frayed type of break off.

The second instance was last weekend, he discovered everything was unplugged, out of the receptacle and thrown in the water. These are pretty tight fitting plugs that aren't easily removed.

My question is if this is something to suspect scum bag ice fisherman would be doing or if anyone has heard of similar problems. This is unusual for this area, it's pretty dead in the winter and not anywhere you'd expect this.

[L&M]

Set a couple cameras

[Iceman]

Didn't know that ice fisher people were scum bags?

[krux5506]

Never thought so either but, here we are...

Kidding. But really, can you think of another reason to mess with someone's dock bubbler?

[rolmops]

Never thought so either but, here we are...

Kidding. But really, can you think of another reason to mess with someone's dock bubbler?

Yes ,some kids will do anything to have "fun".

Edited February 15, 2016 by rolmops

[krux5506]

It's just an odd thing to have happen twice, especially this time of year. It is completely desolate. A neighbor threw out the idea of ice fishers, but if they wanted to fish around the docks then it'd just be easier to fish open water that the intact bubbler would create...

I don't know. Just looking for ideas. A camera was my first thought too.

[GAMBLER]

Some icefishermen are scum.  Have you ever seen how much trash some leave on the ice?  Not all are but there are a few that ruin it for everyone else.

[justtracytrolling]

Doesnt matter what group of sportsman or people in general you cross section there is a lot of people that refuse to follow the laws and plenty more that are just bad people that ruin it for someone else. Just like the slobs that killed the fish and stripped the eggs on 4 mile creek....we shouldn't even have to have a law to prevent that sort of thing...people are not all basically good

[Sk8man]

Hank's idea of the cameras is the way to go. I wouldn't be assuming it is an ice fisherman (although possible). IT could be a disgruntled neighbor, kids who are into mischief, ice boaters looking to launch near there or even teenagers wanting to make a skating rink near there or something. There are a lot of other possibilities than ice fishermen. Cameras might help sort it out though. Just need to position them so they can't be detected and tampered with. The fact that it has been repeated and is an out of the way location increases the possibility that it may be someone that lives nearby.

Edited February 15, 2016 by Sk8man

[krux5506]

Really didn't intend to call out ice fishermen as scum bags rather than whoever doing this as being a scumbag.

Just a weird deal being that it's not like we have any enemies down there. Friendly with everyone, it's a tight knit block for the most part. Oh well.

[SylvanTroller]

Set up some trail cameras. No infrastructure to setup, cheap, and effective. Setup for a five pic series and you will have had quality pics to show to the DA for prosecution. Also there is no streaming video to egress which uses a ton of data or requires a recorder. JMTC.

[krux5506]

Thanks Sylvan, thats good info. I told him a while back to get trail cams but i've never used them. At this point it may be useless, the dock is iced up anyway and the bubbler is sitting on the bottom. It's safe to say that someone for whatever reason doesn't want my Dad to have a bubbler this year. I'll be curious to find out if our neighbor had any issues with his.