Trying to bounce some ideas off you guys to get some feedback to try and come up with something to make.
Last weekend I hit the water at 5:00 AM (when the refuge opens) and the ice was forming. I opened a hole for my decoys, and had to re-open it 4 times through out the morning until the sun was up enough to start heating everything. There was more ice on the pond when I left at noon than there was when I paddled out at 5. I've been trying to come up with ideas to keep the water open without having to push the kayak out as an ice plow to keep it open (I'm already at a disadvantage with not having a spinner). The thought turned to heating the water with a candle or something. My thought was to take a couple of coffee cans, weigh the bottoms so they sit down in the water some, and put a couple candles in them to heat it up hoping that if I put 3 or 4 of those thru the decoys it would keep the water open around them. Obviously, it would have to have some sort of lid to keep the light from shining up wards. This would be used only when I have opened up a hole, so there shouldn't be any big waves to knock them around to tip over.
Thoughts? Suggestions?