Author Topic: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety  (Read 9781 times)

Offline AZbassernCO

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In 2008 i took a bad fall and hit my head toughed it out only to find out that was damn stupid. After a trip to the ER i found out that i had a moderate to severe concussion and doc took my ability to fish away for a month and a half, 3 days after my fall this is what i woke up to "i had to go back to the hospital again this morning do to  blood in my right ear and eye and a bloody nose that wouldn't stop all because i only had toe cleats so please get full foot cleats and avoid having your season destroyed by a bad accident i am not doing well from a "simple fall" that turned out top be much more serious
aperantly i bruised my brain and pressure build up blew a vessel in my outer ear and sinuses so please be careful everyone
this really scared me and i dont wasnt anyone on here hurt like me

Offline Spider1

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #1 on: Oct 12, 2016, 05:35 AM »
you bet. a fall on the ice can be a painfull and dangerous thing. That stuff is hard. I fell twice and fortunately didn't hit my head. I have a pair of the stabilicer cleats that only have the toe cleats. The things are a waste of time and ended up to be more dangerous than having no cleats. I'll be getting better ones this year for sure.

Offline aquarium234

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #2 on: Oct 12, 2016, 07:38 AM »
 I always carry a back up pair in case my main pair fails, its a dangerous day with out cleats, and With the winters we've had lately glare ice has been more common. Heal up hope your in fighting shape for this ice season
Its all fun and games until someone loses a walleye.......

Offline steeliebob

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #3 on: Oct 12, 2016, 09:54 AM »
I am going to add to your post from an experience that happened to me. I broke through the ice in 14 feet of water on a 5 degree day. Fortunately I was able to get out of the water and onto safe ice by myself. The trek back to my car was only about 200 yards but I was frozen stiff when I got back there. I had plenty of warm and dry clothes in the car for that reason. I started the car to get it warmed up and changed clothes on the spot. I always keep extra clothes in the car just in case, this time it proved to be worthwhile. I have had to change a few times when I got rained on. Just in case the clothes are there.

Offline 3300

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #4 on: Oct 12, 2016, 10:48 AM »
thanks for the share!

a friend of mine fell (not ice fishing) and had about the same thing happen to him. he went to ER and they sent him home only to return a few days later with his brain hemorrhaging too. they remove a piece of skull bone for the swelling brain to bulge from and sewed the skull bone to the inside of his buttocks to keep it alive to put back later. it did cause brain damage and he is still getting better and had to go thru rehab to relearn some things like motor skills and such.
i've seen plenty of back of the head shots from strangers hitting ice too. so far they all got back up on their own and kept going, but were probably in danger and didn't know it yet.

this is why i decided to wear ice racing screws in all of my boots. you don't have to be ice fishing to have this happen to you. it can happen any where any time in winter.
i fell shoveling snow and landed on my elbow on concrete and it's never been the same since. for those who have not fallen down, you fall so fast it seems unbelievable. there is no time to react when your in a slip fall and then you find out how fast we fall. i wonder if any one has measured the speed. last i knew if you dropped some thing to measure the speed it was 10 miles per hour.
you can drive with this type of protection on too and know your much safer where your going when you get out. i did pick up two pair of korker tundra jacks (thanks mark ;) ) that have steal pins in them for slip protection and i am anxious to try them out too.

Offline jethro

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #5 on: Oct 12, 2016, 10:58 AM »
Last year here in NH, like many other areas of the country, we had a horrible year for ice. We have the Meredith Rotary Ice Fishing Derby which is the largest participated fishing derby in the Northeast- possibly the country- with approximately 25k entrants. Lots of talk of cancelling due to bad ice, people are going to fall through the thin ice and die, etc. Turned out there was only one death that weekend and it was on solid ice. A middle aged man slipped and fell and hit his head. So yes, do not underestimate the danger of being on slippery ice!
Quote- fishslap: I use a variety:  whistlin' bungholes, spleen splitters, whisker biscuits, honkey lighters, hoosker doos, hoosker don'ts, cherry bombs, nipsy daisers, with or without the scooter stick, or one single whistlin' kitty chaser

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Offline SALMONEMIA

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #6 on: Oct 12, 2016, 11:13 AM »
I use the micro spikes that cover the entire bottom of the boot. I would like to point out from first hand experience that with certain snow conditions these things can become useless in a big hurry and the bottom of your foot will become literally a giant snowball making the spikes useless. Its happened to me a few times especially on glare ice and its starts to snow, that soft powdery sticky stuff just adheres right to them. Its very easy to fall when this happens. I'm speaking from experience. What I do a lot of the time is take my ice scoop and slap the bottom of the boot, kind of like a BB player does with his bad to clean his cleats. It works very well, just an idea.  Also I can say being an operating room nurse a Subdural hemorrhage is very bad. Be safe out there.
Salmonemia

Offline AZbassernCO

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #7 on: Oct 12, 2016, 02:14 PM »
It may not have been clear in my previous post but that was back  in 08 i just wanted to reiterate for everyone safety

Offline stinkyfingers

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #8 on: Oct 12, 2016, 02:57 PM »
Happened to me also while wearing the old toe cleats. All of a sudden you're on your back looking up at the sky wondering what the heck happened. Nasty blunt force trauma but didn't concuss like some of you guys did. I was out cold for a while I think. Spent the money for Kahtoola ice spikes and they're the best investment I've made in ice fishing health since the power auger.
We're born, we live for a while, and then we die.  Sounds like a good reason to go ice fishing.
                                                               Stinky

Offline AZbassernCO

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #9 on: Oct 12, 2016, 07:05 PM »
SOME OF The guys on here that are members of another forum will remember when this happened it was damn scary

Offline fishermantim

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #10 on: Nov 02, 2016, 01:05 PM »
Slipping and falling, particularly backwards, can be the most damaging because even if you have "cat-like" reflexes and can turn on a dime, you'll more than likely end up wrenching your back, separating a shoulder AND whacking the side of your head!

I had cleats that are good for flat ice, and slipped and fell forward on old ice (old holes and refreezes) and ended up wrenching my shoulder. To this day it is nothing like it used to be, but I can still handle a hand auger!

What I want to stress is this: even with the best of gear, you have to be aware of the ice conditions....ALWAYS!!!

Be safe and be prepared! (I also bring spare clothes, towel and blanket "just in case".)
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I am a legend in my own mind!

Offline Chris338378

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #11 on: Nov 02, 2016, 02:27 PM »
Good advice.

Offline digginthefish

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #12 on: Nov 07, 2016, 02:15 PM »
I will have to take notes!

Offline Uncle Al

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #13 on: Nov 09, 2016, 07:52 AM »
AZbassernCO
Happy to hear that you survived, my dad had a closed head injury from a bicycle accident, didn't have any symptoms until 6 months later. He had internal bleeding, surgery's, and after falling again with bleeding on the other side of his head, didn't survive. He was 76yo at the time. Fall's with head injurys are not something to deal lightly with, anything that happens out of the ordinary needs attention.

Offline wyogator

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #14 on: Nov 12, 2016, 10:48 PM »
I just want to reiterate what another poster said. Toe cleats are worse than no cleats.  I had those cheap HT toe cleats for years. They are dangerous because you can't walk normally on your heels.  You have to consciously walk on your toes all the time.  As soon as you forget, Bam! After that, I got some Yaktrax, not as good as Kahtoolas, but good enough.  Yaktrax also won't tear up the carpet in a hard-side ice house.

Offline jfisherman

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #15 on: Nov 22, 2016, 12:40 PM »
My worst fall last year, I was wearing a good set of ice creepers but it had snowed the night b4 light fluffy snow on top of glare ice an I was hauling a fully loaded sled, an bam down I went, I laid down for a bit I ended up with a stiff neck an aching bk. Just as easily I could have broke my neck. Just need to take it slow, the fish can always wait! Safety first

Offline mbart

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #16 on: Nov 22, 2016, 02:48 PM »

Offline Osage

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #17 on: Nov 27, 2016, 09:15 PM »
Good advice,I fell on the ice while working,4 back surgeries later,and still suffering.I now use full cleats all the time.

Offline GCD

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #18 on: Dec 08, 2016, 12:54 PM »
Seriously, I wouldn't be opposed to wearing a helmet on bare ice (hockey, football, motorcycle). People that don't know may look at you like you're crazy, but the ones with experience will know what you're doing.

I took a hard fall on the concrete driveway a couple months ago, got my feet tangled up in a tarp while covering the boat and down I went. All I could see was concrete driveway coming up to meet my face. Caught myself at the last instant with the palms of my hands and skinned them up. The next day I was crippled up with a strained hip and both shoulders strained.

You can't be too safe out on the ice (or the damn driveway evidently), protect yourself any way you can.
Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day, give him a religion and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish... author unknown


Offline Raptortrapper

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #19 on: Dec 08, 2016, 01:00 PM »
I got the tungsten screw in cleats off ebay for just a few bucks.  Put them up and down the soles of my winter boots.  My buddy laughed at me for doing it till he fell about two days later.  He then wanted to know where I got my cleats.  It's no laughing matter at all!  Good post!!  Also, if you don't know how to get out of the water when you fall through the ice, get on youtube and watch how to do it.  It isn't hard, and it's a great skill to have.
The next time you think you know it all, try telling someone else's dog what to do.

Offline GCD

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #20 on: Dec 08, 2016, 01:17 PM »
  Also, if you don't know how to get out of the water when you fall through the ice, get on youtube and watch how to do it.  It isn't hard, and it's a great skill to have.

... and there's no substitute for wearing floatation. Wear it and live!
Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day, give him a religion and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish... author unknown


Offline straightShot

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #21 on: Dec 09, 2016, 07:01 PM »
I like the Stabilicer Maxx for my boots.  I did have to get Velcro extensions to be able to get around my Lacrosse Alphaburly size 12s.  I also have to readjust them occasionally when I walk since with the extensions, they don't seem to stay in place as they should, and they slouch off to the side.  Others I go fishing with have the medium Stabilicer Maxx for their boots as they have smaller feet, and they don't have the problems that I have.  I've wasted money on other setups that didn't grip the ice very well or just fell off as I walked.  They got thrown away. Even with having to put an extension on my cleats and slouching to the side on occasion, the Stabilicer Maxx cleats that I got work much better than the others that I tried and threw out.  I walk carefully, but I walk with confidence.  It's all about safety first.

Offline AZbassernCO

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #22 on: Oct 11, 2017, 10:19 PM »
just moving this back up guys

Offline lostbrit

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #23 on: Oct 11, 2017, 10:23 PM »
getting a spud bar this season after watching a close friend fall through the ice, we both got floating suits this off season. 


Offline IceholeHEN

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #24 on: Oct 18, 2017, 07:36 AM »
Does anyone wear the safety watches? Just wondering. This will be the first year I'm gonna wear one and just seeing if anyone had any thoughts about it.
To catch them all…you gotta catch them small

Offline AZbassernCO

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #25 on: Aug 17, 2020, 08:04 PM »
just a reminder

Offline slipperybob

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Re: Please wear the right gear please read for your safety
« Reply #26 on: Feb 04, 2021, 12:57 AM »
...and reminder when stepping out of the vehicle.   There was this one time after my first step out of the truck and the second step led me to doing the slip step dance and fall down on my arse.  That was on slick ice.  Well it just means that a warm foot bottom on some ice will cause just the right melt of water to refreeze into slick ice and swooosh! 
For more information read my MN nice journal

 



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