After falling through ice

[trapper2000]

worse  splash i ever took actually wasn't ice  fishing  was some late cohos in salmon river   by the old weir in pulaski  my nephew and  i  been stopping and  having  fun with them  after steelhead fishing  for what  ever  reason  we  left the truck  near salmon  river sport shop  and waded  up  it was  below  zero  with   shelve ice  ...i  got on the  ice where i  could see the  cohos  and started to  cast  , the ice broke  and i slid into the water  although  the water was only a  couple feet  deep i slid in  actually   going  under water  had  hip boats on which  filled and i was soaked head to toe i stood  up and i knew i was in trouble i was  shivering    my  nephew     helped  me to the  road  and  before we walked 50  foot i  felt warm but tired
  he forced me to walk   ripping  my  jacket and shirt of replacing it with his ...we  got a  ride to the  truck and i was  just  shivering  voilently    he  got the rest of the wet  cloths off  me  wraped a  blanket on me heater  full   blast  we  got to his  place  he  threw me in a  hot shower  ....ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!  but  then it  felt  good  i  stayed in it  for a long time  then   set  next to a  wood stove  .....  i  lived  but i learned  ....  it can happen anywhere anytime and  when it does  all you want to do is sleep!  becareful i was lucky  i had someone right with me

[fishingPole]

If you put the floating suits on correctly, water shouldn't penetrate - in theory...

[Shouldabeenhereyesterday]

They don't need divers to find your body.

That's what I was getting at

[Shouldabeenhereyesterday]

If you put the floating suits on correctly, water shouldn't penetrate - in theory...

if this is true then I completely understand the importance.

[bcons]

If you put the floating suits on correctly, water shouldn't penetrate - in theory...

Ummmmm no.
A cold water immersion suit or dry suit will do that.  None of these suits do that.  Immersion suits are bulky and not comfortable so people won't wear them.
Floatsuits like both AA & Stryker float but don't prevent water from getting in.
They only prevent you or at least slow you from sinking.
The myths that surround going through its no wonder so many don't make it out.

[trapper2000]

float  suits  are  great  ......carry  a  spud  and  don't  go  threw  in the  first  place.....just  saying,learned  my  lession

[collarcity]

I've never gone in ice fishing but I did go for a nice dip duck hunting about 10 years ago. I was jump shooting a small stream in 10 degree weather the week before x-mas with no waders on (stupid!) and dropped a duck on the other side of the stream where it was swirling in an eddy just out of reach. I crossed the stream which didn't even go over the top of my hunting boots and grabbed the longest stick I could find and tried to reach out and drag the duck back towards me. My foot slipped off the bank and in I went... My feet never touched the bottom, I went down till my only my head was above water and bobbed back up like a cork and dragged myself up on the bank. I still haven't figured out how that hole was so deep but the big ol eddy the duck was stuck in should have been a clue. By the time I got back across the stream my clothes and boots felt like they were made of lead. I fired my gun in an SOS pattern hoping my dad would hear it but I knew he was asleep in the truck a mile away and I had to keep moving so I stripped down to my undies and t shirt and started putting one foot in front of the other. I could hardly pick up my feet and there were huge briar patches all over so I was kind of falling onto them and crawling through the rest. Eventually I couldn't stand back up so I just crawled the last 500 yards through ice and snow. All I wanted to do the whole time was put my head down and go to sleep but I was sure I'd be a goner if that happened so I just kept going. As soon as I could see the truck I started screaming my head off to wake my dad up. He cranked up the heat and I went home and took a warm bath and just kept adding more hot water slowly over a couple hours. My feet get cold pretty easily and my hands are useless in about 10 mins if it's under 30 degrees and I'm not wearing gloves but other than that no ill effects. Definitely not an experience I'd care to repeat.

[collarcity]

Oops didn't realize I wrote a book.... Sorry about that, I'll shut up now   

[trapper2000]

actually good story!  and i know the feeling  .... 

[soulstream]

WOW! You are lucky to be alive. Great story

[dangle]

that is a good story. I am too thinking about a float suit, guess  i'll do some home work

[Shouldabeenhereyesterday]

float  suits  are  great  ......carry  a  spud  and  don't  go  threw  in the  first  place.....just  saying,learned  my  lession

Exactly,  a spud is cheaper and I will feel alot safer trusting that over a float suit!

[prchslyr]

We should always be concerned on ice.
At 1st and last ice my buddies and I put forth ALL safety measures possible. Float suits, ice picks around the neck, spud in hand, and a boat cushion or life jacket tied to a 50' piece of rope in one of our sleds. You can't be too safe.
I thank my lucky stars that I've never felt my life was in danger after going in. Each time it has been at 1st and last ice right next to shore. Knock on wood! 

[bobdboater]

Ok I'll share a true story.
My brother lived in Greece and I lived in Buffalo but I spent my weekends with him. We loved fishing and hunting together. We loved fishing the ponds especially.
We were ice fishing on Long Pond and weren't doing well so he got a brainstorm to fish Cranberry Pond. Also he mentioned nobody has been on it yet so he said we'd be the first ones.
We loaded our sleds and headed over Cranberry. We were walking out on the pond with him in front of me mind you he was smaller and lighter than me. We got about 100 yrds out and all of a sudden the ice let go from under me. If it wasnt for him turning his sled around and tossing me his rope line I would of been a goner.
First time I fell in and I hope the last time.

I want to say he passed away and I trully my miss my brother.

[collarcity]

The  :thumbsup:best part of my story is that when my pops woke up and saw me he jumped out of the truck and yelled "ARE YOU OK?" Haha I'm fine dad, just crawling through the snow covered in blood wearing nothing but undies for laughs 

bobd - Great story and sorry to hear your brother is gone. I can't even imagine how much you miss someone with whom you shared so much time in the great outdoors.

prchslyr - Good idea with the life jacket tied to the rope. I usually keep 50 feet of rope in the car when I go ice fishing just in case even though I don't go out on less than 6 inches of ice. I've been meaning to get some ice picks too.

[jmw5964]

   Just picked a pair of idi ice armor bibs the other day can'twait to try them this weekend. Hope i never need them but good to know i have them if i do. Now just need to work on getting the jacket.

[bobdboater]

Collarcity that was a good story. I understand how the cold effects you after being exposed or frost bite.
I got frostbite on my fingers while Rabbit hunting. To this day it still effects me. Im 51 currently.

[johnm3091]

It can happen without falling thru the ice. I was bow hunting in a 35 degree rain. Even thou i had goretex  on the rain managed to go around my necknand onto my body. The forecast was for it to change over to snow so I tried to stick it out. When I just couldnt take it anymore I climbed down which was difficult as my hands were numb and the steps slippery. I had a 15 min walk. When I got to my truck i wasnt able to think clearly as my truck was in my buddies yard and his wife was inside with a nice warm fire.... in my confused state I was embarassed to go in Luckly I got the truck started and dont remember much till I came too an hour later...the thing I took from that is my mind started to shut down first, I couldn't think clearly and I think that is what gets people in trouble.

[collarcity]

johnm- I wonder if the longer term exposure in less severe temperatures let you minimize the situation in your mind at first and by the time the hypothermia actually set you didn't realize how serious it was because you had already told yourself it wasn't a big deal.

In my case I knew I was in big trouble right off the bat and my mind continued to race throughout the whole experience. The contrast between how fast my mind was running and how slowly my body was moving made the whole experience very surreal. I was so panicked when I first got out of the water but by the time I got back to the other side of the stream instinct just took over. I didn't know that it was actually a good move to ditch my wet clothes, I just knew I couldn't move with them on so I took them off. In truth I am beyond lucky to be alive, I put myself into a really dangerous situation that I had no training or mental preparation to deal with. The only reason I am still here today is that I instinctively made a couple good moves and then just fought like hell to survive. Once I was reduced to crawling the only thing my body was telling me to do was put my head down in that snow and close my eyes but I just had to keep forcing myself to move my arm/leg one more time and then fight the same mental battle all over again. I spent a lot of time thinking about my life, everything I had to live for and how desperately I wanted to stay alive during that long crawl. I was around 21 or 22 at the time and a bit out of control in my personal life and after fighting so hard to survive I really drew on that experience to straighten myself out and grow the @#$@ up. In truth it was one of the best things that ever happened to me in that respect. As far as finding myself in a similar life threatening situation in the future I have no doubt about my will to survive but I wouldn't count on luck or good instincts to bail me out again. I think that being mentally prepared for the worst case scenario and knowing exactly what to do if it happens would help ward off a lot of the panic that you feel when you know your (or someone else's) life is on the line.

[johnm3091]

Steve you may be right. I always thought it weird how I went from being cold to not thinking so quickly. Sounds like just the opposite of how you reacted.... from the comment above about wondering how the gentleman fell thru when there is so much ice. Being a muskrat trapper myself he was probably working his 'under ice sets' near feed huts which usually are in cattails which prevent a good ice. I know a number of trappers whom did not ice trap at all this year even tho rat prices were at an all time high. Too many guys were falling thru.

[nightfisher]

Exactly,  a spud is cheaper and I will feel alot safer trusting that over a float suit!

Been in under and thru the ice more times than I like to think about, mostly trapping. The only time I went thru the ice fishing was really bad. Back in the late 70's my best friend and I decided to fish our local large lake, which is used for flood control. Didn't know they held water then let it go back to normal pool. We hiked out on the main lake, checked the ice and it was a good 6- 7 in thick. kept walking and all of a sudden I stepped on a piece that folded right down, slid in the water, about 30 ft. deep and the piece floated back up like a trap door. I was under looking up. my buddy had the presence of mind to push the piece down and slide it under the ice, grabbed me when I came up and hauled my a$$ out. The few seconds that I was at the hole, head above water, it was all I could do to tread water till he grabbed me.
400 yards to the parking lot my clothes were frozen solid, had a hard time peeling them off in the heated car. A float suit will give you the time to get out, no extra expended energy trying to tread water. They also don't hold a lot of water as most clothes do, which helps in re warming once you get out. I don't go on the ice, no matter how thick, with out my picks and my float suit. Go on IDI's web site and check out they're videos, I'm sure Stryker is similar. Would you rather try to keep your head above water, or worry about getting back on safe ice.

[rgfixit]

These so called "float suits" are a false sense of security with some well crafted advertising attached. Bcons is correct they will slow your sink rate. They will NOT keep the cold water from reaching your body or keep your head above water, and...they are NOT USCG approved PFD's. There's a reason for that.....think about it!

After my one and only experience going through ( the day after to be exact) I bought a Mustang Survival Work PFD. I wear it on questionable ice and always wear it on my boat spring and fall.

In the end, bad things can and will happen on ice. There's no substitute for common sense.

RG

[Gills-only]

My buddy jumped off his dock in the summer with his Striker suit on and he said you can't get your hair wet!  He said bobbed like a bobber, they will not float you  forever but if you are not out in a few minutes your in trouble!!  He said there is NO way you will sink in his opinion!

[nightfisher]

RG, I beg to differ. Yes they will not keep you dry, not at all. But my Artic Armor suit floats me like a cork, horizontally. could do the breast stroke on to the ice. Tried it this past summer. 

[Lucky13]

I built my spikes like the ones shown to me by an old time Irondequoit Bay icefisher, pieces of broom handle with long heavy nails epoxied into drill holes in one end and then filed off to a point, holes drilled perpendicular to the handles about an inch in from the other ends, and a rope threaded through each spike and knotted and epoxied to keep it on the spike.  Before walking out on the ice, these get threaded down the arms of my coat, like a little kid's gloves.  It looks pretty nerdy, and they are definitely in the way of a hand auger, but if I do go through, they are right there, no need to find the front pocket, and no risk of dropping a screw driver.  Once I get a hole punched and feel a little more secure, I can pull them out of the coat, but I've learned to have them handy for moving and again coming back to shore.  After reading everything here, I'm starting to agree that a pfd is not a bad idea at all as well, when moving, same as on a boat in NYS from 11/1 to 5/1. 

L13

[PhatOrange]

Great thread.  You can never be to safe.  I carry minimum 50’ worth of tree cutting rope in my sled as well as a PFD and picks around my neck.  Recently purchased a really light weight non-cumbersome PFD to wear in the summer (to set a good example for my kids while they’re fishing with me and stuck wearing a jacket) and I’ve started to actually wear this PFD under my ice fishing jacket.  It’s really not bothersome at all.  I’ve taken a fair amount of ribbing from people about my safety precautions and I don’t get it.  No one will be laughing if they do go in the drink.

[Gills-only]

Great thread.  You can never be to safe.  I carry minimum 50’ worth of tree cutting rope in my sled as well as a PFD and picks around my neck.  Recently purchased a really light weight non-cumbersome PFD to wear in the summer (to set a good example for my kids while they’re fishing with me and stuck wearing a jacket) and I’ve started to actually wear this PFD under my ice fishing jacket.  It’s really not bothersome at all.  I’ve taken a fair amount of ribbing from people about my safety precautions and I don’t get it.  No one will be laughing if they do go in the drink.                                                                                                                                                              Do yourself and your kids a favor and get yourself a floating suit!

[PKnotlost]

I believe that a far better solution is to where the right sized PDF under or over you jacket.

They are just better at doing what they are made to do, and that is keep you up.

The flotation suits are large and bulky, to me they are very cumbersome. Waring them is very uncomfortable to me. You need to get to heat and out of wet cold air. The cumbersome float suit will not help with that. Age and deterioration can not be assessed with the suit, either.

I think they make fishing very uncomfortable with them and with a PDF you have alot of flexibility, they are cheaper and you can wear them with whatever else you choose. The PDF you put on when moving and once you reach your spot you can remove if you like or keep it on, and they make some very small even inflatable (auto) PDFs that you will not even notice when wearing them.

That's my thoughts and opinion that you may consider.

[Gills-only]

Better yet, don't go fishing you wont fall in!!  You can tie a rope to you also, that way if you fall in you wont Drown!   I have fished for over 50 years and NEVER fallen in, yes I fish first and last ice and usually twice a day, just have to have a little common sense!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lucky13]

Some people have never had a flat tire, but cars come with one for a reason.  Hope your luck holds out!

L13