The last thing I remember hearing my brother say before
the ice gave way was a surprisingly unemotional “uh oh.”
A second later he was struggling in 30 feet of water to
pull himself out of the river’s current and back onto
solid ice.
The ice fishing gear he was holding quickly swept under
the ice, but was the least of our worries. As he half
swam and half clawed at the slippery ice, I slid on my
belly to get close enough to give him a hand. Working
together, we slid him out of the freezing water and back
onto hard ice.
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| Indiana fisherman Al Kirchoff
lands a fish. Unhooking a fish and resetting a
tip-up require ice fishermen to remove their
gloves and get their hands wet. The task can
result in frostnip if hands aren’t warmed soon
after finishing. |
After crawling our way off the remaining ice, we wasted
ten minutes thanking the heavens for our survival but
soon realized the danger had not yet passed.
Besides the shoulder he dislocated when he initially
fell, it was getting colder by the minute. As we stood
on the bank of the Saginaw River in Michigan in the
five-degree air, his clothes froze solid before our eyes
and he started shivering uncontrollably.
We both knew he had to get warm and dry as soon as
possible because hypothermia was setting in.
After several hours in a Michigan hospital, his shoulder
was back in place and his body temperature was back to
98 degrees.
That ordeal happened 15 years ago and since then both my
brother and I have ice fished all over North America in
some of the coldest places on the continent. We learned
a lot from the mistakes made that day and currently have
a better understanding of the signs, symptoms and
dangers of hypothermia, frost bite and frost nip.
Anyone ice fishing Indiana’s current cold snap should
understand these dangers as well.
Hypothermia occurs when a person’s internal body
temperature dips below 95 degrees. There are several
symptoms.
My brother’s uncontrolled shivering was our first signal
that something was wrong, but shivering alone can be
misleading. Once the body reaches extremely low
temperatures, shivering stops.
A person suffering from hypothermia also often displays
a loss of coordination, confusion and drowsiness and has
pale skin.
In severe cases, breathing and heart rate slows and
there is cyanosis (blueness of skin). Victims are also
often disoriented and have trouble speaking.
Treat hypothermia by raising the internal body
temperature as soon as possible. Failure to treat the
problem can lead to cardiac arrest, shock, and coma and
be fatal.
While not always life threatening, frostbite can
permanently scar and disfigure a person if not avoided
or treated immediately. Frostbite is temporary
(superficial) or permanent (deep) skin tissue damage
caused by a prolonged skin tissue temperature of 23
degrees and below.
Ears, nose, hands and feet are the most susceptible to
frostbite, though it can happen to any exposed skin.
Frostbite often accompanies hypothermia and should be
treated swiftly to prevent tissue death (gangrene) and
infection.
Though much less serious, frostnip is the most common
problem for ice fishermen. It is the superficial
freezing of the outer layer of skin.
Affected areas turn white due to decreased blood
circulation. There is a stinging sensation when it is
occurring as well as when the skin is thawing and blood
starts re-circulating through the affected areas.
Frostnip often occurs during vigorous ice fishing
activities such as drilling holes, erecting shelters and
trudging across snow covered ice. Symptoms become
apparent only after the victim stops exercising and
cools down.
Neither my brother nor I suffered any lasting medical
problems as a result of our accident on the ice in
Michigan. We did, however, gain a lifelong respect for
severe cold and the dangers associated with ice fishing.
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