Ice Safety!

[OIM]

Its that time again when we all should give ourselves a refresher on ice safety. I wrote something for the blog.Which can be seen at the link below.

Ice Safety

Lets here some of your ice safety suggestions.

[davek]

It sounds like a lot of us take our children, grandchildren nieces and nephews out, so lets all remember they need a refresher course to and if they are like my 8 yr old Brett that refresher course is handy each time out and a few times during the day. As we approach first ice please be safe and Teach a Kid to Fish SAFELY. God Bless Dave

[ratherbefishing]

If they are not with a responsible adult, THEY ARE ALONE! Always have an adult with you, always use a flotation device, have picks and a whistle. The adult should check the ice often when venturing out onto the sheet.

These are Cliff's Notes of my basic ice safety lesson plan.

[Optfish]

I agree and never fish alone. It's just not worth it.

[OldSailor]

I heartily second that. I've gone out alone when I lived in Minnesota, but we had well over a foot of ice. But as they say: NO ICE IS EVER SAFE!! That is one of my reasons for joining this site! I don't want to fish alone!! Stuff happens is the nice way to put it. Here in SW Ohio ice conditions can be marginal at best, causing some ice heads to push their luck!! Minnesota DNR recently posted an ice warning after a youngster went through the ice playing on a pond!! Lucky lad was rescued and is OK. Sometimes it goes the other way.......

http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/2011/11/21/dnr-warns-parents-of-ice-danger-to-children/

[niC]

I added a Strikerlite floating bibs and jacket to the ever growing ice gear.
Nice and warm not bulky and can save yer hide. Built in pockets for picks and gear.

[OIM]

There is now Flotation Suits for youths. We have them in stock right now in the store at Sportsmen's Direct

[niC]

Just a heads up. If you use the type of spikes that push into each other.
Take them apart and make sure to put a drop of oil to keep them from rusting and becoming difficult to pull apart. I had a pair I had to work to get apart. Could have been a disaster if I had really needed them.

[pig puncher]

 i have the stryker suit. well worth the money. it has "d" rings for my ice picks and so many pockets you need a map to find stuff. i wait till there's 4 inches before i go out. 6 for my kids, and 8 for my kid's kids.
  was out last season, on 4" of sketchy ice with 6" of snow on top. i was nervous as "ell. here came a guy with 2 little boys, maybe 6 and 9, walking everywhere, no picks, rope, spud bar, ---just like they were walking through walmart. think guys, no fish is worth dying for.

[snowcone]

from experience I can tell ya its one thing to go thru but when you go thru and under the sheet trying to find the hole ......so a tiny bit of common sense comes after getting wet....right ?