01-11-2015, 02:15 PM
I thought I would share a frightening story with you guys. My grandpa is in his early 90's but he is in great shape and he is an unrelenting sportsman. He is known for sneaking off and fishing alone despite his five daughters and my grandmothers objections. I don't try to deter him, but I do go with him as often as I can. Fortunately, last week he decided to go with his partner in crime who is also a geriatric sportsman.
This is the story as it was related to me by my mother. My grandpa and his friend had just completed ice fishing for the day. I do not know what reservoir they were one, but I suspect Deer Creek. That was where he and I fished the most last year, and I know he has been sneaking up there to fish from shore lately. Anyways, Grandpa decided to drag the sled off of the reservoir using a different route than the one he had taken in. I'm sure you all can see this coming, but he went through the ice while he was still quite some distance from shore. All of his ice fishing gear, including his gas auger and sonar, sunk to a watery grave. He attempted to pull himself up from the water, but every time he did the ice would break off leaving him struggling in the water again. My Grandpa wears thick carhartt overalls when he is ice fishing along with heavy waterproof boots. I imagine it was quite a struggle to stay above water in this gear. He eventually managed to break the ice to somewhere that was thick enough to stand on. At this point his friend was able to help lift him from the water.
My grandpa is okay and nothing but his pride was injured. He has been moping around the house crying about how his ice fishing days are over. I'm sure they are not though. He would rather die fishing than stop. My dad has been consoling him by driving him between Scheels, Sportsman's Warehouse, and Cabela's to scope out new ice fishing gear, but I suspect replacing all of that will be a hard pill to swallow on a retired teacher's budget.
Just a reminder to be safe out there. We've had a mild winter and I would hate to see anyone go through the ice and not come back. I'm happy to have my grandpa still and I hope to get out with him more often.
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This is the story as it was related to me by my mother. My grandpa and his friend had just completed ice fishing for the day. I do not know what reservoir they were one, but I suspect Deer Creek. That was where he and I fished the most last year, and I know he has been sneaking up there to fish from shore lately. Anyways, Grandpa decided to drag the sled off of the reservoir using a different route than the one he had taken in. I'm sure you all can see this coming, but he went through the ice while he was still quite some distance from shore. All of his ice fishing gear, including his gas auger and sonar, sunk to a watery grave. He attempted to pull himself up from the water, but every time he did the ice would break off leaving him struggling in the water again. My Grandpa wears thick carhartt overalls when he is ice fishing along with heavy waterproof boots. I imagine it was quite a struggle to stay above water in this gear. He eventually managed to break the ice to somewhere that was thick enough to stand on. At this point his friend was able to help lift him from the water.
My grandpa is okay and nothing but his pride was injured. He has been moping around the house crying about how his ice fishing days are over. I'm sure they are not though. He would rather die fishing than stop. My dad has been consoling him by driving him between Scheels, Sportsman's Warehouse, and Cabela's to scope out new ice fishing gear, but I suspect replacing all of that will be a hard pill to swallow on a retired teacher's budget.
Just a reminder to be safe out there. We've had a mild winter and I would hate to see anyone go through the ice and not come back. I'm happy to have my grandpa still and I hope to get out with him more often.
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] May we all follow in his footsteps, unless he keeps getting on thin ice.