A New Tool For Ice Fishing Safety?
We had our first snow on Saturday and I couldn’t help but think about the quickly approaching ice fishing season. Regular readers of this blog know how much we love spending time on the hard water, especially when it involves chasing crappie.
However, as much as we love it, since the very beginning we have known that we should never trust the ice. We constantly check the depth and the quality as we move around, and we never push it at the end of the season when the ice is starting to get soft. Every year there are rescues of ice anglers that make the headlines. This happens for a number of reasons – some anglers choose to ignore common sense and head out in dangerous conditions, but quite often it’s just a case of bad luck. It can happen to anyone, at any time during the season.
Ice rescues are bound to be needed, and we recently came across this new tool that can be used in such a situation. Created be WISE Technology, the AIR Responder is an amphibious vehicle that can be used in any situation. It basically provides a hull for a snowmobile which provides, in theory at least, a fast and effective way to respond to ice emergencies. Check out the company’s video and see for yourself.
It’s a pretty neat concept and it will be interesting to see if it finds a niche in helping to rescue ice anglers during the hard water season.
argosgirl
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It’s like a cold water jetski! That is pretty neat. Our local traffic nightmare, the Beltline Highway, passes over and near some of the lakes around here. Last year, we saw guys and their shanties out on just a couple inches. Some of them put on snowshoes and even strap 1X4s to their feet to distribute their weight on the ice. Even though the bad year we had icefishing last year led me to really dislike it, I’ll wait for there to be 6+ inches, thanks. I might hate drilling through 16 inches of ice, but at least I’ll know it’s relatively safe.
LOL I have the same thoughts about thick ice – I hate drilling through it, but it makes me feel safer. I’ve never understood why people take their shanties out on only a few inches, it just increases the level of danger. Ice fishing isn’t for everyone, but if you manage to get on fish and stay safe, it can be a lot of fun.