"Cold Water Immersion"

When water temperatures are hovering near 45 degrees, a perfect storm for what is called "Cold Water Immersion." When you first go into extremely cold water there is a response called “cold shock response.” You will start to hyperventilate immediately. For one to three minutes, you breathe very fast and deep, uncontrollably. If you go underwater, you could easily swallow water and die. This is the likely cause of many, if not most, cold water drownings. Once that response goes away, you're fine…for a little while. According to Scientific American, a person can survive in 41-degree (Fahrenheit) water for about 15 minutes before the muscles get weak. You will lose coordination and strength as the blood moves away from the extremities and toward the core, of the body. Wearing an approved PFD is always wise but in the winter everyone on the water should consider it mandatory, please!

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Thanks for sharing this post. Something everyone should be aware of.

The 2 times I went in when the water was below 45 degrees I did in fact get a cold water shock
But for sure both times it was exactly like getting the wind knocked plum out of you
You do stove up and can’t ketch your breath and it is scary as heck
And to think one time I actually did it on purpose trying to ketch a boat going by in a small stream during the snow melt run off .....ding dong
But it was pale compared to falling thru the ice at -8 I promise ...that was cold I will never forget

I ain't seen the water get below 53 here in Florida, so I'm good! lol

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Originally Posted by Slab

I ain't seen the water get below 53 here in Florida, so I'm good! lol

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But you got them there dang gators down there, chomp chomp.

But it was pale compared to falling thru the ice at -8 I promise ...that was cold I will never forget

I would love to hear more about that experience

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Originally Posted by catchNgrease

But it was pale compared to falling thru the ice at -8 I promise ...that was cold I will never forget

I would love to hear more about that experience

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Hunting with my dad upstate Pennsylvania,dead of winter and unseasonably COLD
When I get time I will tell that tale in depth .
KABOOM went the ice and into the drink I went

Fell in one time duck hunting. Water around 40 degrees, air temp in the 20's. I now carry a complete set of clothes in the boat. Towel, heavy socks, insulated underwear, pants, shirt, house shoes, heavy coat, gloves, lighter and Vaseline coated cotton balls. All goes in one of those space saver bags. No bigger than a life jacket.

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Originally Posted by tlefire

lighter and Vaseline coated cotton balls.

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What do you do with those?

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Originally Posted by Lonnie84

What do you do with those?

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You get on the bank & start a fire with them.

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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

You get on the bank & start a fire with them.

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BINGO......

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Originally Posted by catchNgrease

But it was pale compared to falling thru the ice at -8 I promise ...that was cold I will never forget

I would love to hear more about that experience

Sent from my E6810 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

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So we were in upstate Pa. close to New York, got invited to deer hunt on a friends property , he had a nice cabin and half a mountain full of deer and it was late season and way past cold that weekend .
There was a stream between the cabin and the mountain we were going to hunt and ONE pair of waders in the tree by the stream. So dad and i decided we would put me with both rifles on his shoulders and he would wade across and we could go in and out that way .
All went well except for at minus 8 even running water starts to freeze . and so here we go ....
almost to dry land and we had to step up on a thick ice sheet that extended off the bank ....
first step went ok ,second step the ice shelf broke off and gone was me .....
along with both rifles right to the bottom ....man was it bad i tell ya ...
having to go back down to the bottom and get them and get out of there and back to the cabin before i froze to death was an ordeal.
the cabin was about 100 yards from the stream and i had to sit in front of the fire place for what seemed like forever just to UNFREEZE my boot laces ....
my everything was froze about solid on the outside and we spent half the day drying everything off before we tried to crossing yet again !
Second time we made it and to make the entire story really sink home , i shouldered my rifle on a nice 8 with some does in front of us and dad says DONT SHOOT ,,,,they are all does !
i said dad there was a nice 8 with them and he said no son ....
we ran them down the mountain a bit and when they crossed into the neighbors place
.....you guessed it ...KABOOM !
i guess you could say it was memorable no doubt but wasnt exactly something i might try again for sure :Rofl

Whoo....that's tough right there...I'd still be standing on the bank just looking at the rifles....and then hunt the evening.. no sir no way I'm going back.

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I used to scuba ice dive strip pits and rock quarries for kicks wearing a 3/8 wet suit. We would use a chain saw to cut a hole in the ice about 3’ x 6’ square tie each other with rope and a rope tied one diver to find the hole when getting out. 20 minutes was all we could stand before jumping into a heated van and stripping down taking a big shot of brandy to stimulate. You won’t get me at 71 to do that today! I don’t think the old body could take the shock of initial shock of entering the water. :cheers2

Two years ago,I was ice fishing and went through the ice. Lucky for me that there was alot of fishermen there. I just got there and was talking to some of the other fishermen and they wanted me to set up beside them so we could talk awhile. I drilled my holes and was walking around to clear them of ice. I was walking back to my sled to get my rods baited and set out and the next thing I know I'm up to my chin in water. I heard the crack and felt the ice letting go underneath me. I instinctively held my arms out,I caught the edges of the ice hole that I fell through. That saved me from going under completely. I was probably in the water for about 30 seconds. The guys I just met rushed to my aid and formed a human chain to pull me out. I still had my ladle in my hand and one guy grabbed it and told me to hold on and the other guy pushed his auger out to me and told me to grab ahold. Other guys pulled there feet and I came zipping out of that hole. I'm very lucky. My truck was not far away and they got me to it and had it started. They stripped me down and had me in my warm truck in minutes. The other guys gathered up my equipment. They were thankful that it turned out the way it did. Two of them hugged me and said I scared the witts out of them. One was in tears. They were fishing on 8in of ice. Were I drilled my holes was 8in of ice. Obviously were I walked across was not. Even if you take every precaution,you never know wear that thin spot is. I still love to ice fish and to this day,I believe I did nothing wrong. I am very careful on the ice but you never take anything for granted. This year,I bought a floating ice fishing suit. It may give me peace of mind but in the back of my mind,I pray I never experience that situation again. Stay safe everybody.

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Couple times I went into the water in the winter, the water was a comfort compared to the air outside,,,,

Coldest water I've ever been in was 45deg .... Sea of Japan 1969 when I was stationed in S. Korea ... and I was body surfing in it. Air temps were in the 90's, but the water temps are almost always around 45deg in the Sea of Japan. It actually "hurt" more to just splash around in the water than to just dive in and stay neck deep. Then again, I was 21yrs old at the time and probably thought I was :superman.

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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

Coldest water I've ever been in was 45deg .... Sea of Japan 1969 when I was stationed in S. Korea ... and I was body surfing in it. Air temps were in the 90's, but the water temps are almost always around 45deg in the Sea of Japan. It actually "hurt" more to just splash around in the water than to just dive in and stay neck deep. Then again, I was 21yrs old at the time and probably thought I was :superman.

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Body surfing, in 45 degree water. This explains a lot! :Rofl J/K gewber, but still a nutty idear!

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Originally Posted by patrapper

Two years ago,I was ice fishing and went through the ice. Lucky for me that there was alot of fishermen there. I just got there and was talking to some of the other fishermen and they wanted me to set up beside them so we could talk awhile. I drilled my holes and was walking around to clear them of ice. I was walking back to my sled to get my rods baited and set out and the next thing I know I'm up to my chin in water. I heard the crack and felt the ice letting go underneath me. I instinctively held my arms out,I caught the edges of the ice hole that I fell through. That saved me from going under completely. I was probably in the water for about 30 seconds. The guys I just met rushed to my aid and formed a human chain to pull me out. I still had my ladle in my hand and one guy grabbed it and told me to hold on and the other guy pushed his auger out to me and told me to grab ahold. Other guys pulled there feet and I came zipping out of that hole. I'm very lucky. My truck was not far away and they got me to it and had it started. They stripped me down and had me in my warm truck in minutes. The other guys gathered up my equipment. They were thankful that it turned out the way it did. Two of them hugged me and said I scared the witts out of them. One was in tears. They were fishing on 8in of ice. Were I drilled my holes was 8in of ice. Obviously were I walked across was not. Even if you take every precaution,you never know wear that thin spot is. I still love to ice fish and to this day,I believe I did nothing wrong. I am very careful on the ice but you never take anything for granted. This year,I bought a floating ice fishing suit. It may give me peace of mind but in the back of my mind,I pray I never experience that situation again. Stay safe everybody.

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Wow, thats a story. Thnks for sharing. Glad it worked out.

I’ve dealt with cold water twice, and both were enough to scare me.

Crappie fishing on Kentucky Lake. I was wearing old shoes with a slick sole. Stepped on the wet gunwale and I was instantly on my way to the (IIRC) 53 degree water. The fall was long enough I had time to think about it and decide it wasn’t going to be too bad. I hit the water and my body decided it wanted no part of water that cold. I swim regularly and am very used to hitting the water while skiing and tubing, but this was like nothing I’d experienced! I HAD to inhale. Got my head out of the water and got my bearings, but it was a shock.

I was planning on building a patio and retaining wall, and a friend offered some free excavator use in February. Nasty outside, but I wasn’t going to turn down free excavator time. The work involved rerouting pool plumbing. Because I was cutting before the valve, I knew I’d be dealing with a lot of water. The pipe was just far enough down that I had to stick my head in the hole to put the test plug in. Holy cow! It took me easily ten tries before I could keep my head in that ice cold water for the 10 seconds it took me to tighten a wing nut. The urge to inhale is incredibly powerful. Even though I was getting more angry each time, I couldn’t force myself to stay in the water.

Both situations were very sobering about messing around in cold water.