Ice Fishing
ATV Recovery
The lakes surrounding Madison require flotation. But the flotation must be approved before going on the water. They cannot be trapped air, so foam filled containers to float the weight of the vehicle. There are some pretty illaborate outfits out there . Some of which took some really cool engineering.
I maybe mistaken but i think at some point you did have to have floats on big green. Glad you are ok. I got your humor. Now i have never put a vehicle thru the ice but i have fallen threw on foot 3 times and all 3 times were on bodies of water i didnt know (dang springs) and i had been checking ice thickness as i went. Just not often enough apparently. So stuff does happen. Long story short glad your ok and thank you for sharing the proper steps if god forbid this does happen to someone else.
Hey A5 I believe if you re-read the earlier post by V-T and then myself the words careless and ignorant were used in describing insurance claims in general and weren't pointing any fingers at you. Everyone is careless sometimes.
I did see the news paper article in which you said there was 2" of ice. I'm sure You didn't know that it was 2" until after you went through. But obviously you didn't know how thick the ice was. I went back and read the posts from the end of Jan. 2016 and beginning of Feb. 2016 on Green Lake. I assume that you were reading posts as you had made some posts. People at the end of January were reporting 4" of ice. One gentlemen reported 8" out to 100 yards from shore but also said ice was thinner the further you got out. Someone also reported that the west end still had open water. According to the paper you said your ATV broke through the ice about 150 yards north of Sandstone Avenue, west of Horners Landing.
I did say that you made an arrogant post as I didn't find it humorous at all. But if I missed the humor and was out of line I apologize.
I 4 wheel on the ice most of time when ice fishing. I take my 1500 truck on the ice. But I don't do it unless I'm positive I know what I'm doing. That still doesn't mean a freak accident can't happen. It's ice. But I don't drive my truck out just because someone else did. I don't drive my 4 wheeler out just because others are. If I'm fishing water I am not familiar with I am very cautious where I go and what I use.
I guess I was basing my last post on the facts that you have sunk 2 4 wheelers and were looking for flotation devices for your next 4 wheeler. My thoughts were it is an excellent idea to have flotation for your 4 wheeler, but it also made me think that you haven't learned your lesson yet. If I made a wrong assumption, I apologize.
And your right I have no idea of the lives you have saved and the dead you have helped recover. So from that statement I assume you know how important it is not to risk the live of others. And again if I was wrong in assuming you take unnecessary risk on your 4 wheeler while ice fishing, I apologize.
I do appreciate the fact you were trying to help others in your original post. As accidents do happen and people do go through the ice. But I also believe that the majority of vehicles going through the ice could be prevented.
I hope this discussion helps someone from going through the ice. Safety should always come first when ice fishing.
Good Luck and tight lines.
Thank you for not accusing me of cheating the insurance company. I do not much care to be called careless, arrogant and ignorant. My intent was to inform others of what needs to be done in the event of an "accident". Read the words I wrote. I said the diver found the thin ice, I did not know it was that thin prior.
You do not know me, so you have no place to judge me by what you have misread. You have no idea of the lives I have saved and and the dead I have helped recover.
My "arrogant" response was done in humor. I thought the content would express that. I cannot control how a person reads and perceives.
So what I gather is that you consider ALL who set foot or tire on the ice to be ignorant and careless. I believe I read you said you ice fish. I find that interesting after you make claims about things you do not know.
Just my opinion.
To post back so arrogantly. Riding your 4 wheeler on 2 inches of ice. And you knew before you went out that the ice might be that thin. Again I'm glad that your okay. But I guess you don't mind putting other people's lives in danger. Someone had to dive to get that 4 wheeler in a 135 feet of water. Those that dive know that diving in 135 is dangerous if something goes wrong. And if you hadn't made it out you would have put those looking for you at risk.
And now your looking for flotation devices for your 4 wheeler because you want to keep pushing the limit. I don't mean to be cruel here, but there's really something wrong with your thinking.
In fact, I learned plenty! It's the damned atv that I could not teach to swim! As it was going down, I told it to "stay". It just sunk straight down. When it went through, it was still running and in gear. I was worried that it would end up on the other end of the lake. It had a full tank of gas??
V-T
I hear what your saying and I can't disagree that most accidents are preventable. There is carelessness and ignorance across the board along with cheating on claims. (I'm not accusing anyone on this board of cheating by any means.)
I just think driving on lakes and rivers should be at your own risk. Just my opinion.
I hope everyone out there never has to experience going through the ice as it can turn deadly very quick.
Good luck this year and be safe.
dgdg,
it is hard to argue your point. I drive my 2500 & & one of my atv's on lakes/rivers seasonally, & thank you God, i havent had an issue, ever. But, it is insurance and that it what its there for. If we could assess premiums by carelessness or ignorance across the insurance board, well........
First off glad to hear that you're okay.
I think we need to petition the insurance companies of Wisconsin to exclude coverage for sinking automobiles, 4 Wheelers or anything else through the ice. I don't like my premiums going to pay for this coverage. This should never happen.
During my 40 years of ice fishing, I have never sunk any sort of vehicle through the ice and if I did I wouldn't expect others to pay for it.
Just my opinion.
