Ice picks, ice pike and throw line

Ten seconds after the ice gives, there is no time to rummage in pockets. The water is three degrees, the mittens are gone, and the only thing that matters is whether the picks hang where you can take them with stiff hands. How you wear picks, pike, throw line and flotation decides whether the gear is even there then. Whether the ice holds, where it is weak, and how thick black ice should be as a rule of thumb, is under safe ice.

We do not judge ice conditions. Gear worn right is not a promise.

The ice-safety council talks about three words: knowledge, equipment, company. Equipment without the other two is stuff in a bag.

Ice picks around the neck

The picks sit around the neck, outside the jacket and high. The points in the sheath so they do not tear, but so you rip the covers off in one pull. The cord outside the collar. The ends point away from the face, not into the cheek. Bend forward at home. If the picks hit your face they sit too low, and then they fly up if you fall. Press-test the fastening with mittens on. If you cannot reach both handles in thick ice-fishing mittens, you will not reach them in the water either.

In the rucksack, in an inside pocket or in the pulk the picks are useless. You do not take them off when you sit and jig. They stay on until you are on land.

A plastic whistle sits on the picks, without a pea that can freeze solid. You carry farther with a whistle than with a shout when your head is in the water.

If you go through, turn toward the ice you came from, where it held. Free the picks one at a time and grip with the whole hand. Strike diagonally back into the ice, with the point slightly toward you. Up onto the elbows, crawl with short pulls. Big strides tear the edge. Kick, pull and roll away from the hole. Do not stand up on the edge. It likes to break a second time. Practise the movement in peace, on your knees on the floor if you must, not the first time in black water. More about an accident under safe ice.

On spring ice the edge crumbles. The picks need something to bite. Then the line and company matter more than ever. That is why you do not test one last hole in the April sun.

Ice pike

The pike is the tool you test the ice with. Firm blows in front of your feet, all the way out, not three blows at the shore and then a stroll because it looked fine. If the pike goes through easily the answer is given: turn around. If a weak stream of water comes up through the blow, the ice is too thin. If it does not give after proper strikes you can go on, and probe again three steps later.

Probing is not measuring a centimetre with a folding rule in one hole and then trusting the whole pond. Ice varies. Probe where you mean to walk, probe again when you change holes, probe toward the edge on the way home. On first ice and on spring ice that is especially clear.

An ice pike should have a sharp point and a sensible length. It should be heavy enough to give an honest blow, and it should float if you drop it. A ski pole is a poorer substitute. It slips, it is too light, and you fool yourself. Carry the pike in your hand, not under the arm and not in the pulk until you have got a little way out. Practise the blows before the season, like the picks, not for ceremony but so the hands know what they are doing when they will not obey.

Throw line, flotation and a change of clothes

The throw line is distance. The person who rescues should not have to walk up to the hole. The line is the extended arm. It should float, have a weight so it can be thrown, and lie where you take it without tearing the rucksack off. Fasten it on the outside. CE-marked rescue lines are at least 24 metres. A shorter line is not enough when you must stay on ice that holds.

Practise the throw on land, with mittens, so the line goes where you want when the fingers will not obey. Throw past the person in the water, not onto the chest. Sideways if you miss. Company is the point: one in the water and one on the ice with a line is a different situation than you alone.

Flotation can be a flotation suit, a lifejacket or a rucksack with a waterproof packed change of clothes. A pack that is meant to lift you needs a waist strap and a crotch strap so it does not ride up over the head without taking the body with it, the same idea as a vest. A heavy fishing pack full of drill and thermos should, on the other hand, be something you can drop if it pulls you down. Choose on purpose: either flotation, or packing you take off. Not a tight chest harness that holds you in the water.

The phone in a waterproof pocket, so you can call 112. Cold kills the battery, so an inside pocket under the waterproof layer. A change of clothes: base layer, hat and mittens in a bag. A soaked person on the car park five minutes later is still in trouble. Change, keep the heat and call if you need to.

On a snowmobile you add helmet, lights, distance between vehicles and an open cover on the pulk. More under ice-fishing tackle.

The packing around the fishing — rod, drill, scoop, bucket — sits there. The first session is under the first ice-fishing trip.