Hypothermia

Guys in light of what happened last week in Florida and some misinformation that is out on being in cold water we are going to republish an article I wrote back in 2004 after doing significant research on cold water exposure and hypothermia. We will hopefully get that back up in the next week and I will get a link up to it at that time. But in the mean time, two things to know and remember with water temp in Texas right now ranges in the 40's to low 50's (49.6 when I left Toledo Sunday afternoon). In that kind of water temp you are 30-60 minutes from exhaustion and/or unconsciousness. Your expected time of survival in the water is 1-3 hours, so first thing to know, fast action is incredibly important, as your body starts to protect it's organs you will get less and less blood flow and therefore oxygen to your brain, you will pretty quickly become foggy and lose the ability to think clearly. Second, and what really shocked me in my research, is that swimming causes you to lose body heat 35-50% faster, so if you are in the "HELP" position, or huddled with others, you could survive up to 4 hours in 50 degree water, if you are swimming or treading water that drops to about 2 hours. Always wear flotation when moving, and if by yourself smart to when you are fishing as well. You survive floating in a vest way longer than swimming or treading water. And know what the HELP position (Heat Escape Lessening Position) is, which is positioned basically in the fetal position, head out of the water, legs pulled up, crossed and held up against the groin with your arms up and folded closely across your chest. The whole idea, with the HELP position or huddling with others, is to reduce the amount of body surface exposure to the water as possible as your body loses heat 30 times faster in the water that in the air. Again we will get the whole article up on the Inside Line Website soon.

I think we could all look at our life jackets also. Most are black or dark colored and honestly don't know if they would float us with all our winter gear on. Next on my list is a high vis mustang vest. If you fish big water regularly one of those GPS devices wouldn't be a bad idea

Whistle on the vest itself is also really smart idea, I had one on my last one, will have one on my current vest by this weekend. In my next video update I talk about my boots. Several guys have given me a hard time about leaving my boots unzipped when I fish, they see that in my videos. Couple years ago in the summer I jumped in the pool with all my regular fowl weather gear on, curious about what I could and could not do if I hit the water in the cold. One thing I quickly figured out, boots full of water are like anchors, so when I am by myself I always leave them unzipped.

http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/coastal_communities/hypothermia

Here's a good one until you get yours posted, Ken.

just read it....good info

That is a good read, thanks for sharing.

Thanks, excellent information. I can honestly say I had no idea that I might do something in the water that would decrease my body heat even faster.

I remember an incident in College fishing last year that was a result of a steering malfunction and both anglers were thrown in the water, none of us are bulletproof!

Something I have seen/read but not confirmed also is the unreliability of auto-inflating vests in cold weather. Better to be safe than sorry in the cold months, wear a none-inflatable vest.

I like the idea of the inflatable because it is comfortable enough to wear all day but I just don't trust them. What if your co2 was empty or if the vest itself had a pin hole leak and wouldn't stay inflated? Traditional vests just seem so much more reliable to me.

Another point on the inflatables is that if the Cartridge fails to inflate, there is a straw on the back to do it manually.
I pulled a man from lake Tyler a couple of years ago, his sail boat had flipped over and he went in but his vest didn’t inflate. Didn’t know about the straw until he took it apart a few days later.
Water was 53 he had been treading for about 10 min.

Not specifically on hypothermia but I found this very interesting information from the Coast Guard reveiwing boating/drowning events...

The other 20 percent when wearing a life jacket was not enough

Thanks for starting this thread Ken. I had the same thoughts while reading last weeks updates. A couple of other things to remember:
Always keep an extra complete set of clothes in your boat. If you can dry off and get in dry clothes and and shoes you'll be uncomfortable, but probably survive.
Everybody needs to go to Home Depot and get an orange traffic construction flag and keep it in their boat. I took mine off the stick it comes on and put 2 simple snaps on the corners. Then you can clip it to the eyes of a flippin' stick and wave it. A passing boat may mistakenly go by if you wave at them, but can't go by if you wave an orange safety flag at them. I've only had to use it once, but it worked on the first boat I saw.
If you break down and have to try to get back on the trolling motor, it's hard to resist, but you'll get a lot farther on a medium setting than on hi-bypass. Most motors the switches will heat up and burn in to if you run extended time on high. I've seen it several times when I helped others.

Common since really needs to stay in the boat with us. Even if we're in a tournament. Last year I underestimated the wind and didn't leave enough time to get in on Rayburn. I was in Caney, and when I got around the point headed to the pavilion it was obvious we weren't getting back on time. I could have probably crashed, smashed jumped and bashed it in, but I told my co - 'sorry, but were gonna be late", and played it safe getting through that big water. We were DQ'ed, but safe (18 minutes late). We both had limits, and I offered to pay his entry. He refused it, and thanked me for keeping him safe, and not beating him up. The Co's safety is your responsibility. I was a duck hunting guide back in the 80's in college and had a customer remind me of it very sternly after a bad boat ride one night. His point never left me.

All great reads guys..... thanks!

I've never really looked at the cold weather gear professional bass anglers wear but have always wondered it it kept them dry if they went into the water. Never really experienced really cold weather and water until fishing a kayak tournament in Jamaica Bay New York early one spring. They deal with it by wearing a dry suit (not to be confused with a wet suit that divers wear). If whatever you are wearing doesn't keep you somewhat dry when you go in the water, you might want to look at some safer alternatives.



Lots of good choices and styles.

https://kokatat.com/product/gore-tex-expedition-dry-suit-dsuexp

http://www.gul.com/sail/mens/drysuits

http://www.apsltd.com/ocean-rodeo-ignite-drysuit.html

will be picking up a orange flag soon.

thx

So very important - I have been impacted by Hypothermia back in 2009 - could not believe how my body completely shut down in a matter of 4 minutes - nothing to take lightly whatsoever.

Krawlin tell us what happened and what you remember?

Already getting a ACR personal locator beacon. Big insurance for a $250 investment.

Since he shows to offline, he hit a stump coming out of Glade. Broke his motor mounts and his Merc was hanging on by cables. Before dragging the boat up the ramp, Ken got in the water on the ramp to remove the prop so it didn't get torn up. Water temps were in the 50's and he lost all motor control in about 4 mins. He'll have to tell you himself what he remembers.