As temperatures continue to dip below freezing through winter, area residents can look to ice fishing as an activity to do while the pandemic restricts other social events.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Jeremy King says there’s a couple ways to keep yourself safe from falling into freezing water.

“I take a wooden broomstick with me, just your standard broomstick. If you can walk along, take that and slam it down hard in front of you on the ice like you’re spiking a football and it doesn’t go through, the ice should be safe. Now, it’s not a guarantee. When I first get on the ice and I know it’s that four or five inch area and there could be bad areas, as I’m walking out there, I’m taking that stick and thumping it in front of me as I go. That stick also works if you go through somewhere. You can use that as a brace to lay across the ice to lift and pull yourself back out.”

King also recommends placing your vehicle keys through your fingers, so if you end up in the water, you can use those keys as claws to pull yourself back out. He says people who fall into freezing water have only minutes to pull themselves out before symptoms of hypothermia set in.