SOLON, Iowa (KCRG/Gray News) – A woman in Iowa is spreading awareness about ice fishing safety after her grandfather fell through the ice of a frozen lake and died over the weekend.
Amanda Willson said she could hear the ice at Lake Macbride cracking when she visited Sunday.
She recorded a video of the sounds the lake made just one day after her 85-year-old grandfather fell into the frigid waters while he was ice fishing.
”Fifteen minutes after I got out of the bathtub, I got a phone call from my father that said, ‘Grandpa is gone, he fell through the ice,’” Willson said.
Jack Peacock was alone when he went out on the lake Saturday morning. He didn’t tell his family he was going.
A bystander was the one to call the police after seeing the broken ice and gloves.
”We don’t know how long he was under the ice, and again, had that couple not called, we could have been in a completely different situation because his truck was parked and nobody knew he was there,” Willson said.
Willson and her family visited the lake Sunday. Just hundreds of yards from where her grandfather fell in, fishermen were already back on the ice.
”There were half a dozen people. So I’m hearing cracking ice. I’m seeing thin ice. That’s one thing I’d like people to be aware of,” Willson said.
Peacock’s family said he was an experienced outdoorsman. He exercised and knew how to swim.
“Although we might think we’re invincible, we can’t control everything but we could do something more to put that caution and I want to say fear in people to help so someone else doesn’t have to experience this,” Willson said.
Willson wants her grandfather’s story to raise awareness for being safe on the ice.
”Make sure when you go and you leave, people should know where you’re going, when you plan to leave, when you plan to return,” Willson said. “Checking your ice thickness throughout your move around the water.”
She hopes other measures can be put in place in the future to prevent deaths like that of her grandfather.
“There could be a voluntary sign in/sign-out. I’m coming into your park today going on the ice and that I can sign out. If you don’t sign out we have a safety concern,” Willson said.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources said ice should be at least four inches thick for ice fishing.
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