A Jones County woman is spreading awareness about ice fishing safety after her grandfather fell through the ice at Lake Macbride this weekend and died.
Amanda Willson could hear the ice at Lake Macbride cracking when she visited on Sunday. She recorded a video of the sounds just a day after her 85-year-old grandfather fell into the water while he was ice fishing.
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.
Willson and her family visited the lake on Sunday. Just hundreds of yards from where her grandfather fell in, fishermen were already back on the ice.
Jack Peacock was an experienced outdoorsman. He exercised and knew how to swim.
Amanda 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,” Amanda 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,” Amanda said. The Iowa DNR says ice should be at least four inches thick for ice fishing
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