RAMSEY, Minn. - Cold weather doesn't stop Josh Raw from taking out the boat. And sure enough, on Lake Mille Lacs on Sunday with his friend John, the fish were biting.
"It was bang, bang, bang. We were catching walleyes. Having a good time," Raw said.
But as the afternoon grew colder, the friends decided to call it a day. Before taking off, with the trolling motor still running, Josh stepped to the back of the boat to answer the call of nature.
The trolling motor jerked the boat, sending Josh into the 40-degree water without a life jacket.
"I've got one. I just never use it. Never thought this could happen to me," Raw said.
Adult boaters are not required in Minnesota to wear a life jacket while on the open water. Josh, who says he's an excellent swimmer, might not have needed one during the summer. But he says the cold changes everything.
"Your thought processes are just way different when that water is cold. When it's warm you can take a second, relax, go underwater. Take stuff off. Things like that. When you hit that water when it's cold, you panic and all you do is want to get out of that water as fast as you can," Raw said. "I was sinking fast. I had boots on that were lace-up hunting boots. About that time, I see my buddy reaching his hand over the side of the boat to grab me. And I was never so thankful for a hand in my life."
Josh's buddy got him to shore. Got him out of his wet clothes and into a warm truck. Just as the first sings of possible hypothermia began to set in.
"I was shaking immensely, I didn't even realize where I was or who my buddy who was driving the boat – I thought someone else was," Raw said.
Now that he's safe and recovered, Josh wants to encourage avid boaters like himself to wear a lifejacket -- especially in the fall.
"I hope this at least saves at least a life," Raw said.