Ice Fishing on Ozempic

Ice fishing means long, quiet days on a frozen lake: drilling holes, setting tip-ups, sitting in a shanty or a pop-up shelter with a heater, and waiting. Trips can run a weekend or longer, with nights in a cabin, a camper, or a heated shack. It is cold, often remote, and easy to go hours without eating properly.

If you take Ozempic or another GLP-1, the trip raises a few specific questions: how to keep your medication from freezing, how to stay fueled on a smaller appetite in the cold, and what to do about low blood sugar if you also take insulin or a sulfonylurea. Here is how to plan.

Keep your medication from freezing

Cold is as much of a storage risk as heat. A pen left in a truck overnight, in a tackle bag on the ice, or near the floor of an unheated cabin can freeze. A study that tracked insulin, another temperature-sensitive injectable, found it was often kept outside the recommended temperature range, both in home refrigerators and when carried by patients.

For trips of a week or less, injecting before you leave can mean you carry nothing. If you need to bring your pen, follow the storage instructions that came with it, keep it inside with you rather than in the truck or on the ice, and store it in a fridge at your lodging away from the freezer compartment. If you think it may have frozen, do not use it. Call your pharmacy. Our guide on storing compounded semaglutide or tirzepatide at home covers the basics.

Low blood sugar on the ice

The prescribing information for Wegovy, which contains semaglutide, the same active ingredient as Ozempic, notes that patients with diabetes mellitus taking it in combination with insulin or an insulin secretagogue, such as a sulfonylurea, may have an increased risk of hypoglycemia, including severe hypoglycemia. Long hours in the cold, drilling holes and hauling gear, with irregular meals, raise that risk. If that is you, talk to your diabetes care team before the trip, keep glucose tablets in an inside pocket, and never change those medications on your own.

If you use a meter, check its instructions for cold use, since some do not read accurately when cold, and carry it inside your jacket. Shivering and shakiness can look alike, so if you are not sure whether you are cold or low, stop and check.

Eat on a schedule

Waiting for a bite makes time disappear, and appetite on Ozempic is already small. Set a phone alarm to eat every few hours. Pack food that is easy to eat with cold hands and keep it from freezing solid in an inside pocket or a warm shanty: jerky, nuts, cheese, sandwiches, protein bars, and a thermos of soup or chili. Hot soup is especially welcome on the ice and gentle on the stomach.

Cold and feeling cold

Feeling cold more easily can be a sign you are not eating enough, and if you have lost a lot of weight you may feel the cold more than you used to. Dress in layers, keep your feet and hands warm, and take breaks in the shanty.

Water in the cold

You still lose water in cold, dry air, and cold blunts thirst. Bring an insulated bottle or a thermos of warm drinks, and drink regularly.

Plan your dose around the trip

Side effects tend to be strongest in the first weeks and after each dose increase, and many people notice them most in the day or two after an injection. Nausea in a small, warm shanty with a heater is no fun. If a step up would fall right before the trip, ask your provider whether to hold it until you are home. Ask your provider before moving your injection day. Our guide on semaglutide dose escalation covers how dose steps usually work, and if you are new to treatment, our guide on the Ozempic starting dose covers what the first weeks usually look like.

Heaters and fresh air

Shanty heaters make the day bearable, but stuffy air can add to lightheadedness or nausea. Follow the heater’s safety instructions, keep the shelter ventilated, and step outside for fresh air if you feel unwell.

Bulky layers and injection sites

Bibs, belts, and layers press on the abdomen and thighs. If a recent injection site is tender, choose a different site for your next dose, and inject in a warm room rather than a cold truck. Our guide on GLP-1 injection sites covers each option.

Drinks on the ice

A beer in the shanty is part of the culture for many people. Have it with food, alternate with water, and know that some people find alcohol affects them differently on these medications. Never drive a truck or snow machine across the ice after drinking.

Watch for under-eating

Long, cold days on a small appetite can leave you running low. Watch for persistent fatigue, feeling cold, hair shedding, dizziness when you stand, losing strength, and losing weight faster than you and your provider intended.

Consider this scenario: a man on Ozempic who also takes insulin leaves his pen in the truck overnight at the lake and spends the next day on the ice with only coffee and a frozen granola bar. By mid-afternoon he is shaking and cannot tell whether he is cold or low, and his meter, stored in the truck, will not read. Injecting before the trip, keeping his pen and meter inside, eating every few hours from a thermos of soup and pocket snacks, and carrying glucose tablets in an inside pocket would very likely have kept the day safe.

The short version

For ice fishing on Ozempic, inject before short trips, keep medication inside and never in a truck or on the ice, and do not use a pen that may have frozen. Set alarms to eat, keep snacks and glucose tablets in an inside pocket, and carry your meter inside your jacket. Drink from a thermos, ask about holding a dose increase, ventilate the shanty, and never drive across the ice after drinking.

If you want a provider who will help you plan treatment around your winter trips, TrimRx includes ongoing provider access alongside treatment.

This information is for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Consult with a healthcare provider before starting any medication. Individual results may vary.