Just think of the lost gear

It isn't "lost". It will drift south to Ponema and be in the Bemidji pawn shops next week.

All equipment is recovered at the owners expense. It's the law but getting that stuff back may not be in the cards for them

Great news!!! Thanks for posting.

I expect i'll be on the news someday. Probably early April. It would be a good way to go.

Augh shucks I was just waiting for it to float down the Red River in front of my place so I could catch a little-a-drifting gear
Guess I will just have to go up to Big Windy and collect some ice tents in the trees today

No fish are worth taking that kind of chance.

that's how they do it here.

I remember an incident some years ago where a person was out fishing on the ice when the ice broke away from the shore. He had gone out on his snowmobile. A hovercraft came out to rescue him. He wanted them to take his snowmobile, not just him. He was told if he refused to go without the snowmobile, he would be arrested. His snowmobile stayed on the ice until the ice was thick enough for him to recover it.

Why arrest him leave him ther and send his family a bill for cost of the attempted rescue.

A smart fellow would stay off dangerous ice. I love ice fishing and under ice beaver trapping, but there isn't a fish or beaver worth dying for.

I don't know about that... When I was GW on Lake Erie in the 1970s we had the same thing... and I imagine it is still going on there too. Don't know how many generations it would take, but 50 years should have taken care of it, but doesn't seem to have accomplished anything.

It used to be that every shanty had to have the name and address plainly written on the outside of the shanty. When the ice was safe I would walk out to where they were, write down the info, location and take a polaroid photo. If the shanties went down I would contact the owner, write a ticket to appear in court. They were usually fined several hundred dollars. Most of them had all of their fishing equipment locked inside, plus other things like, heater and chests with food.

It got so bad a couple years the state started charging people being rescued with a chopper a pretty hefty fee, plus our fee in court.

Garry-

why charge the resort, are they supposed to police the fishermen? Charge the fishermen, when the charges get high enough it'll become less of an issue.

stupid is 4ever

That is a common deal down here on Saginaw Bay. It can be a whole pile of folks at once. Many is the time the U.S. coast guard rescued the folks. It is also local First Responders that risk their necks. All these rescue/first responder folks are there to help ALL people, not just the smart or lucky, so I don't believe people should be charged for rescue, but we should have some sort of policy about it when it turns out to be some of the same people...........yet again. Maybe a two strikes and your footing the bill type deal ? They only haul folks too, no equipment or gear as far as I've heard.

Don't kid yourselves, the folks rescuing these fishermen live for this kind of stuff. Half of them would probably pay for the opportunity to be part of the rescue crew. I spent years as a volunteer first responder/firefighter and went into a lot more dangerous situations than this because someone was drunk, stoned or doing something illegal. I never gave it a thought.

Agree 100%.You outta see Little Bay de Noc on first ice.I swear these guys all try to have bragging rights on who is the first to venture out on it.

With 40-50 mph north winds today there should be another ice shift AGAIN
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