Fisherman saved on Superior

[Scott M]

Jan 27, 2011

Abby Simons, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Mike Popko, adrift on a Volkswagen-sized ice chunk that broke off on Lake Superior, struggled to keep his footing as 8-foot waves crashed around him.

Popko, 61, could see his 80-year-old ice fishing buddy, Skip Wick, balancing on another piece 50 yards away. But the anglers couldn't hear each other over the roar of the wind and the crack of hundreds of ice fragments slamming together in the storm that suddenly blew up on Saxon Harbor, off Ashland, Wis.

Recalling on Thursday the ordeal, Popko said that the ice felt like Jell-O beneath his feet and that he kept his eyes glued to Wick, afraid that if he looked away, he'd look back to find his friend had disappeared.

Popko said he asked himself: "At what point am I gonna get crushed or am I gonna drown?"

But they were saved Saturday by an Ice Angel. That's the name of the 26-foot airboat or "wind-sled" that Ashland firefighters used to reach the stranded anglers. The craft, powered by a fan-like propeller that pushes its hull across ice, water or both, is kept by the South Shore community for just such emergencies.

But conditions were so bad in this case -- with waves cresting up to 12 feet and wind-driven snow whiting out visibility -- the fire department's Lt. Tom Walters worried that the rescuers might perish along with the anglers.

"We started seeing these swells, and we just had kind of a sunken feeling," Walters said. "We weren't sure what was going to happen, but we certainly couldn't leave two people out there either."

Things had been fine before the storm Saturday. Popko, of Gurney Township, Wis., and Wick, of Hurley, Wis., were fishing with Wick's son and grandson on foot-thick ice a quarter-mile from shore, near dozens of other anglers.

About 12:30 p.m., the storm blew in from the north, and the building waves quickly began breaking up the ice and carrying the chunks into open water. Popko said that within five minutes, the solid ice on which he'd stood was moving like ground in an earthquake and breaking into jagged pieces.

They loaded Wick's son and grandson on a snowmobile and sent them ashore. But the ice continued to break up so quickly that Popko and Wick, though they jumped from ice floe to ice floe, were blocked from escaping. They ended up balancing on separate ice chunks at the mercy of a heaving Lake Superior.

Eventually, all they could do was pray.

"I'm a Christian, and believe me, I did," Popko said. "I thought that was the end."

An uncertain rescue

Walters said it was 12:50 p.m. when his department got the call. At first, he said, they envisioned an easy rescue of two people biding their time on a large floe.

They arrived to find about 100 people standing on shore in whiteout conditions that prevented the firefighters from even seeing the stranded anglers, who were now about a half-mile off shore.

Walters admitted he was nervous as they powered up the Ice Angel, because the airboat wasn't equipped for such massive waves. Once they cleared the pier heads, he said, he saw the men, balancing as if on surfboards.

"I was amazed to see two people standing out there in what I perceived to be very extraordinary conditions," Walters said. "With just the waves themselves, I can't imagine how they stood upright for that amount of time."

Hauled to safety

It took only about 10 minutes for the Ice Angel to reach the men, Walters said. The firefighters threw each a rope and hauled them into the boat.

Unsure whether more people were stranded on ice or floating in the water, Walters had one of his men scan the area around them with a spotting glass. Even as he did so, he knew that any rescuers sent into the water might be crushed by colliding ice chunks.

They eventually headed back past snowmobiles, ice shacks and four-wheelers abandoned by the anglers who had scrambled to shore. It didn't take long to determine no one else was in the water.

"I've been involved in a lot of rescues and recoveries, but never in conditions such as this," Walters said.

Somehow, Wick had stayed dry, and Popko had escaped Superior's grip with just a little dampness around the cuffs of his pants.

Popko, a lifelong ice angler, said he thinks a lot about what he could have done differently. He said weather predictions had been for mild weather that day, but he'd neglected to check Lake Superior's open-water forecast.

Next time, Popko said, he will.

[reinhard1]

thank God they were safe and the people that rescued them are safe and well also. this was truly a mirracle with the conditions as they were. good luck.

[Jarrid Houston]

GOD BLESS THE ICE ANGEL!!

[Xplorer]

My father in law from Hurley worked with Popko til they both retired at NSP, and Wick is kind of a ice fishing legend in the Hurley area.

I sent this article to them in Florida where they winter and they freaked out.

Thank god that all the others were able to get off the ice in time, someone was truly watching out for these 2 that day. And what an appropriate name for the craft and the crew on it, Ice Angels!!

[outdoor ran]

Guess you didn't see this was already posted