Stuck on the Ice in Geen Bay

[onemore]

NAMUR, Wis. - Twelve ice fishermen were stranded for hours on a huge chunk of ice that broke off from shore Thursday and floated into Green Bay, but rescue crews plucked them all safely from the large ice sheet, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Three groups of fishermen had ventured onto the ice, bringing pickup trucks and all-terrain vehicles. But a large fissure ripped through the floe when a freighter passed through the bay, creating ripples that combined with high winds to break the ice.

"The freighter itself was way out in the middle of the lake, not near the fishermen at all," said Coast Guard spokesman Charles Wolfson. "But a large 800-foot freighter is enough to cause a ripple in the ice pack."

The crack was 400 to 500 feet wide, preventing the fishermen from returning to shore. The fissure extended five to six miles from Little Sturgeon Bay to Dykesville, Wolfson said.

None of the people was in immediate danger, Wolfson said. No injuries were reported and no one fell in the water.

Rescue officials found eight fishermen about a mile out on the ice on the east side of Green Bay, Wolfson said. Another pair was found near Dykesville and two other fishermen were recovered near Sugar Creek County Park.

Two trucks and three ATVs were left on the ice and would probably remain there indefinitely, Wolfson said.

[Far-I]

wow. I don't think anyone's insurance covers that kind of loss. At least no one got hurt!

[Nutty Fisherman]

Maybe I'm wrong but why couldn't they push it back to shore and anchor it there till it freezes so they could get there atv's, and trucks off?

[blackdog1101]

Wow, the pucker factor on that is pretty high.

[Surface Tension]

What would you move a 5 or 6 mile ice flow with?

We see this on the western end of Lake Superior where the Coast Guard plucks anglers off the ice. We're not able to drive trucks because of thin ice and no access out there but fishing gear, shelters, and wheelers are left behind.

[Sandmannd]

That's insane, I don't think there is going to be a way to recover those items. That's a huge chunk of ice and now way to move it back.

[Surface Tension]

The ice will end up on a shoreline somewhere. Its a matter if the waves break up the ice flow into before it gets there.

[Caleb S]

At work someone had an insurance claim where a guy went off the road, over some rail road tracks, and went down the embankment on the other side of the tracks. There was no way to cross the tracks in this area and of course no tow company would think of trying to drag a vehicle back across the tracks. The railroad was not cooperative at first and we were going to hire a helicopter company to lift it back over the tracks. The copter company was not stationed too far from where the vehicle was and they quoted a minimum of $4k to do the job. The railroad ended up agreeing to send out a rail car with a crane to lift it back over. If the truck was of reaonable value it might be worth looking at the option of a copter. Besides will the authorities consider it an option to just let them be and end up being lost in the lake if the ice flow never connects again?

[LMITOUT]

I wonder if they tied on some cranks and did some trolling while waiting for a ride off the chunk of ice? I bet it wasn't easy pulling a deep diving Reef Runner on a 28" walleye stick.

[fishnhuntnboy]

You'd think they will try something to get those vehicles off of the ice. If not they will just be polluting the water. If these vehicles broke threw the ice they would recover it so why not now.

[Sandmannd]

I wonder if they were watching the packers loose and didn't notice the crack.

[blackdog1101]

I was just PM'ing with a friend of mine who lives in Oconto. He said this happens almost every year. He and most of his buddies won't fish Green Bay when the wind is out of the South.

[snoozebutton]

He said this happens almost every year. He and most of his buddies won't fish Green Bay when the wind is out of the South.

Kind of sounds like there's 8 more guys that are going to be going by that advice.

[Shack]

It has been awhile now since this has happened on ML. Used to happen every couple years or so.

They would get the guys off and then have to wait for the gap/crack to freeze again.

[epkirkman]

I spent several years in the Coast Guard as a small boat coxswain and I can tell you exactly why they chose to leave the vehicles on the ice.

The Coast Guards mission is to save lives, period. Property can be recovered by commercial companies. In fact the government recovering property ie; boats, trucks, ect. is not fair to private business that make a living by towing disabled boats or recovering pickups from the ice. This is not to say that they won't do it. If a boat or vehicle is in a shipping channel and a danger to navigation then it can be removed.

I also would not consider putting my boat crew of 3-4 in danger to save some guys pick up truck. It is not uncommon practice for Coast Guard helo's to take an entire crew off of a boat and let the boat go.

Having the Coast Guard tow your stranded truck into shore would be no different than asking a local cop to hook your broke down pickup to their cruiser with a tow strap and take you into town.

[forest2482]

I was down watching the show yesterday. One person i talked to said it took 5 minutes for the ice to pull away from shore. One of the trucks left out there is a neighbor of mine but i haven't talked to him. Along with the truck is his brand new fish house he just finished.

[blackdog1101]

Hopefully everything refreezes before the ice breaks up, and they can recover the trucks and house.

[Sandmannd]

I was down watching the show yesterday. One person i talked to said it took 5 minutes for the ice to pull away from shore. One of the trucks left out there is a neighbor of mine but i haven't talked to him. Along with the truck is his brand new fish house he just finished.

That would just suck to loose your truck and fish house. Hopefully they can get them back.

[jigginjim]

Getting the truck back is going to be costly. You could be use a boat to get the ice house.