A spearer to the rescue

[merkman]

http://www.northfieldnews.com/news.php?viewStory=47600

Northfielder helps save man in daring rescue

By: SUZANNE ROOK, Managing Editor

Posted: Saturday, February 28, 2009 12:27 am

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NORTHFIELD — It’s the kind of headline you expect to see on TV or the cover of grocery aisle magazines: “Minnesota fishermen rescue man from subzero waters.”

It’s certainly not the kind of story Mark Rinas and Jason Trout planned to come home from Montana with.

Fishing and decoy carving brought Rinas, from Northfield, and Trout, of Pine River near Brainerd, together. In the last five years, Rinas said, the men — and their wives — have become more than fishing buddies. Rinas calls Trout “the little brother I never had.”

It’s that friendship, that trust, Rinas said, that allowed him follow Trout’s lead, crawling face down on an icy Montana lake and plucking a man they know only as “Kelly from Wyoming” from the frigid water.

A little more than two weeks after the rescue, Rinas is still coming to terms with what he happened on Fort Peck Reservoir. “I just happened to be there,” said a reflective Rinas, 44.

Cry for help

It was the first of four days of ice fishing for Rinas, Trout and four others. In 20-degree weather, the two left their friends in search of good fishing. With an auger and a depth finder, they read the lake’s shore, looking for a shallow where for fish would cluster, and drilled through the 30-inch ice.

But as experienced ice fishermen know, any lake can have thin spots.

Anywhere from 14 to 18 miles from the [PoorWordUsage] Creek Marina, the two pulled their auger from the ice and heard a noise they both thought was a cow. That far out, Trout said, you don’t see many people, so it took a minute before they realized the sound was a cry for help. About a quarter mile away, a man was in the water, hanging on for dear life to the tires of his upside down ATV.

The men said they grabbed their gear, hopped on their ATVs and headed for the man they later found out was named Kelly.

Trout, a volunteer firefighter who has had ice rescue training, took the lead. He got down on his belly to distribute the weight of his 6’4”, 220-pound frame, crawled as close the open water as he dared and reached out for Kelly, but the man was too far out.

Trout encouraged Kelly, now shivering and slurring his words, to swim toward them. Fearing his friend would also fall into the lake, Rinas grabbed Trout’s ankles, prepared to pull him back to safety if necessary. It was then Kelly’s head slipped under the water.

Back to safety

Somehow — neither Rinas nor Trout can explain how — Trout was able to reach into the water and snatch the floundering man, pulling him up to where he could rest his elbows on the ice. From there, Trout and Rinas tied a rope around Kelly’s waist and pulled him to safety.

Just then, a friend of Kelly’s pulled up in a Polaris Ranger, an ATV with an enclosed cab. Trout instructed the friend to strip Kelly down and get him some warm dry clothing to stave off hypothermia.

Seconds later, the two were gone.

Later that night, Rinas ran into the friend who said that Kelly dried off, rested a bit and headed for home, swearing never to step foot on the ice again.

Never really safe

It took both men days before they fully absorbed what happened.

“If we hadn’t been there, this guy could have died,” said Rinas, noting that the experience cast a pall over the trip.

“Ice is never really safe,” he said. “It made us a lot more aware of what can happen.”

Added Trout: “Hopefully, if it ever happened to us, someone would do the same thing.”

— Suzanne Rook can be reached at [email protected] or 645-1113.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdoors/39871702.html?page=3&c=y

A spearer to the rescue

Jason Trout — an avid fish decoy carver, fish spearer and angler — is a volunteer firefighter in Pine River, Minn., and that training came in handy recently. He and friend Mark Rinas of Northfield were fishing on the Fort Peck Reservoir in Montana when they heard a noise, then a cry for help. Another angler driving a four-wheeler crashed through thin ice.

Trout, 30, grabbed his spear — ''It was the only thing I could think of that had a rope on it,” he said — and sped with Rinas on four-wheelers to the scene.

“I unraveled the rope off the spear and belly-crawled up to the edge of the ice, which was around 2 inches thick,” Trout recalled. The fellow was clinging to his four-wheeler, and Trout told him to swim closer.

“He began gasping for air and spitting some water; it was only seconds later he started to go under the water,” Trout recalled. “I had to reach down into the water and got a hold of his hand and pulled him to the edge of the ice.’’

More help arrived, Trout slipped a larger rope around the victim and the men pulled him out.

“I wonder what that guy was thinking when I came running towards him with my spear,” Trout said.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

That's awesome, love that last quote, “I wonder what that guy was thinking when I came running towards him with my spear,” Trout said.

Aweseome story merk

[Central Bassman]

That is a great story, Thanks for sharing Merk!!!

[bassNspear]

Awesome Story!

[Homer_P]

That sory was something else! Thanks for posting it Merkman!!

[broken_line]

that sends chills down your back!!! i had a ice dipping this fall and was in and out of the water in under 30 sec it was the scarryiest thing i have ever experienced.. i couldnt imagine the feeing of not being able to get back out!!! glad every one was ok!

[Cheeser]

We figured he had been in the water at least 5-10 minutes. He couldn't speak, his speech was all slurred and he couldn't stand up when we got him out.

Honestly, it was just sheer luck that we found him.

Thanks for posting, merk.

--Mark

[Homer_P]

Mark, You and Jason are to be comended on your quick thinking!!! It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out on the line like that knowing that you could be in the water next. Great job, Both of you!!!