Trolling, Trolling, Trolling . . . icefisherman's style?

[Desperado]

From today's Minneapolis Tribune:

Sitting with her husband Monday afternoon at the kitchen table at her mother's Mississippi River-side house in Anoka, Sue Hillberg glanced out the window and quickly turned to her husband.
"There's a kid floating down the river," a stunned Hillberg said, and then called 911.

The "kid" was a 19-year-old Anoka man who was taking an unwelcome ride on a wide, smooth slab of ice that had broken off as he stood on it along the shoreline somewhere upriver, according to authorities in Anoka.

By the time the ice slab -- with the man standing atop it very gingerly -- reached the Hwy. 169 bridge, three firefighters who entered the fast-moving river were able to pull the slab toward shore and rescue the man.

He apparently suffered no major injuries.

"They're very good at what they do," Charlie Thompson, chief of the Anoka-Champlin Fire Department, said of his fire crews.

Still, despite extensive water rescue training his firefighters have logged, Thompson said he can't recall anyone being saved off an ice slab.

"I don't want to ever see that again," said Ellie Ghostley of Anoka, who spotted the man as she went behind her home along Benton Street to look at her dock.

It was unclear exactly where the man, whose name was not released, entered the river and what he was doing when the ice broke away.

Like a statue on ice

What caught Hillberg's eye was what looked like the "Statue of Liberty," holding a jacket as it got blown about in the strong winds, moving down the river.

"He stood there so still," she said.

It wasn't until the man tried to put on his jacket, then apparently decided against it, that he showed signs of life, she said.

Ghostley grew more worried as she watched the ice slab keep changing directions, first sliding toward the shore, then drifting out.

She yelled to him that she was going to call 911, ran back into her house, made the call, and then hopped in her car to try to see if he would get out all right.

Wading into water

Rescue crews set up shop on the Hwy. 169 bridge, Thompson said.

The three firefighters who donned Mustang survival suits quickly headed down to the river's edge and waded into the water. One swam out toward the middle, while the others stayed in shallower waters, Thompson said.

In less than 10 minutes, the ice reached the deep-water firefighter.

Toting a rope, he managed to hop on the slab, which Thompson guessed was about six feet by 15 feet and easily could have held one or two more people.

The other firefighters then pulled the man and the firefighter to safety.

David Luna of Andover, who saw the rescue, said the man had his head down and "was just shaking and shaking and shaking" after he was brought to shore. Emergency workers threw blankets over his shoulders.

Thompson said the man's hands were "ashy white," and his feet must have been pretty wet. It appeared he was in the beginning stages of hypothermia, the chief said.

Police officials said the man was taken to Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids for observation.

Hillberg, now a Park Rapids, Minn., resident but who has lived most of her life in Anoka, said the riverside sights were a first for her.

"Kind of exciting, huh?" she said.

[fish_finder]

 That sure woulda sucked bein trapped on that ice slab...woulda been a lot better if he woulda had a jiggin rod with him  I guess its that time of year when everything is starting to break up.

[Wyoming_Ice]

It's nice to have one of these stories with a good ending...

[bshirtd]

he had his jigging rod but forgot the auger

[scansy]

The real question is this -

If he had kept on fishing, and the bite was good, would he have chased the firefighters away and told them to meet him at the next bridge?

[fish_finder]

The real question is this -

If he had kept on fishing, and the bite was good, would he have chased the firefighters away and told them to meet him at the next bridge?

  I would have 

[Desperado]

I beleive that
The fact that he posed the question. 
Better yet the fact that the question even occurred to him.
Is proof that Scansy probably woud have too.
     

[scansy]

I beleive that
The fact that he posed the question. 
Better yet the fact that the question even occurred to him.
Is proof that Scansy probably woud have too.
     

Me.... nah.....well....just how good are they biting??

[rich81]

icefisherman are bery creative people