Six ice fishermen rescued from ice floe in bay of Green Bay off Door County
STURGEON BAY - Six ice fishermen were rescued Sunday afternoon from an ice floe that broke off from the shore in above-freezing temperatures and windy conditions and drifted into the bay of Green Bay.
The six men, none of who reportedly were Door County residents, ventured onto the ice off Big Rock Place in the Town of Gardner when a visible crack in the ice about 300 yards from shore turned into a full breakage. According to BM1 Taylor Barnes of the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Sturgeon Bay, the men said they saw the crack but decided to step over it and head farther out onto the bay, assuming the ice was still connected to the shore elsewhere along the ice shelf.
Instead, they were stuck on the resulting floe, which was about a quarter-mile square and carried by the winds and current farther out into the bay.
The Brussels-Union-Gardner Fire Department received a rescue call for the fishermen at about 2:45 p.m. and activated its MABAS (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System) to alert other rescue departments in the county.
Assistant Fire Chief Ryan Wery said his crew tried to conduct the rescue themselves but it was deemed too risky. Ice rescue personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Sturgeon Bay and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources were already on their way and arrived shortly, launching air boats from Wave Pointe Marina & Resort.
Barnes said the boats weren't able to go onto the ice floe because the boats were breaking through the ice, which could have created more danger for the stranded fishermen by fracturing what they were standing on.
Instead, the boats pulled up next to the floe, which by now was about a half-mile away from shore, and the rescuers walked across it to bring back the fishermen. The Coast Guard first retrieved the three who needed rescue more urgently because of developing seasickness and other health concerns, then the DNR rescued the other three. No injuries were reported.
Also responding to the scene were the Sturgeon Bay and Southern Door fire departments, Door County Emergency Services and Gardner Emergency Services.
Statistics from the National Weather Service show wind speeds were recorded between 15 and 25 mph Sunday with gusts above 30 and as high as 43 mph, with the resulting currents in the bay causing the ice floe to move quickly.
"There were actually whitecaps starting to form between the shore and the ice," Wery said. "(The fishermen) really weren't in any danger, other than the ice was moving."
Statistics from the National Weather Service show the air temperature was below the freezing mark Saturday evening and into early Sunday morning, but it was above freezing by about 9 a.m. and continued to increase throughout the day, reaching the high 30s and low 40s by nightfall. That follows a March where the daily high temperature was above freezing on 25 of its 31 days.
Wery and Barnes each said if there is any ice left in the bay − and temperatures are expected to be in the 40s and 50s most of the week − it's almost assuredly unsafe to walk or stand on.
"If there's any surface ice in the bay, it's not solid," Barnes said. "Our air boat was breaking through it."
"Terrible," Wery said about the ice conditions. "It's breaking all over. I would recommend everyone put away their ice fishing equipment for the year."
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Ice fishermen rescued from floe in bay of Green Bay off Door County
