134 fishermen were rescued, and one died after an 8-mile long Lake Erie ice floe broke off, stranding the men.
Ottawa County sheriff Bob Bratton was extremely critical of the men:
“It’s very dangerous, but this has gone on for years (ice fishing on the Great Lakes). We had a death out there today, and that is so frustrating to me because common sense dictated it shouldn’t happen.”
On Saturday morning, the fishermen had used wooden pallets to bridge a crack in the Lake Erie ice so they could go out farther. But temperatures rose into the 40s, and when the ice shifted the planks fell into the water, stranding the fishermen about 1,000 yards offshore.
The person who died (still unidentified) fell into the water while searching for a way from the ice floe to shore. He died died while being airlifted to the hospital, Bratton said.
Bratton added:
"We get people out here who don't know how to read the ice. What happened here today was just idiotic. I don't know how else to put it."
One of the fishermen, Norb Pilaczynski, of Swanton, Ohio, disagreed.
"We were in no danger. We knew there was enough ice out there."
Really, if so, why did you get stranded?
A different, unidentified fisherman said the obvious:
“You know. we shouldn’t have been out there today.”
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