OCONTO (NBC 26) — After two teens were rescued from the Bay of Green Bay, local fire rescue recommends that fishermen let go of this year's ice-fishing season and look forward to summer.
Paul Lukas owns North Shore Bait Company in Oconto. On Tuesday, he was switching out his ice-fishing lures for open-water gear.
“Especially 60 degrees two days in a row, and we had all the rain that made the ice junk,” he says. “It’s done, the ice is done for the year.”
With warmer temperatures and strong winds, Lukas says the ice can be unpredictable and oftentimes dangerous.
Monday evening, two teenage boys were rescued from the Bay of Green Bay near Pensaukee.
The father of one of the boys spoke with NBC26 about the incident. Out of respect for his son, he asked NBC26 not to include his name.
The father says he and the boys went out on the ice after school on Monday, around 4:30. He says they drilled into the ice every 100 yards to test the thickness, and that there was a solid foot and a half of ice.
He says it was calm and sunny when they started fishing.
He dropped the kids off and drove back home, planning to let the kids fish until dark. Instead, he turned back early.
“Something was telling me to get back out there,” he says.
On his way back to the Bay, his son called him to say there was a 20-yard-wide crack in the ice near where he was fishing.
When he got back to the Bay, bringing a friend with him for support, the gap had grown to 50 yards. He says a strong wind was making the situation more difficult. He says there were white caps and floating chunks of ice between the solid ice and where the boys were stuck.
“We didn’t see it coming,” he says. “Just goes to show that stuff can go south real fast.”
He says he planned to paddle out to his son on a kayak to bring them back in, but decided instead to call for help.
He says he called 911 at 6:55 p.m.
The Oconto Fire Rescue assisted the Town of Pensaukee on scene.
“We were able to respond to the incident relatively quickly,” Oconto Fire Chief Joe Bostedt says.
Bostedt says they had two firemen take a raft out to the boys, but the strong winds made it difficult to get back to shore. Instead, they called the Marinette Fire Department, which brought an airboat to the area.
Bostedt says the teens had drifted more than a mile from shore by the time the rescue boat arrived.
By 9 p.m., the teens were safely back on shore.
Oconto Fire Rescue, Town of Pensaukee Fire Department, the Oconto County Sheriff’s Department, and the Marinette Fire Department assisted on scene.
Bostedt says they reached out to the Coast Guard for a potential helicopter rescue, but it was never needed.
“It just is an all-around team effort,” he says. “It’s about knowing the resources that you have available and using them to the best of your ability.”
The father says this was a first-time experience for his family, even after decades of spending winters out on the lake.
“I’ve been ice fishing for 40 years, and we’re pretty knowledgeable and comfortable with the ice, but this was a new situation,” he says.
Bostedt recommends that fishermen let go of the ice-fishing season and look forward to the summer fishing season instead.
“My recommendation is that there’s not a fish that would be worth risking a potential life safety,” he says. “I’d give it that little bit of time, we’re in that transition mode currently, let Mother Nature do its thing, and refrain from being on that ice because it’s so unpredictable.”
