Now over 100 fishermen trapped on Upper Red

This is getting — or actually has been — absolutely ridiculous…

Brittman wrote:

Crossing cracks is common on Red, LOTW, Mille Lacs, and I am sure many other big lakes where the ice shifts … I have crossed bridges on all three lakes in January-March when the lake ice is thicker and a bit more stable.

Agreed, and I’ve also had to find another way off the ice due to a crack, along with dozens of other people. And there was about 3 feet of ice. Personally I’d like to save the first responders for actual emergencies like going thru the ice. Floating a little ways away on safe ice doesn’t qualify in my book, and the anglers and resorts should bear the responsibility for finding a way off. This would also incentivize the resorts to wait until it’s locked up, or keep an airboat at the ready without drawing on the community resources.

^^^Agree. In the case of Red they probably would have figured out a different route for those folks if it was during the day, It was at night which all those people were instructed to be off the ice before dark.
All it takes is one call to the FD and they are coming.

Ripjiggen wrote:

^^^Agree. In the case of Red they probably would have figured out a different route for those folks if it was during the day, It was at night which all those people were instructed to be off the ice before dark.
All it takes is one call to the FD and they are coming.

Correct some of the cases have warranted emergency action, and some have not. I will agree at this point they probably should have just shut it down and waited for a better situation but that is a tough call to make. I was fishing on 10 inches of solid ice just inside the crack about 20-30 yards, we were out of Red Lake Ice Cabins. The wind switched overnight Sunday and we woke up to open water by the shoreline at the crack, we decided to just call it and head home by the time we packed up the open water went from 10ft to 20-30ft wide. This stuff happens every year, it’s just worse this year with the weather.

Good point BigWerm! These ‘rescues’ across an open water crack could have been performed by anyone with an atv, 14 foot boat and a small outboard motor. Its not newsworthy if the fisherman and resort owners deal with it themselves. It’s not like they were drifting out to sea or in any danger of the ice sheet breaking up. Let the resorts deal with it unless there is a life safety issue. The resorts could tell their clients to just call them if there is no danger instead of calling 911.

That’d be a lot better for all involved versus having the sheriff shut down vehicle traffic.

I would imagine the level of accountability would escalate if resorts or even good Samaritans attempt to “rescue” stranded fishermen and things somehow go wrong.
A tragedy in those circumstances would expose the resorts to a more permanent loss of control.
If the DNR or Sheriff become the controlling authority on how/when/where ice can be accessed, every resort owner will struggle to have even a short season. Some will have none. This would have an extreme impact on the ice fishing industry.
Remember, in these situations at some point you may be dealing with unprepared panicked people, cold, wind, wet shifting ice, sub-par rescue equipment, untrained personnel, people who may be affected by alcohol, and too many countless unknowns to contemplate. It’s very likely that something will go wrong eventually.
I strongly recommend the industry start self-governing more thoroughly with a heavy emphasis toward erring on the side of caution at least for the near future. A few weeks of abundant caution right now will allow this misfortune to fade into memory, but will benefit them in the future tremendously.

Well said Mojo!!

mojo wrote:

I strongly recommend the industry start self-governing more thoroughly with a heavy emphasis toward erring on the side of caution at least for the near future.

Very well said. Unfortunately some resorts inevitably get blinded by the $$ and caution gets thrown to the wind.

I saw this meme floating around on social media and couldn’t help but laugh. It’s not been a good look for the ice fishing community lately…

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Legality is probably the only reason they haven’t closed the lakes to fishing. Who has the legal authority to close a lake. Probably only the Army Corps of Engineers. DNR can close the public ramps. State of Minnesota can say if you touch the bottom of the lake your trespassing. The county sheriff can shake their fist at you real angry like. But legally its pretty much unenforceable to “close” a lake. I’m more worried how many people think its no big deal. 100 people on a sheet of ice floating off is only a couple degrees and a few mph of wind away from a sheet of ice breaking away and then breaking up and a 100 people drowning.

Where is this massive sheet going to break off to and float away. It’s not Lake Superior.

I truly believe the resorts for the most part use caution and truly care about the safety of their customers.
Hence why they tell them to stay in the areas marked. Don’t travel in the dark. Get off the ice by dark. Many don’t listen. Is that on the resort that the fisherman don’t listen.
Are they to drive around and wrangle up all the people that didn’t listen like cattle?

So you close your service because some won’t listen and they go to another resort and do not listen.
Or they go to a completely different lake that has nobody checking the conditions and something may happen.

Ultimately Mother Nature is in control and people are going to go out on a foot of ice reguardless.

If you launch a boat at a resort and a big storm blows in and you get stranded or swamped is it their fault you were out there when a storm blows in.
Are they to come rescue you when you have motor problems run out of gas etc.
Do they? I am sure some will because most care about their customers.

They are providing a service. Monitoring conditions to the best of their ability to keep everyone safe and trying to make a living.

If you don’t feel safe don’t go.
If you do be prepared. It’s ice fishing.

Riverrat wrote:

a couple degrees and a few mph of wind away from a sheet of ice breaking away and then breaking up and a 100 people drowning.

That’s just not how it works. Has anything remotely similar to what you describe, happened anywhere, ever? The closest I can think of is parking too close like on Pepin last year, or the semi’s at one of the big fishing contests a decade + ago, and neither of those are remotely close to what is going on at Red Lake.

mojo wrote:

If the DNR or Sheriff become the controlling authority on how/when/where ice can be accessed, every resort owner will struggle to have even a short season. Some will have none.

You must not be following very closely because that is exactly what happened. The sheriff shut down all vehicle use on the lake until further notice. Resorts were given exception to transport clients.

Typically a sheriff would not have the authority to do such a thing but the MN statute passed last year changed that. I don’t think beltrami will abuse that power due to the pressure from business owners but I wouldn’t trust other counties. I am not a fan of the statute.

Riverrat wrote:

I’m more worried how many people think its no big deal. 100 people on a sheet of ice floating off is only a couple degrees and a few mph of wind away from a sheet of ice breaking away and then breaking up and a 100 people drowning.

The Sheriff did not close Red, it is my understanding that he closed the lake to the use of vehicles (which I suppose effectively closes the lake to most).

The resorts could not self-control the situation. Most resorts are probably not over upset because they are all impacted together. Pretty hard to shutdown access when even one other resort up or down the road stays open. No one will hold a grudge to any particular resort and all resorts lose out similarly…

Hopefully the closure will last for only a relatively short period of time.

The Sheriff did not close Red, it is my understanding that he closed the lake to the use of vehicles (which I suppose effectively closes the lake to most.

Well not entirely resorts are still shuttling folks out with vehicles.

Did anyone say the sheriff closed red?

Reading comprehension fellas.

FinnyDinDin wrote:

Did anyone say the sheriff closed red?

Reading comprehension fellas.

I may have asked about it for clarification. When I read “closed to motor vehicle traffic”, I wondered if people could still walk out there. Apparently they can, but very few are willing to do it since we’re talking miles of walking to get to fishable areas.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FinnyDinDin wrote:</div>
Did anyone say the sheriff closed red?

Reading comprehension fellas.

I may have asked about it for clarification. When I read closed to motor vehicle traffic, I wondered if people could still walk out there. Apparently they can, but very few are will8ing to do it since we’re talking miles of walking to get to fishable areas.

Lots of fish within a mile of shore.

grubson wrote:

Lots of fish within a mile of shore.

But apparently very few actually walk out there. Is that an accurate statement?

Gimruis, tons of people walk out. That’s typically the only option for the first weekend or two and there are thousands of people that walk out and fish.

I’m taking my ice sail out to center bar the next time we get a good east wind.

Thanks

BELTRAMI COUNTY, Minn. — Beltrami County officials decided Wednesday to continue a ban on motor vehicles on Upper Red Lake.

Last Friday, more than 100 fisherman were rescued from Upper Red Lake after they were stranded on an ice floe.

Following the incident, the Beltrami County Sheriff Jason Riggs said that the lake would be under restricted access, barring all vehicles from going on the lake. Violating the order is considered a misdemeanor.

During Wednesday’s meeting, resort owners expressed concerns over safety, saying there are several “football field” size openings in the lake because of ice movement.

Several incidents have occurred on Upper Red Lake in the last month, including an ATV falling through the ice, a plane breaking through the ice after landing on the lake and more anglers drifting from shore on broken ice chunks.

Greater Minnesota Rental has been on the lake 17 years, but told WCCO that they’ve closed their lake access for safety reasons.

“I’ve never seen a year like this,” said Marlys Lord Carlson, Marketing Director for Greater Minnesota Rental. “We’re just not able to feel safe for our anglers to be out there.”

The county says some parts of the lake have nearly a foot of ice but it is not consistent due to the lake not being fully frozen and continued ice movement.

Resort operators and guide services on the lake have permission to operate vehicles on the ice “for the wellness and well-being of their customers” to prevent anglers from driving beyond what has been evaluated by the resorts, where many of the ice rescues have occurred.

“Many of you [resort operators] are your customers’ first responders and you assist them. That is why I’m allowing you to serve your customers,” Riggs said at the meeting.

Private parties are prohibited from operating motor vehicles on the lake for the time being. However, the sheriff says airboats, hovercrafts and buoyant vessels are allowed.

No checks will be conducted on the lake until Monday to give the lake time to heal, county officials said.

Riggs said that “each time the conditions are evaluated, that will be taken into consideration of when the order is rescinded and to what extent.”

Ice has struggled to form across Minnesota lakes due to an unseasonably warm winter. According to the National Weather Service, December 2023 was the warmest on record for the Twin Cities.

The lack of snow and ice, and above average temperatures has lead to multiple popular winter events, such as the 2024 John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon and the Minnesota Ice Festival, to cancel.

Sometimes you just have to shake your head, shrug your shoulders, and grab a bag of popcorn with all the rescue incidents this season so far.

Or sometimes you need to just sit on your phone 3 hours away and not go fish.
To each their own thousand upon thousands have had no issue.
Listen to those that are on the lake everyday and you most likely won’t have an issue.

All this for a fish.

that lake needed a “break” from fishing pressure and mother nature has come thru this season at the expense of the resorts. Im really looking forward to some fantastic crappie fishing this March.

eyeguy507 wrote:

that lake needed a “break” from fishing pressure and mother nature has come thru this season at the expense of the resorts. Im really looking forward to some fantastic crappie fishing this March.

It gets a break each and every year. Only about 25% of the lake gets fished and it’s pretty big.

Not to mention there are still tons fishing it even with the vehicle ban.

Hopefully the sheriff doesn’t drag this on too long and cause more unnecessary drama.

‘Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded’
Yogi Bera

When these “rescues” are done, maybe the organization doing the rescue should collect names and addresses of those needing to be taken of the ice and bill them a couple thousand dollars. If it’s a fire department or maybe local search and rescue or sheriff’s department, people are putting themselves in harms way to pluck some dummies off the ice that took chances or just weren’t intelligent enough to not push their luck. Equipment used for going out in ice filled water to take people off an ice berg operation costs money and charging the dolts would go a long way in recouping some of the cost of wear and tear.

Minnesota has an opening day for open water fishing. Maybe it is time to have an ice fishing opener in mid-January to assure good ice is available and ticket the heck out of anyone on the ice with any kind of fishing tackle until that day and make it illegal to operate any form of mechanical conveyance on the ice until that opening day. People carp and complain that we don’t need any more new laws or regulations, but every year at this time there seems to be a contingent of idiots that prove that maybe we do need some more rules added. This self-centered thinking that if someone does something stupid that someone else will just come to their aid should come with a cost. A cost large enough to make a point.

They do charge for these rescues, it’s called taxation.
What’s the difference between that and other entitlements where people don’t make the proper decisions that cost the taxpayer?