RIP Dickie

I saw a post on a ML page where Dickie went through the ice today and didn’t make it. We used to stay in his houses many years ago….RIP.

Same here. Lake legend that will be missed.

Rest in peace, Dickie.

-J.

Was he the one they found floating in the water?

CaptainMusky wrote:

Was he the one they found floating in the water?

Yes I believe that’s him. He was wearing a PFD I think too.

Yeah I read that. Sounds like he was a great dude from what I read. Bummer.

What a bummer, here the guy had on the pfd and still didn’t make it! Was he 80 I thought I read that? Must of been solo? Sad deal for sure!

Rest in peace Dickie

I read on FB (for what it’s worth) that he was checking ice in a car and got it stuck. He walked back to shore and got a truck to pull it out, which is what he was in when it broke through.

I frequent Mille Lacs quite a bit but I am not familiar with this man. Was he working for Flagship Inn?

He was running his houses out of there. Dickies has been running houses and launches for years. Dickie himself for about 40 years.
He owned portside resort for years and liberty beach for a few years.
Been on the lake a long time. Yes he was wearing a float suite and yes he was 80 years old.
RIP Sir.

Although I met Dickie many times I didn’t know him personally, he was a great guy and a legend on Mille Lacs. This is sad and a result of the tough times these resorts are having with the late ice this year. Normally the business would be in full swing this time of year with their big weekend over the Christmas/New Years holiday. Certainly with the fish situation on Mille lacs this year is extra pressure to get started. Dickie wasn’t ignorant of the ice conditions, 25 years ago I got a good lecture from him on ice safety (well deserved, BTW) While sitting back, retired and typing, Dickie was 80 and still going, probably needed the season to get through the next year. At his age the float suit was a good idea but I have no idea if my heart could withstand the trauma of going down unexpectedly like that. Sad day for sure. As stated, RIP Sir.

Very nicely written obituary. Worth a read even if you never met Dickie.

http://www.muellermemorial.com/obituaries/richard-gadbois?fbclid=IwAR1xgj7Toc36OCSMHOMUqZp2ZYEuqVoUCEYamfQYRrSN1RfGm6hf5jF_zkk

-J.

I met Dickie a few times.

When we first starting fishing the lake heavily in the summer of 2013, one night we headed out to 3M to bobber fish. Our first fishing on the East Side. There must have been over a 100 boats, not knowing where to start, I just looked at the map and picked a point off the North edge. After getting set up, out comes Dikie’s Launch and circles around us a couple of times and then sets up about 50′ from us. So my thoughts, we kind of landed on his spot. We fished right next to each other for a few summers after that. Once I forgot leaches at the cabin and he gave me some.

A year or so later, I was ice fishing out of Liberty’s and came in for dinner. Dickie also came in and sat next to me at the bar, we had a good long chat about this and that. He commented that he was living in a fish house and that he had gone through with his truck a couple of days before. I thought, oh gosh, your not a young man to go through the ice. It did not seem to have phased him at all.