I copy and pasted the following story from the Upper Red Lake section. There is a lot of talk of guys heading out early ice and asking about conditions here and just a reminder for everyone to be safe on the ice!
4 of us made the trek to URL Friday after work to fish Saturday and Sunday morning. We went out of Beacon Harbor which was a first visit for all of us. Great resort, with great people by the way. Fishing was good, not great, but good. We had a limit of good eaters on the ice by noon Saturday and did a lot of moving around searching for fish throughout the day. No real consistent pattern was ever developed over the course of the day as far as what bait or technique was working best. If you couldn’t tell by now, the fishing certainly wasn’t the reason this trip was one we won’t forget.
Saturday evening we set up on a spot that had produced fish earlier in the day and decided that’s where we were going to stay for “prime time”. Just after sunset Wallster was fishing outside and noticed a sidexside heading in a strange direction in an area where we had noticed open water earlier in the day. I heard him yell “grab your rope!” and knew something bad had happened. We jumped on the wheeler and headed over to a group of houses that were not far from us and told them 2 guys went in and to grab what they had if they could help. Danny from Outdoor Authority deserves the big credit here though. He helped get the first guy that was hanging onto the ice out of the water and then tied himself off and jumped in and swam out to the other guy on the Ranger so we could pull him in.
This was a trip I will literally never forget and not because of the fishing. I hope it’s something nobody ever has to experience.
Please, be safe out there. Talk to the resorts, guides, anyone you can about ice conditions before venturing out on your own. And bring safety gear with you because you or someone else may be depending on it that day. Thankfully, I did hear that these 2 guys are going to be alright after a night in the hospital.
What an effort and what a gift for those other guys he helped.