Stranded

So – how long before the “rescue me” calls start coming in from those who decided to venture onto the lakes subject to blizzard conditions unprepared?

I understand if you go out fully prepared, aware of the situation – but it always seems there are the ones who take the warnings lightly. We cut our Mille Lacs trip short last year due to the warning of an inch of snow and wind – and are staying home this weekend because of it. Glad we did last year, and am sure i’ll be glad i did this time…

Im guessing it’ll be all over the news again by Sunday – if not late Saturday…

No pity whatsoever for people stuck on the ice. If you’re not equipped to get off under any circumstance, you have no business being out there.

A little too black and white for my taste on this subject. I do agree more people need to be prepared and take responsibility for their own actions but mistakes can happen.

Let’s say you are a hard working Dad who wants to take his son ice fishing. You have a trip planned well in advance due to juggling sports and everything else in the life of a child. You mean to tell me you are suppose to cancel because of an inch of snow and some wind?

I understand your point, to a degree.

Being stranded in a warm wheelhouse sounds like heaven.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

No pity whatsoever for people stuck on the ice. If you’re not equipped to get off under any circumstance, you have no business being out there.

Couldn’t agree more. It will continue to happen too, likely this time around too.

It’ll be the same people that complain they couldn’t get their houses off by the deadline because of inclement conditions. The deadline is set MONTHS in advance. Plan better.

lindyrig79 wrote:

A little too black and white for my taste on this subject. I do agree more people need to be prepared and take responsibility for their own actions but mistakes can happen.

Let’s say you are a hard working Dad who wants to take his son ice fishing. You have a trip planned well in advance due to juggling sports and everything else in the life of a <nobr style=”font-size: inherit”>child</nobr>. You mean to tell me you are suppose to cancel because of an inch of snow and some wind?

I understand your point, to a degree.

i see your point on an inch of snow. this one is a bit different. take your pick on snow totals, but with the wind this is worse mixing in way more snow.

at 6 am this morning they already had blizzard warnings out for western minnesota and alot of north dakota. AND last night on the #4 news at 10….they already had a good 200 schools closed or closing early…i dont ever remember that happening.

i got an hour drive home from work, it starts snowing i’m outta here………..

I would be all for sticking out a storm in a house – did it on LOW about 20 years ago. Had the time to wait patiently till the plows got out, did some shoveling, and went home a day late.

I think the big variable will be if the snow drifts/settles enough around houses to weigh down the ice and start flooding. As seen on Red earlier this year – I have to believe many of them were equipped for the snow, but the slush – not so much…

I wouldn’t wish that on anyone…

Tom Sawvell wrote:

No pity whatsoever for people stuck on the ice. If you’re not equipped to get off under any circumstance, you have no business being out there.

I couldn’t agree more. I don’t care if it’s snow, drifting, slush, flooding, or whatever the situation is… with today’s technology there’s 0 excuse to get caught on the lake unprepared. Our society as a whole relies far too much on other people to bail them out of situations they get themselves into. People ice fishing are no different.

lindyrig79 wrote:

A little too black and white for my taste on this subject. I do agree more people need to be prepared and take responsibility for their own actions but mistakes can happen.

Let’s say you are a hard working Dad who wants to take his son ice fishing. You have a trip planned well in advance due to juggling sports and everything else in the life of a child. You mean to tell me you are suppose to cancel because of an inch of snow and some wind?

I understand your point, to a degree.

Well its nice to see that you go as easy on stupid people as you do on weathermen on the evening news I like when people are consistent

lindyrig79 wrote:

Let’s say you are a hard working Dad who wants to take his son ice fishing. You have a trip planned well in advance due to juggling sports and everything else in the life of a child. You mean to tell me you are suppose to cancel because of an inch of snow and some wind?

Sounds like a good teachable moment for father and son.

lindyrig79 wrote:

Let’s say you are a hard working Dad who wants to take his son ice fishing. You have a trip planned well in advance due to juggling sports and everything else in the life of a child. You mean to tell me you are suppose to cancel because of an inch of snow and some wind?

Sounds like a good father son bonding moment.

Huntindave wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>lindyrig79 wrote:</div>
Let’s say you are a hard working Dad who wants to take his son ice fishing. You have a trip planned well in advance due to juggling sports and everything else in the life of a child. You mean to tell me you are suppose to cancel because of an inch of snow and some wind?

Sounds like a good teachable moment for father and son.

Agreed…..show the son its not the end of the world if he has to wait a couple hours for the snow to stop so dad can determine if between the snow and the wind its really worth it [safe] to go. Any time a parent is taking a child out on ice the absolute first concern should be for the kid’s safety, not simply because the trip was planned in advance.

fishthumper wrote:

Well its nice to see that you go as easy on stupid people as you do on weathermen on the evening news

Stop watching the evening news

munchy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>lindyrig79 wrote:</div>
Let’s say you are a hard working Dad who wants to take his son ice fishing. You have a trip planned well in advance due to juggling sports and everything else in the life of a child. You mean to tell me you are suppose to cancel because of an inch of snow and some wind?

Sounds like a good father son bonding moment.

Agreed.

It was pretty interesting after the perch extravaganza weekend last year. People stranded for days. People upset because others where getting plowed out before them. End of the world for some because they couldn’t get back to the cities by Monday morning. On gal was sending out messages for hygiene products she hadn’t planned for. Others where good because they had plenty of beer and food. Seems like the resorts are being a little more cautious this year. To bad that reality show from Mille lacs never caught on.

My boy can’t catch fish like this at home… he correlates canceled school with fishing… he stood outside in 55mph winds the other day and told mother nature to try harder.

People need to be prepared but things can still happen. I always tell my son to expect the worst and if you have answer to every issue you can think of that’s all you can do. Unless you want to live your life in doors and that’s not a life worth living in my opinion. Be safe everyone and enjoy the outdoors as much as you can.

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I’m that dad with the trip planned with his son for this weekend. My brother lives in Moorhead, I live near Rochester. Every year on MLK weekend we meet up somewhere around the Brainerd area for some father and son ice fishing (we both have 11 year old sons). We always have the dates blocked on the calendar and we schedule the rental months in advance. I can tell you that when your 11 y/o has been looking forward to his “dad’s trip” for months; excitedly packing and help prepare and freeze food, going through gear, learning how to do something he was too little to do the year before, it’s heart wrenching to have to tell him it’s not going to happen. My boy was up at 530 this morning, too excited to sleep for the trip.

We are very fortunate that the owner of the rental we are staying at was flexible with us and allowed us to move our reservation to next weekend. We are both very fortunate to have jobs with flexible schedules as well. That means that we don’t have to choose between our one weekend away with just our boys and the risk of the weather. Not everyone is so lucky.

That said, I also want to rant a little about the weather forecast. I’m all for being safe, but the schools down here canceled class for today a full 18 hours before the snow even started to fall. The tornado sirens go off in the summer due to cloud rotation that “could” produce tornados. Part of my thinking this morning, right or wrong, was “can I believe the hype about the weather or is this just more hand wringing over something that MIGHT happen”. When it seems like every normal winter storm is suddenly a killer, I’m a lot less likely to believe there’s danger.

What I’m saying is, if I didn’t have the flexibility to change my plans for this weekend, I might have decided that the weatherman was just being a big sissy about it and have gone anyway. Not because I’m stupid but because my love for my son might have clouded my judgement.

Just my two cents.

Nice posts Joe and Ishmel.

As outdoorsmen we take calculated risks all the time. At least, if you try hard enough you do.

I think we are all on the same side here. FWIW I was supposed to be taking my 7 yr old son ice fishing this weekend but canceled. It sucks.

Joe Scegura wrote:

My boy can’t catch fish like this at home… he correlates canceled school with fishing… he stood outside in 55mph winds the other day and told mother nature to try harder.

People need to be prepared but things can still happen. I always tell my son to expect the worst and if you have answer to every issue you can think of that’s all you can do. Unless you want to live your life in doors and that’s not a life worth living in my opinion. Be safe everyone and enjoy the outdoors as much as you can.

100% agreed Joe! I must be missing the help me I’m stranded threads/news. I remember a few from the Perch Extravaganza last year, but generally people on the ice are prepared and the resorts work hard to get people out asap.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Nice slab Joe. Your son makes those look about 18 inches long.

Thanks! 15.5″ isn’t 18″ but it is huge.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Yeah second pic looks huge. I’m on my way hopefully the snow storm doesn’t slow me down where is your shack located again. whistling

Alexandria man!! Where else

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Mike W wrote:

People stranded for days. People upset because others where getting plowed out before them. End of the world for some because they couldn’t get back to the cities by Monday morning. On gal was sending out messages for hygiene products she hadn’t planned for. To bad that reality show from Mille lacs never caught on.

Yea, we were following that drama last year too. And yes, the one about the woman pleading for feminine hygiene products, then add the comments/suggestions on her post…both my daughter and I were just LOAO.

And an another one where a couple took a baby out there and were stranded, ultimately running out of diapers and formula.

What a sh*t show it turned out to be. Plus I heard of more “horrors” that never made it to “mainstream” media.

Would have made a rather sensational reality show if only for the “non life threatening” panic exhibited by folks suffering an inconvenience. They had no clue what life was like before the turn of the (previous) century living out in a “little house on the prairie”

…it’s great to go out ice fishing and no one to bother ya…

This is the best…in one thread most are all “weather men suck and never should be trusted.”

Next thread. “Why would anyone ever go ice fishing when weather man predicts such horrible weather?”

Yep. There’s your answer.

LMFAO.

nice blizzard! 3 inches in Roch and a light breeze. for those who know how to prep for a trip, you go when you can go and thats that. looks like I’ll be fishing tomorrow afterall. I kind of feel bad for those that canceled plans because of a prediction.

probably a dumb question…Are the people getting stranded on the ice driving their vehicles out to shacks? I’m guessing snowmobiles and others can get off the lake?

eyeguy507 wrote:

nice blizzard! 3 inches in Roch and a light breeze. for those who know how to prep for a trip, you go when you can go and thats that. looks like I’ll be fishing tomorrow afterall. I kind of feel bad for those that canceled plans because of a prediction.

Agreed

It’s impossible to prep for everything mother nature can throw at you. If you think you can you are either stupid or arrogant or both. If you run the risk and take your young kids out in it you are a drunk kind of stupid. Many things can go wrong on the ice without bad weather.

Everybody throws the word “stranded” around like some sort of badge of honor. The storm could have easily dumped two feet of snow instead of a couple inches. Hind sight is always perfect. The so called “Dads” who take their young sons or daughters out in dangerous weather and act like it’s some badge of honor run the risk of living with a terrible mistake the rest of their lives. Is it worth it? Really?

Holy Hanna Joe!
Those are some incredible crappies!

I can’t remember the lake you caught those on, what was the name? Were you catching them in that one spot on, um what were you catching them on again?

Welcome to Bitter Lake in day co South Dakota.
And yes they called in for help.

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