10:15 AM. 32 degrees, wind W, light. Skies are overcast, and the barometer predicts rain.The ice flow incident on Lake Erie over the weekend, losing one ice fisherman dead and 150 rescued from an ice flow, reminds me of the tale told hereabouts of several Bayfield fishermen back in the 1960’s who got caught in a somewhat similar predicament off the ice caves. As usual, there was open water way out in the lake, a high wind came up, and the piece of ice they were fishing on suddenly broke off and started to float north into the open seas.
No one saw them drift off. This was before cell phones, and yelling and waving their coats did no good. When night fell and they didn’t return, folks went looking for them but saw nothing but heavy seas in the moonlight. The wind blew fiercely all night and the next day and they sailed, not too merrily along, on a shrinking block of ice.
At last they bumped to a halt, tight against the Canadian shield. They trudged ashore and finally found civilization and a telephone and called home. Relieved relatives who thought them lost to Davey Jones Locker hurried north to pick them up. It is said that after that, they always carried their passports when fishing the Big Lake.
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