(Riverton, WY) – Riverton Search and Rescue volunteers successfully rescued an ice fisherman Saturday morning, December 28, who had become stranded in the middle of Ocean Lake after a sheet of ice that he was fishing on broke away from the shoreline sometime in the night.
The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) call log issued on December 30 reported that they received a call around 8:30 AM on Saturday, stating that a subject was stranded on the ice on Ocean Lake.
Riverton Search and Rescue (RSAR) Commander Brock Roberts shared with County 10 that “there’s quite a bit of open water still” on Ocean Lake, and even though the fisherman was on “good ice,” the high winds caused the ice to break away from the shoreline overnight.
The large sheet of ice then pushed out into open water along with the fisherman and his shelter, and he remained on the ice until being retrieved in the morning.
“That’s something that has the potential to happen again that people should be cautious about,” Commander Roberts advised. “Even though they were in a safe spot, the wind can cause the ice to break away like that.”
The man was rescued without incident, and comments on social media from those on-scene indicate that in true Wyoming fashion, he even caught a couple of fish while on the sheet of floating ice.
Photos of the rescue can be seen in the RSAR Facebook page post below.