The icy sheets dominating Mille Lacs Lake shores proved their unpredictability the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 19-20, when a shift in lake ice left numerous anglers stranded on a floe away from shore. A rescue operation occurred near Agate Bay Resort and Fisherâs Resort, on the northeast shore of the lake, throughout the afternoon and evening of Dec. 19. Then, the morning of Dec. 20 saw another rescue out of Red Door Resort, further west.
Aitkin County Sheriff Dan Guida spoke on his departmentâs involvement in the Dec. 19 rescue, stating that his office was first called about the stranded anglers at 5:30 p.m. Due to a shift in the ice, Guida said a gap of open water between 30 and 100 feet wide formed along the northeast shore of the lake, stretching from just north of Nittiâs Hunters Point to Malmo.