Trapped by ice, stranded fishermen share their story of how they made it back to shore

LOGAN — Two men recently had a fishing trip that they won’t forget anytime soon. 

While on a boat, the two men, in their 70s, were trapped by ice at Porcupine Reservoir in Cache Valley.

The men were forced to come up with a way to break through the ice to get back to the shore.

“It was sunny, it was calm, no wind,” said Lynn Hulme, 73, to KSL TV about how the fishing trip started that morning last week.

Hulme was with his friend Dennis Fredrickson, 77.

The two were fishing for about an hour and a half when they noticed ice coming in all around them. They said the wind and cold had picked up and it blew the ice around their pontoon boat.

“We tried to move and all the directions we went were closing in with no escape route,” Hulme said.

Only option

As it turned out, their only option was to pull out the boat anchor and start chipping away at the ice in the front of the boat.

“We knew we had to try and find a way out,” Hulme said. “Wondering if we would have to spend the night and call for help, but we figured a way out by using the boat anchors to break the ice.”

They also decided to run the front of the boat slightly onto the ice so it could break it enough for them to slowly get through. Hulme said they were only going about 15 feet every 10 to 15 minutes. Hulme knew he needed to call his wife.

“I told her we would be later than expected and we were trapped by the ice,” he said.

Fortunately, they were finally able to break free and get to the shore. Hulme said don’t be deceived by their age.

“You are talking to a couple of old cowboys,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot worse than this and I figured because we are cowboys we’re on the tougher side.”

But it’s a fishing trip these friends will never forget.

“It will go down as the most memorable fishing trip ever,” Hulme said.