A Rather Puzzling Ice-Fishing Rescue

I've known some folks in my lifetime who took oddball items with 'em on fishing trips, but an incident I recently learned about online still has me...and a lot of others...scratching their heads.

It all started with two men who were fishing on a slab of ice connected to the bank of the Rock River in Rockford, IL, when the 20-by-20-foot patch of ice suddenly broke free and began making its way downriver.

The slow moving floe had traveled about 500 yards downstream before witnesses spotted it and called 9-1-1. The Rock River Water Rescue team arrived on the scene and pulled the two fishermen to safety without any injuries. However, they were forced to leave all their gear behind, including two ice augers, a fishing rod, a bag of chips, a plastic water bottle with some drink remaining, and...yes, a mattress. (Local policy is to rescue only people from ice...no gear.)

As one observer noted, "My question is: Why did they have two hand augers and a casting rod? I don't even wanna know about the mattress."

"The fishermen were fortunate the slab of ice stayed intact," said the local fire chief. "Had it broken up, they could have been dumped in the water and exposed to hypothermia."

Thanks for the tip, Jim.