Dive Team responds to report of missing fisherman

MEADOW LAKES — West Lakes Fire Department, Mat-Su Dive Team and Alaska State Troopers responded to a report of a man who had disappeared while fishing in Visnaw Lake in the Meadow Lakes area Tuesday. The man had not been seen in almost three hours.

According to Jim Keel, battalion chief for the West Lakes Fire Department, two men had gone fishing in the lake around 8 a.m., wearing hip waders and single one-man rafts – “the kind you stand up in and can walk around.” At around 9:35 a.m., the caller said he lost eye contact with his partner, a man in his 70s, and became separated.

The men were not wearing life jackets Keel said, although the rafts they were using did provide some buoyancy — while they were in them.

According to Keel, the man assumed his partner was fishing quietly nearby on the lake, but eventually became concerned and began to search for him. “It was almost 12 o’clock when he called it in,” Keel said, “and by then, obviously, he was pretty worried.”

Five members of the dive team responded, and another diver arrived with the West Lakes rescue truck, Keel said. Two troopers who were in the area also responded, he said, and an area resident with a personal watercraft helped search the lake as well.

“It wasn’t looking good at that point.”

However, shortly after they arrived on the scene, the missing man showed up. “He’d simply walked the quarter mile to Seymour Lake across the street and started fishing there. He had no idea anyone was looking for him,” Keel said. “As a matter of fact, he came down the road and saw the responders and thought something bad had happened to the other guy.”

Lisa Jaeger, captain of the Mat-Su Dive Team, said the man climbed out of his tube after the tube deflated. She said he went to Seymour Lake where he could bank fish instead.

Jaeger said the incident highlights the importance of telling people where you are going, and when there is a change in those plans.

“We need to know where to look,” she said.

It was a happy ending this time, and that’s the kind the dive team likes to see, Keel said. “It so easily could have been the other way around.”

According to Alaska State Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters, the troopers on scene were not officially dispatched to the incident. Therefore, the names of those involved could not be released.

Both Keel and Peters stressed the need to always wear a PFD.

“You fall into that cold water right now,” Keel said, “hypothermia can set in real quick.” Even though outside temperatures are warmer, he added, often water temperatures are not.

Peter said, “A lot of times, people fall out of a boat and the reflex is to gasp and inhale a lot of water. That’s how a lot of drownings occur.”

Furthermore, Peters said, wearing hip waders without a PDF can be a deadly combination.

“If you fall in, or those waders fill up with water, they’re like anchors. A lot of our drowning victims are males,” she said.

While Tuesday’s incident could have happened to anyone, Peters said it is always a good idea when recreating in groups to keep communications open.

“If things change, everyone’s on the same page,” she said.