Towed Fish House Breaks Through Ice on Big Watab Lake

COLLEGEVILLE – A fish house went through the ice of a Stearns County lake over the weekend.

Stearns County deputies were called to Big Watab Lake in Collegeville on Sunday around noon. Authorities were informed that the fish house was unoccupied when it went through the ice. 

When deputies arrived, they found the fish house being removed from the water. The fish house had gone through a section of thin ice approximately 30-40 yards away from the west shoreline near 30095 Lilac Road. The ice was about 4-6 inches thick in the section where the fish house broke through.

Authorities say 69-year-old Michael Stang of St. Joseph said he had been pulling his 2007 16-foot Distinct Builders Grand Lodge fish house with his Arctic Cat UTV on Saturday afternoon when he felt the fish house fall into the snow behind him, stopping the UTV. He looked back and saw the wheels of the fish house becoming submerged. Stang was able to disconnect the fish house from his UTV before it sank further into the water.

Collins Brothers Towing and Cardinal Towing Service assisted in removing the fish house from the water.