A weekend fishing trip went horribly wrong for a 59-year-old Duluth man who was fishing on Pine Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
Michael Raymond Hickey left for Pine Lake on Friday, November 4 and was due back on Sunday. When he didn’t return to work or return calls, his colleagues reported him missing to the Cook County Sheriff ’s Office on Monday, November 7, at approximately 3 p.m.
Sheriff ’s Deputies and Cook County Search and Rescue responded to the call and spent Monday evening looking for Hickey. Before darkness fell, searchers found a partially submerged canoe registered to Hickey, paddles and some personal belongings believed to be his.
Sheriff Pat Eliasen said, “Darkness hampered the search into Monday evening, but resumed at daybreak.”
Pine Lake is located east of McFarland Lake in the BWCA. The lake has 18.22 miles of shoreline and has a maximum depth of 113 feet and covers 2,122 acres.
The missing man’s truck was found at the McFarland boat landing.
“The search victim is a longtime user of the area who has been fishing Pine Lake for many years,” said Sheriff Eliasen. “Colleagues reported him missing when he failed to attend work on Monday and attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.”
On Tuesday Sherrif Eliasen said, “We are conducting an extensive search and doing everything we can to locate Mr. Hickey. This includes a ground, water and air search with resources from the Sheriff ’s Office, Search & Rescue, the United States Forest Service, United States Border Patrol, Minnesota State Patrol and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
“We are working with Mr. Hickey’s son, who is currently at the scene,” Eliasen said.
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