Mlive: Ice fisherman from Saline declared dead after being pulled from water

By Cindy Heflin Associate news director

Posted on Fri, Jan 4, 2013 : 11:45 a.m.

Update: Saline man and friend were fishing in shanty when ice cracked, sending them into near-freezing water

A Saline man who had been ice fishing in Lenawee County was pronounced dead after being pulled from the water Thursday, MLive reported.

Michael James Shofstall, 62, was taken to Allegiance Health in Jackson, but efforts to resuscitate him were not successful, according to a statement from the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office.

Another fisherman, Gerald Lee Smith, 62, of Grass Lake, was in guarded condition after a helicopter took him to a Toledo hospital, the sheriff’s office reported.

A 911 call about people yelling for help at Timber Lake came in at 11:44 a.m., MLive reported. The lake is west of Wamplers Lake in the northern part of Lenawee County.