Tag Archives: fishing tug Donna F
‘15 minutes out mama’: The tragic story of Port Dover fisherman Michael Smith who drowned in Lake Erie
Frigid water shushing against the hull, spray peppering windows, as the fish tug bores through Lake Erie, clouds breaking to reveal the pale, fleeting blue of a mercurial March sky. On board, Michael Smith sent his wife a text like he always did to start the day: “Good morning beautiful, I love you.” They headed southwest around Long Point, the 40-kilometre sand spit that stretches nearly halfway across the lake. Smith recorded video: the wheelhouse, engine rumbling, tote boxes awaiting some of the first smelt of the commercial fishing season. He pulled open a steel door through which the trawling net is pulled, to show the water rolling by. He made it a ritual to kiss the net before releasing it to the lake. >click to read< 10:41
Missing Port Dover, Ontario fisherman embraced sunrises and the water
Fisherman Michael Smith lived for the mornings he could venture on to the water with the Donna F and watch the sunrise, according to cousin and fellow fisherman, James Misner. “There’s no trees and nothing in our way. It comes right over the water and we get to see a beautiful, perfect sunrise every morning.” “We’d go on there and say ‘good morning, Port Dover! It’s 5:30 a.m. Look at the sun coming up over the water,’ and a ‘we love our town’ type of thing.” On Monday, Smith set out early on the Donna F and did not return. >click to read< 06:46:16
Commercial Fisherman lost in Lake Erie after going overboard
Divers from the OPP are searching Lake Erie for a man who is missing after going overboard from a commercial fishing vessel Monday morning. The incident happened about 13 kilometres west of Long Point around 10:15 a.m. The fisherman is being identified as Michael Smith, of Port Dover, Ontario from the fishing tug Donna F. “He was loved by all and had an amazing number of friends amongst the fishermen and Port Doverites alike,” photo, boatnerd.com >click to read< 19:11
