two ice fisherman were in for a big surprise when the reeled in a live bird from freezing waters  in northwestern pennsylvania earlier this week in a video titled, 'shocking ice fishing video from pennsylvania!', nicholas colangelo filmed his friend fred christensen pulling a live red breasted merganser out of a hole in a large sheet of ice in  monday red breasted mergansers dive into the water while foraging for food and can usually stay under for a little under a minute   so the fisherman pulled up the line at the perfect moment catch of the day: three men were ice fishing in northwest pennsylvania when the caught a red breasted merganser on their line as it was diving for food  christensen, who was fishing for muskies with colangelo and friend luke wholey, told daily mail online that he realized immediately that he wasn't pulling up a fish, but he wasn't expecting a bird 'i wasn't exactly certain what flashed passed the hole, there were colors that just didn't set well with me so i was hesitant of grabbing something i hadn't yet identified,' he wrote in an e mail interview '[it] wasn't until i saw feathers that i realized what was going on' 'my jaw hit the ice,' colangelo told the washington post 'i was absolutely shocked' colangelo said that though he and his friends go fishing regularly and have seen mergansers dive under water for long stretches of time, he wasn't expecting to catch the bird on his fishing line 'i've never heard of anything like this happening,' he told the washington post 'it was so unusual' in the video, christensen can be seen pulling up the fishing line out of a small hole in the water until he eventually reaches his hand in and pulls out a squirming live bird unexpected: fred christensen, pictured on monday, said he wasn't sure what he was pulling up on the line, but he was certain it wasn't a fish  unusual: christensen was hesitant to reach into the water at first, but he grabbed the merganser and likely saved it from drowning on the end of the fishing line  after christensen posed for a picture, the men untangled the bird and set it free into it's natural habitat 'it didn't take long to realize it wasn't happy, i just grabbed the mean end as soon as i saw the chance,' christensen wrote in an e mail 'i figured controlling its head and body would make unhooking and tangling much faster, i treated it the same as i would a fish thankfully nick was there to help, it would have been a difficult task to accomplish alone,' he added colangelo told the washington post that the bird was only minimally tangled and easily made its way back to its flock christensen said that he had never heard of people catching a merganser through the ice, but said that it occasionally happens 'in open water in ares where large amounts of water birds like to congregate' the three fishermen don't kill anything that they catch while fishing and release it all back into the wild 'i would just sincerely like to say that the environment , the fish the birds   that's what's high priority,' colangelo told the washington post catch and release: red breasted mergansers dive into the water looking for food the men untangled the bird from their fishing line and set it free to return to its flock  christensen said that there's 'no sense in killing' the fish they catch, and that you never know a fish's full potential if it's killed 'i've seen and have caught fish i've released even years prior that have had identifying scars or characteristics that couldn't be mistaken,' he said 'when you experience catching a fish that you've caught before it is a good feeling to see that the fish is still alive and well it gives you that much more incentive to let them all go,' he added the three men often fish for musky, a rare and large species that is known to be difficult to catch the freshwater fish is often spotted around the great lakes region and through canada colangelo and wholey hit headlines last month after catching a 53 pound musky while ice fishing n northwest pennsylvania, according to cbs the men estimated that the fish was about 30 years old they were one pound away from matching a 1949 state record for biggest musky catch christensen that that three days prior to catching the merganser, he had another unusual bird encounter 'i watched a bald eagle wipe out a canadian goose and carried it as far as it could until it realized it was extremely heavy,' he wrote 'it just so happened it dropped less than ten yards from where i was quietly sitting waiting for a flag to pop' 'most would find this crazy uncommon, but for me it's just a typical day on water,' the fisherman said under the ice: christensen, and his friends nicholas colangelo and luke wholey fish for muskies in northwest pennsylvania  reeling it in: the fish, found mostly in the great lakes region and in canada, are rare, large and difficult to catch 
fred christensen pennsylvania nicholas colangelo christensen monday merganser
fred christensen was fishing for musky in northwestern pennsylvania . friend nicholas colangelo filmed christensen catching the bird monday . christensen wasn't sure what to expect when he put his hand in the water . the fishermen untangled the red breasted merganser and set it free 