OAK HARBOR, Ohio -- One fisherman died and as many as 175 others were helped off the ice yesterday after finding themselves stranded on an eight-mile wide floe on Lake Erie off Magee Marsh.

Authorities and fishermen said the ice-fishing enthusiasts crossed a narrow crack in the ice on a plywood board about 1,000 yards from shore in the early morning. Warming air and brisk winds from the south caused the crack to widen by mid-morning.

By late afternoon, most had either walked off the ice after being ferried across the widening open water channel or had driven their all-terrain vehicles around the crack to get to shore, near Camp Perry. A helicopter surveyed the area to make sure no one was stranded.

Ottawa County Sheriff Bob Bratton said the fishermen should have known that conditions were turning dangerous as temperatures in the 40s began melting the 16-inch-thick ice.

"Where is the common sense when they know the ice is broken?" Sheriff Bratton said, estimating the cost of the response at $20,000. "Your experienced fishermen, I'll guarantee, are not out there."

Authorities said Leslie Love, 65, of New Albany, Ohio, fell in about three feet of icy water while fishing with his son-in-law and a friend. He was taken by U.S. Coast Guard helicopter to a hospital in Sandusky, where he was pronounced dead.

The death was attributed to natural causes, said Dr. Brian Baxter, Erie County coroner, who learned from Mr. Love's family that he had a heart condition.

Some fishermen admitted that they were inexperienced. Many came off the ice carrying buckets of walleye.

Robert Schlesselman, 62, of Sterling Heights, said, "the minute we heard there was a crack, we packed it up and started running. The longer you wait the less your chances of getting around it."