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WILLARD BAY STATE PARK — There's rarely a day that goes by that Ty Hunter doesn't stop and think about how much fun his job is.
"Oh, I love it. I can still say it's one of the greatest choices that I’ve made,” said Hunter.
Except for days like Monday and Tuesday, where the word "fun" is never used
"We always want to try and keep the positive piece of it, but we've got to look at the realistic point of view,” said Hunter.
Hunter is the boating program manager for Utah State Parks.
However, his trips at Willard Bay this week have been to search for a fisherman missing since Sunday. It’s a search Hunter is worried may now be a recovery.
"That's an awful tough thing for us to convert to, especially for the families, and that's just such a hard thing,” said Hunter.
Matthew Rasmussen, 45, was last seen Sunday morning after leaving his Morgan home to go fishing on Willard Bay in Box Elder County. He launched his boat from the marina at about 8 a.m. His family reported him overdue around 8:30 p.m.
His boat was found on the water Sunday morning with the trolling motor still running, but there wasn't any sign of Rasmussen.
Rescue teams from Box Elder County, Weber County, Davis County, Willard Bay State Park, the Department of Public Safety and Life Flight started searching for him right away.
"We've got 52 degrees, and that's our surface temperature. Awfully cold,” said Hunter as he was on the water searching.
At first glance, the search looked like about a dozen boats were scattered everywhere with not a whole lot of movement. But Hunter said searching underwater is slow and methodical.
Teams go out in grids to search the 10,000 square surface acres of water, which is roughly the size of 7,500 football fields.
Some boats have sonar equipment, some boats have cadaver dogs and other boats just have searchers looking out on the water.
"Literally just trolling around, two miles an hour, five miles an hour max,” said Hunter.
He said long searching on the water means your eyes can start playing tricks on you.
"It can, it can. You start looking, especially if the water is really rough. You start to see a wave kind of curl a little bit. It gives a different kind of hue and color and you look at that and say, did I actually see what I saw. And then you wait a minute and it was nothing,” said Hunter.
However, searchers keep going, because they never know when what they see is what the family has been waiting for.
"It tears on us as it tears on them. We just want to bring closure to this incident for them. That's the biggest thing,” said Hunter.
There are some clues to this case searchers need help on.
A black remote control for a trolling motor and a pink homemade planer board were found by another fisherman in the water Sunday afternoon.
That fisherman turned those items over to park rangers before Rasmussen was officially "missing." Rasmussen’s family confirmed those items belonged to him.
Rangers would like that fisherman to contact the Box Elder County Sheriff's Office, because that person may be able to provide more information about where on Willard Bay those items were found.
The search will resume Wednesday, and the north marina will be closed during the recovery efforts. However, boats can still be launched at the South Marina, exit 351, Utah State Parks officials said.
Anyone who may have seen Rasmussen or his boat Sunday can contact Box Elder County Dispatch at 435-723-9769. The search will continue Wednesday morning.
Contributing: Faith Jolley
