A man's cries for help saved his life early Tuesday as he drifted in the dark on a piece of ice off Lamèque in northeastern New Brunswick.

People in the community of Pointe-Canot heard Leo Bertin Paulin shouting throughout the evening after his premature smelt-fishing expedition went wrong.

"I left my home to go make a hole in the ice to see if there was smelt," said Paulin, 48, looking back on his close call with frigid temperatures in the black of night on an ice floe.

It was around 5 p.m., when Paulin saw the ice he was standing on detach from the shore.

"I didn't feel anything," the Pointe-Canot man told Radio-Canada in French. "It didn't even shake."

And Paulin didn't panic. He believed he'd eventually drift back to the coast, even if it was the next day up around Miscou Island on the tip of the Acadian Peninsula.

"I told myself I should not panic and jump into the water," he said. "I'm lucky because I was well dressed and had good boots."

He did scream for help, however, and at about 6:50 p.m., the RCMP got a call from someone who said there was a man in distress, said Sgt. Stéphane Blanchard, in charge of the Lamèque and Caraquet detachments.

A Hercules plane like this one spotted Paulin adrift off Pointe-Canot and its lights helped rescuers find him. (Royal Canadian Air Force)

When police arrived in Pointe-Canot, firefighters were already on the scene, but because it was so dark, emergency crews could not pinpoint where Paulin's screams were coming from.​

Special lights and infrared cameras were also used but without success, said Blanchard.

The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax dispatched a Cormorant helicopter and a Hercules aircraft from Base Greenwood. A Canadian Coast Guard vessel also headed to the area.

If there's anything I'll take away from this it's that we never know how long we have. -Leo Bertin Paulin

Eventually, Paulin's appeals for help could not be heard, but police did hear from a man who said his adult son had gone fishing at 4 p.m. that afternoon and not returned.

Flares were launched from the Hercules, and police and firefighters were finally able to spot a silhouette on a drifting ice floe.

The ice had drifted close enough to shore for first responders to reach it.

Firefighters use small boat

Firefighters in Tracadie were able to rescue the man with a small boat around 1 a.m. Tuesday.

Although he'd been stranded on the ice for eight hours — Environment Canada says temperatures in the area got as low as –15 C during the night — Paulin was not suffering from hypothermia and did not go to hospital.

It wasn't until he got home that he realized he'd come close to death.

"If there's anything I'll take away from this it's that we never know how long we have," said Paulin, who had a sore knee after the rescue.

"You have to enjoy life."

Ice too thin for fishing

The other takeaway is that the ice isn't thick enough yet for fishing. How Paulin learned that lesson has slowed his desire to go ice fishing anytime soon.

"It was the first time this year, and it will be the last," he said.

Authorities also reminded the public the ice is still too thin to venture out on it.

Drifting on the ice, Paulin said, he lost track of time and was discouraged when a plane flew over several times without seeing him.

When he was rescued, he was impressed by how many people where there to help him.

"I don't know who called the police first, but I'd like to thank them."