Last week a friend told me he was ice fishing for the final time and did well catching nice size perch. This didn’t surprise me because perch will gorge themselves before spawning and before ice out, fishing can be excellent. Then he added every perch caught were females and asked if it was normal for all of them to be full of spawn. Even though it might seem early the answer is yes. Reason being is perch are the third species to spawn in the Northwoods behind Northern Pike followed by Walleye.

There have been years with late ice out when Northern and Walleye have spawned before lakes totally opened up, but this is truly a rare occurrence. But for those who still enjoy Ice fishing, you should know that fishing on inland lakes ended March 1st in Wisconsin and fishing for most species will end on Wisconsin/Michigan boundary waters March15th which is also the ice shanty removal date.

Even though this can be the best ice fishing of the season for panfish, anglers should start considering ice safety but with the amount of snow that we are receiving the ice will be insulated once again and this prevents the ice from thickening. This new snow could add weeks to open water. When the snow finally starts to disappear (hopefully in a few weeks) and depending on what mother nature has instore for us ice could deteriorate rapidly.

When we can see the ice again here are a few things to look for when determining ice safety. DARK ice can indicate melting ice. GRAY ice even though it can still be thick, also mean weak ice. CRACKS in the ice are dangerous when the ice starts to melt. PRESSURE RIDGES or ICE HEAVES indicate damaged ice, but how many know that there are DOWNWARD PRESSURE RIDGES? In these areas you might see some open water or very thin ice. HONEYCOMBED ice which has air pockets and this reveals structural weakness and can break with a certain amount of weight. WHITE ice also contains air bubbles and should be considered unsafe. Is there safe ice in March/early April?  BLUE or CLEAR ice means the ice is denser and is known to be solid but always check ice thickness before walking out on any water.

Obviously when we start getting full days above freezing and sun, ice will begin to melt and there will be areas that have weak ice. There are always areas to avoid the entire season. Because of underwater current those locations are inlets/outlets. Once the ice starts to thaw, the surrounding area near these locations will deteriorate quickly. I believe we all know that shoreline ice goes out first and this location is truly dangerous. One thing I want to stress is ice thickness on lakes IS NEVER UNIFORMED. Just because ice could be 24 inches thick in one area doesn’t mean it can’t be 3 inches in other locations.

BE SAFE WHILE WE WAIT FOR OPEN WATER

In the coming weeks, I will start covering, spring turnover and spawning water temperatures in the fishing category.