Lake ice variable, but ready for fishing

(File Photo) Fishing season never ends for veteran outdoors enthusiasts like Jim 'the fishing professor" McDonnell. Ice fishing enthusiasts like him should have some new territory to cover. The week's cold temperatures have thickened the ice for those who want to venture out to the Iowa Great Lakes. [Click to enlarge]

From May through February, his job is to wait at boat ramps to survey anglers about the number of people in the fishing party, the number of hours they spent fishing and the kind of fish they were interested in.

Vogeler wants to how far they traveled to get to the Iowa Great Lakes. Any kept fish are weighed and measured. The information has been gathered for more than 40 years.

It's a cold line of work -- especially in the days after a winter storm swept through the Upper Midwest. Vogeler makes note of ice thickness, too. He says the ensuing arctic blast does have a benefit in the winter showdown of man vs. fish: The lakes are firm enough for foot traffic.

Vehicle traffic isn't too far behind -- perhaps a week or two away with continued cold weather and some caution, according to Vogeler.

"I've heard of vehicles going through the ice when the ice was 30-some inches thick," he said. "You just can't stress enough to people to be careful when they're going out on the ice."

With that in mind, he called this current week the starting point for some truly safe ice fishing. It's also when the fish are most active. As the winter progresses, the fish tend to slow down a bit.

"These fish are actively feeding," Vogeler said. "First ice is always considered the best time to get out to ice fish."

Vogeler said two inches of clear ice is typically good enough to walk on. About 12 to 18 inches of ice is needed before ice fishermen start driving out onto the lakes with their vehicles.

"Right now, ice conditions are a little bit variable, depending on what lake you're at," Vogeler said. "I checked on Big Spirit here this (Thursday) morning and up at the north end at the grade, there was seven inches of ice there. Then, down on the south end of Angler's Bay, at the boat ramp there at Hale's Slough, there was almost 5 or 5 1/2 inches."

There have been guys who are just starting to go out ice fishing for bluegills in Angler's Bay, which is on the east side of Big Spirit Lake, according to Vogeler.

"Probably by this weekend, there's going to be some guys starting to venture out on the main lake that are fishing for walleyes and that sort of thing," he said." A lot of guys have been fishing down at Upper Gar and there's six, almost seven inches of ice down there. They're sight fishing for perch and bluegills. On West Okoboji right now, the main lake is still open, but in Emerson Bay (on the southwest side of West Lake Okoboji), at the boat ramp, there was about 3 1/2 inches of ice. I would expect guys this weekend will probably be starting to walk out there to fish for bluegills as well."

A lot of the snow on the lakes drifted off from the strong winds, making it easier for anglers to determine the thickness of the ice. Vogeler said he's fallen through the ice a couple of times over the years "and there really wasn't a crack."

"A lot of people get scared when they walk out on the ice and they hear it crack," Vogeler said. "When the water is freezing and that ice is building up, it actually cracks -- that's generally a good thing, hearing that cracking noise. Here on Big Spirit, especially here today (Thursday) it kind of sounds like a thunderstorm off in the distance. All you hear is the rumbling and cracking while it's building ice."

His recommendation: When the ice doesn't look safe, don't go fish that spot.

Another general rule is, crystal clear ice is good quality. Anglers also tend to gather in the safest areas, according to the fisheries employee.

"When fishing is really good, you'll see big clusters of shacks out on the ice," Vogeler said.

Friday night's forecasted low of 4 degrees in Okoboji should help the thickening process. Highs over the weekend will be in the 20s. Overnight lows will fall below zero once again Monday night and Tuesday night.