Ice Fishing Isn't Too Far Off..
Hello anxious ice anglers.
I’ve been taking a break from reporting fishing in Otter Tail Lakes Country. But now that we’ve been having some cooler temps and our duck hunting season has closed, I thought I’d give some guesses about when we might be able to start fishing on the ice.
Today and for the rest of the week, the temps look mild. In fact, we are getting heavy rain showers at the moment. Otter Tail Lakes Country had a dandy blizzard and cool temps 10 days ago, but 1/2 the snow has melted since then, and many of the large ponds and small lakes that had some ice are ice-free again—so we’ve gone backwards. But don’t get too worried. The long-range forecast is for “normal temps.”
Normal temps in December mean single digits at night and that will freeze a lake. Of course, some of us would like to see an arctic blast, but we’ll take what we can get. Three or four nights of single-digit temps will make 3 or 4 inches of ice on most lakes—so we icefishermen and women will cross our fingers.
My early guess is that we’ll have our first fishable ice in about 2 weeks. Of course, first ice comes with a bunch of “cautions” and I’ll be making a big deal out of that when the time comes, but for now we’ll just have to be patient a little longer. For those of you who still have boats out—go fish!
Ross Hagemeister
Meister Guide Service
