WINNEBAGO COUNTY, Wis. (WFRV)-Anglers have swarmed to Lake Winnebago to take advantage of the cold weather and do some ice fishing.
But with the forecast turning much warmer over the next week are the good ice fishing conditions about to be a thing of the past?
“If we don’t get a lot of rain it probably won’t do much to it because it’s going to still get cold at night,” said Donnie Herman. “It might take some of the snow off but I don’t think it will touch the ice unless it gets 40 degrees or 50 degrees for multiple days.”
Herman is the owner of Sunk Dive and Ice which specializes in recovering vehicles that have fallen through the ice. Every winter, he closely watches conditions on Lake Winnebago and spends lots of time measuring ice thickness at different spots on the lake.
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Right now he says the ice is between four inches and nine inches thick depending on where you go out onto the lake.
He says as a general rule of thumb, two to four inches is good enough to walk on ice, you need seven or eight inches to drive a UTV, and about a foot to drive a vehicle. He emphasizes that the ice on Lake Winnebago isn’t thick enough to support vehicles right now.
He also emphasizes that no ice is completely safe and that ice thickness can vary dramatically depending on where you are on the lake.
“Stay away from the mouths of rivers when you have early ice like this, stay where the people are fishing, most of the people know the ice conditions pretty good,” said Herman. “They’ve been fishing for 20, 30, 40 years.”
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He also said to check out websites and social media for local fishing groups and law enforcement because a lot of times they have information on ice thickness.
Herman also said that if you’re not familiar with a lake don’t go out on the ice in the dark or when visibility is low during a snowstorm.
Local fishing clubs are looking for people to donate Christmas trees. They use the trees to mark places on Lake Winnebago where the ice is safe.
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