Mild weather, shaky ice are spoiling Minnesota's early ice fishing season

For 29 consecutive winters on Lake Mille Lacs, Kevin McQuoid rented fish houses to customers of his lakeside resort near Isle, Minn. Only once during that span were the shacks still parked on dirt by New Year's Day.

McQuoid sold his business two years ago, but he's anticipating another holiday dud as Minnesota's ice fishing season remains mired in a slow start. Unseasonably warm temperatures as far north as Angle Inlet on Lake of the Woods have disrupted the "early ice" period that anglers cherish as the best time to catch fish through holes in the ice.

"The week between Christmas and New Year's was always our biggest week of the year, by far," McQuoid said. "I'm looking at the forecast and there's definitely going to be some disappointment."

Even with rain and 50-degree days in store for this weekend in the Twin Cities, the ice fishing season isn't an all-out bust. On the southern bays of Mille Lacs, for instance, ice fishing has been in good shape for more than a week.

But without exception from Lake Pepin in the southeast to Rainy Lake in International Falls, ice production is weeks behind schedule. Worse yet, there's no immediate hope for the type of deep freeze needed to make ice that's thick enough to support plows, long ice roads and the full spectrum of ice fishing equipment.

"A lot of people are forced to stick to ponds, bays and smaller lakes," said Andy Petterson, founder of Ice Fishing Minnesota, a Facebook group that recently surpassed 100,000 members.

He said preseason excitement has given way to widespread frustration. "On our pages you can definitely tell that people are tired of talking about ice fishing," Petterson said. "They just want to get out on the ice."

Petterson himself has fished on lakes this month that were strong enough to support foot traffic one day, only to have the surface fall apart a day or two later. High winds, in particular, have been wreaking havoc. On Upper Red Lake on Sunday night, for instance, emergency responders battled gusty conditions in the darkness to rescue 35 anglers from an ice sheet that broke away and drifted 200 feet into open water.

Less than 48 hours later, a pair of hopeful ice anglers landed a small Cessna airplane on Upper Red, submerging the front end in a wreck they walked away from. According to the Beltrami County Sheriff's Department, there was only a couple of inches of ice where the plane broke through a half-mile out from shore.

"People are probably being a little riskier," Petterson said. "They're getting the itch so bad."

Dave Peterson, an outdoors radio show host in International Falls, said he's usually driving onto the ice by now, towing a portable shelter with his four-wheeler or his snowmobile. But it wasn't until a couple of days ago when he finally found a workable fishing spot with 9 inches of ice.

"Early ice is the best fishing we have, but we're three weeks behind schedule," said Peterson, known locally as Fishmeister. "I'll be pretty careful where I'm going out."

He and other experts provide the same safety tips year after year: Use a spud bar to test early ice for thickness, keep a pair of ice picks handy to escape the water in the event of a collapse, and follow the advice of local outfitters and resorts when it comes to mapping fishing zones and danger spots. More specific to this season — because of the lack of snow — anglers are being urged to wear ice cleats to prevent falls.

Joe Henry, an all-seasons fishing expert on Lake of the Woods, said this year's emphasis on safety is as important as ever. Ice fishing for walleyes and saugers has taken off on the big lake, including the placement of rentable fish houses, but he strongly recommended that everyone follow localized guidelines for what vehicles to travel in and where to fish.

"Whatever the rules are, don't deviate," Henry said. "If you follow the rules you're going to be just fine."

Thus far on Lake of the Woods, fishing is happening closer to shore than is the norm. Farther out, some sections of ice have taken a beating from high wind, said Jeff Andersen, the fishing pro at Sportsman's Lodge and Border View Lodge.

But Andersen said 33 full-sized sleeper houses were in place on the ice this week near the resort properties. Still, he also is cautioning Lake of the Woods anglers who venture out on their own to beware of changes in ice thickness.

Because Lake of the Woods is so vast and deep, Christmas sometimes comes and goes on the lake before the ice grows thick enough for full-on road building and fish house placement, Andersen said. He's still hopeful for a season that will stretch into March. He said January bookings are very busy and February is filling in.

"Fishing is really, really good now," he said.

In Lake City, 380 miles south of Baudette, Nick Schlesser is a large lake specialist for the Department of Natural Resources. He is used to seeing ice anglers on Lake Pepin by the first week in December. This year, conditions were favorable for an early start because both units at the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant are offline. When the plant is running, warm-water discharges delay the production of ice.

But as of Wednesday of this week, Schlesser said, the thickest ice on Lake Pepin was probably less than 2 inches thick — not enough to safely cross on foot.

"We've had skim ice form, but then get ripped apart by the wind," he said. "It's not looking good … 50-degree weather in December does not make ice."