Slow Ice Fishing

The fishing news is not good right now. After calling all of my fishing pals in the area I have to conclude that ice fishing is very slow. Everyone talks about catching a few here and there but no real success. One of the factors is the problem is low levels of oxygen under the ice. Early ice in November followed by heavy snowfalls has resulted in conditions where the plants are mostly dying off under the ice because of low light, and that leads to low oxygen levels.

Fish are sluggish in the winter anyway, and with low oxygen they move around even less. Less movement means less of a chance of a school of fish passing under your ice holes and less of a chance of catching a bunch of fish.

Hopefully March weather will warm up and when we get some runoff into the lakes and rivers, things will improve. Runoff water is more highly oxygenated and a bit warmer and that will make the fish much more agreeable. It will make most of the fishermen a bit more agreeable too. With the amount of ice we have, fishing should be good long into March.

Dan Bomkamp - Author & Host of "How's Fishing"
 
 
 

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