With any type of fishing, weather will always dictate what, when, and where an angler will fish. The recent warming trend has brought our current ice fishing season to an abrupt halt.

As we all know, the recent warming trend has created an abundance of unsafe ice conditions across Northern Michigan. Depressingly, this has ended ice fishing for most anglers this year. Most of the lakes we list in our reports still have ice coverage, but due to warm weather and rain, it is too unsafe to fish and report conditions. While these lakes may have coverage, the integrity of the ice is much less than ideal, and with the added weight of the slush on top of what little clear ice there may be, it just isn’t safe.

We ask that anyone that does plan to hit the ice for the remainder of the season use good judgment and take proper precaution. It has been a short but productive winter on the ice, fishing was excellent for all species.

We just want all anglers to be aware of the inconsistent thicknesses due to the past two weeks of weather. No fish is worth a life.