As it approaches mid-December here in northern Michigan, we are still experiencing some incredibly unseasonable warm weather. While other northern states are experiencing the first glimpses of ice and some already have safe ice, Michigan’s lower peninsula does not. Water temperatures are dropping, but with high temperatures still in the 40s near the Lake Michigan coast, we may be quite a ways away from safe ice. Inland near Houghton Lake, and near Cadillac, temperatures are much cooler at night than they are near the coast but, even so, there is no ice as of yet. Despite the current lack of ice, Sport Fish Michigan is still busy getting ready for the hard water season. Even though it looks like there may be a shorter ice fishing season than in the past couple years, we will still have plenty of ice to get out on to satiate our passion for hard water fishing in the coming months.