Despite the bitter cold conditions of the past week, it’s not been a great season for ice fishing in Iowa.
We’re a little over a third of the way through the winter and Iowa’s seen some wide temperature extremes, including a stretch of well-above normal days.
Iowa DNR conservation officer Nate Carr says the temperature swings can really foul up the ice.
“We had some pretty good ice early on and then we had a string of warm temperatures which really degraded things,” Carr says. “Some places completely opened up and other places it just made for really poor ice conditions.”
This past week, with scarcely any days above freezing, conditions have helped to thicken up the ice on most of Iowa’s lakes and ponds.
“We’re finally getting back to the point where we’re rebuilding, but it’s kind of been a slow bite, but folks are picking up some fish here and there,” Carr says. “I’m optimistic that we’ll get some better conditions here before winter’s over and all the ice melts.”
The DNR offers a weekly report on ice fishing conditions at iowadnr.gov.
(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)