With February coming to a close, that means that ice fishing houses must be removed from our area’s lakes by midnight Sunday night.

March 1 can be a gloomy day for ice fishing enthusiasts. Months of staring into a hole in the middle of a frozen lake in hopes of catching the big one… are coming to an end. But Minnesota Department of Resources Officer Mike Martin says just because fish houses can’t be left on the ice overnight doesn’t mean the ice fishing season is over.

“It can still be on the ice. It just can’t be on the ice overnight unoccupied. The definition of overnight is from midnight until one hour before sunrise,” said Martin.

It’s a state law, and those who break it will be prosecuted. Officer Martin says it’s also illegal to leave an ice fishing shelter at a public access. Usually, Martin says, Minnesotans are good at following these laws. The law he wants to spread the most awareness about is the littering law. Besides hurting the environment, he says, leaving junk on the ice will cost a Stearns County resident $183.

“We’ve been out GPS’ing fish houses and if there’s any debris, including small chunks of 2×4’s, plywood, insulation, beer cans whatever, you can expect to receive a ticket in the mail. When you have hundreds of fish houses on the lake, if every fish house leaves one or two small items out there, that can be a lot of litter left on the lake over the year," said Martin.
 

Martin says the ice is good this winter, but he cautions anglers, there is no such thing as ice that is 100 percent safe, especially after March 1st.