By Shay Lelonek / Asst. News Director

ST. PAUL, Minn. — With warm weather underway in most of Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reminds anyone who still has a fish house on the ice to start planning to remove it.

The statutory shelter removal deadline is 11:59 p.m. on March 3, 2025, for inland lakes in the southern two-thirds of the state.

For inland lakes in the northern part of the state, the deadline is 11:59 p.m. on March 17, 2025.

If shelters aren’t removed by the deadline, owners may be prosecuted, and structures may be confiscated and removed or destroyed.

Exceptions to the removal deadlines are Minnesota-Canada border waters (March 31), Minnesota-South Dakota and North Dakota border waters (March 5), Minnesota-Wisconsin border waters (March 1), and Minnesota-Iowa border waters (Feb. 20).

If a shelter has the proper licensing and identification, it can still be used after the deadline. However, if it’s on the ice between midnight and an hour before sunrise, it must be occupied or attended.