March Ice Fishing, My favorite time of year!

Agreed, last Saturday we fished with ATV's and commented on how well the lake had held up so far, this weekend you could back a boat in the launch at the same lake. That was WAY to fast!

Did get some nice fish the last day, sorry to see the season end. The 12 to 15 inch smallmouth were slamming the spoon, that was fun!

Amazing how fast the ice can go bad. Fished here yesterday morning.  Towards noon, ice got that bad color and big chunks busting up as I was drilling.  So I called it a season. Today, high winds broke up and sank the ice some areas of the lake. Looks like I will be kayaking this weekend 

Thanks for the report Jaybee. 

One thing I've noticed in March. When they say there's going to be a warm up-they almost always undershoot what actually happens. I doubt anyone predicted a week ago that it would be 68 degrees in Waukesha County today. YIKES. Horrible for the ice.

Waukesha County report.

Was 68 degrees today. North side access is going bad . Was 13 to 14 inch ice yesterday,  12 today, for the lakes I was on. 3 inch of hard ice at the bottom yesterday,  today, soft ice from top to bottom.  

If you can take off work,  call in sick,  or play hooky, do it. Ice may be dangerous by this weekend.  

And heck, panfishing was tough for me too. It was a struggle to get a meal of 8 keepers the last 2 days

You’re right!!   I’m catching a few perch but not 1 crappie or Gill this March!    Usually I pound them this time of year.

I’m going to wait a few more days to see if I can stretch it out then head to Florida for a few days, see if I can time the ice out. CARPIO 

I love your attitude. I think less than 5 percent of ice fisherman still are at it late - late ice. I've been on the ice a number of times when just about every one else has quit or is fishing open water. And, usually it's fine. Sometimes even good. There are a few others that do this too...but Each lake and year is different. 

Now, I have fallen in twice!!! Late ice. So, it's not without risk. Both times were shallow water, but over my belt line. I don't do deep water late ice. 

I've also done the Johnboat trick. Get to the main shelf and things are surprisingly fine. Looks horrible to people walking by, but 10 inches of solid ice is sometimes waiting and I've found that if the previous night and day have been cool and cloudy, it's pretty firm ice. Gotta just be smart and shallow I like to say! And it’s pretty obvious when the ice gets rotten or bad. That’s when it’s time to quit!

And there is always that “one more chance to get out”  in my mind...But one has to know when to fold his cards. Sometimes that’s hard for me to Accept! 

I was fishing on 15+ inches here in Madison over the weekend.  I still had a few spots that just about buried my auger, so there's quite a bit of ice left.  Both spots I accessed the ice over the weekend still had snow on the shorelines.  So I would think that it's got to melt the snow even before it melts the ice near shore.  I'm planning on going somewhere Saturday as of right now.  I'll bring a board with wherever I go and hope for the best.  I know there will still be ice here, it's just whether or not I can get to it, that I can't predict.  Average ice out is about the 20th of March here, but those last two weeks the ice is still on the lake we usually can't get to it!

You should be totally fine with ice in late March. Northern Wisconsin. I plan to fish into April. Once this warm-up is done, it’s getting much cooler. Takes a long time to melt 20 inches.

Low temperatures are looking really good starting in just three days from now.

Definitely pumped. Fished the last hard water here in northern Illinois tonight. If I had time, I could probably find some place safe down here to fish tomorrow...or even the next day, but all bets are off when the rain hits in the middle of the week. I have time off planned for ice fishing northern Minnesota (or maybe northern Wisconsin) at the end of March. Not sure if the ice anywhere will survive to that time, though. If that happens, I'll go from pumped to bummed.

Good for you Jaybee! 

So where are you guys at in southern Wisconsin as far as ice now? If you have 14 inches, I would think that other than the shorelines -the base would still hold true at least a week. But, I know late  ice could be fickle.  I just remember many days in southern Wisconsin with my hip waiters wading out to the ice. Then once I was on the shelf, it was fine. Seems like it holds on a little longer than people expect if one really wants to get out there and Knows a safe way to do it.

Probably the last week of safe ice coming up in Waukesha county. Taking a week off work. Wife and daughter are going to Cabo. I'm going ice fishing. So that's where my priorities are, I guess