Ice Out Is Expected In Central Minnesota Soon

Ice fishing is done for a large portion of the state.  Glen Schmitt from Outdoor News joined me on WJON.  He says there are reports of open water in southern Minnesota with places like Fairmont and Windom seeing ice out on area lakes.  Schmitt expects Central Minnesota to see ice out within a few weeks.  He says we are on pace for an ice out the 2nd week in April, which is average for this area.  Schmitt indicates last year at this time we were already ice out, which was the earliest we've ever seen.

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Schmitt says those interested in still doing some ice fishing can go north of Brainerd.  He says ice around Central Minnesota is soft, black, rotting and unsafe.  Schmitt says it would be possible for anglers to fish on the ice in northern Minnesota one day and fish on open water the next in southern Minnesota.

The DNR does an annual moose survey in northeast Minnesota and basically counts the moose they see in the 9 day period in January.  Schmitt says results indicated 340 moose were observed with 170 bulls with 121 cows, 35 calves and 9 unidentified.  He says the Minnesota DNR estimates there are a little over 4,000 moose in the state.  Schmitt says that is up about 16% from last year.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Glen Schmitt, it is available below.  He talks about fishing on Lake Mille Lacs and the new DNR regulations.  Schmitt also discussed a bill on the house floor discussing the wolf population in the state.