A short ice-fishing rod with a blue tip and a gold and blue spinning reel, propped on a wire stand over a round hole chipped through snow-covered ice. Dark water shows at the bottom of the hole.

Lake Erie · inland lakes · park ponds

Ohio ice fishing

Where Ohio’s agencies say people fish through the ice, the rules in the code’s own words, and what the air temperature has been doing. We don’t report ice conditions for any water.

Ice safety first Freeze tracker

A short rod on a wire stand, its line running down into a hole chipped through snow-covered ice. The archive’s description: Ice fishing is a popular winter activity at Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Photo: Lisa Hupp, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Taken at Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska on February 27, 2021, not in Ohio. It shows nothing about the ice on any Ohio water.

No ice report here. We don’t know the ice on any Ohio water today, and nothing on this page says you can walk on it. Read ice safety first, and check the ice yourself, every few steps, every trip.

Why is there no ice report on this site?

We looked for an agency that publishes ice thickness for an Ohio lake and didn’t find one. This is what the agencies we quote say:

“Frozen bodies of water are never 100 percent safe to walk on. It is important to test ice thickness before venturing onto any frozen lake.”
ODNR Office of Coastal Management, Lake Erie Public Access Guidebook, introduction · ODNR Coastal (PDF)

Pennsylvania’s park page for Pymatuning: Ice thickness is not monitored (Pennsylvania DCNR).
Geauga Park District: Lakes, ponds and waterways are NOT monitored for sufficient freezing for safe access, however, and fishing on the ice is done at your own risk. (Geauga Park District)
Minnesota DNR: The DNR does not measure ice thickness on Minnesota lakes. Your safety is your responsibility. (Minnesota DNR) Ice is seldom the same thickness over a single body of water; it can be two feet thick in one place and one inch thick a few yards away. (Minnesota DNR)
The Coast Guard in Cleveland: Never assume the ice is safe, even if others are on it. Evaluate conditions for yourself and exercise sound judgement. (U.S. Coast Guard release, Feb. 3, 2020)

So this site does three things instead. It quotes what the agencies say about ice, word for word, on the ice safety page. It shows what the weather has been doing, as weather. And it tells you where the agencies say people ice fish and what the rules are once you’re there.

Has the air been freezing?

People ask whether it’s making ice. We can’t see ice, so this panel shows the one thing we can: air temperature from the National Weather Service, near the western basin of Lake Erie, counted in freezing degree-days. The freeze tracker has the other waters and explains the arithmetic.

Lake Erie western basin: has the air been freezing?

Air temperature observed at Port Clinton Carl R Keller Field Airport (National Weather Service station KPCW, about 10 miles from the forecast point), and the Weather Service’s hourly forecast for the South Bass Island ice ramp coordinates ODNR prints.

The numbers load here from the National Weather Service when JavaScript is on.

Weather is not ice thickness. This panel reads air temperature and can’t see ice, so it never tells you ice will hold. Minnesota DNR on what else matters, and by how much ice varies: Temperature, snow cover, currents, springs and rough fish all affect the relative safety of ice. (Minnesota DNR) Ice is seldom the same thickness over a single body of water; it can be two feet thick in one place and one inch thick a few yards away. (Minnesota DNR) How the numbers are worked out · Stations and points · Ice safety

What does an Ohio ice season look like?

In ODNR’s words. The season page has more, with the dates the rules print.

Early in the winter

ODNR’s Lake Erie guide, under WINTER WALLEYE (DECEMBER - FEBRUARY) (ODNR (PDF)): In years with sufficient ice, anglers pursue walleye as they make their way back to the spawning grounds. Early in the winter, start off fishing near Catawba Island and end the season off the reef complex west of the Bass islands and north of Camp Perry firing range. Fish with ice fishing lures tipped with minnows, fished just off the bottom. (ODNR (PDF))

December to February

The same guide, under WINTER PERCH (DECEMBER - FEBRUARY) (ODNR (PDF)): Fishing for perch during colder months is popular, especially in years with sufficient ice. Anglers use light jigs tipped with minnows or wax worms fished near the bottom. Anglers in the western basin usually target near Catawba, the Bass islands, Marblehead, Sandusky Bay, and harbor areas. (ODNR (PDF))

Late February through March

By then the guide has anglers in boats: During late February through March, fish are in pre-spawn mode. Anglers fish from boats by vertically jigging ice fishing lures, or trolling crankbaits in the middle of the water column at speeds as slow as 0.8 to 1 mph. (ODNR (PDF))

Those are ODNR’s fishing passages, by the months it prints. They say when people fish, in years with ice. They don’t say when ice forms or goes.

Where do people ice fish in Ohio?

Only waters that an agency or park district ties to ice fishing in writing we could check are listed: 10 pages. The where page says how each got there.

Lake Erie western basin

ODNR’s winter passages for the western basin, the Coast Guard’s warnings, the access sites ODNR lists, and the rules.

Pymatuning Lake

The lake’s own ice rules from the Ohio code, the license question, and what Pennsylvania’s park page says about its ice.

Mosquito Creek Lake

What the Army Corps of Engineers’ Pittsburgh District says about ice fishing on its reservoirs, with ODNR’s map facts and the crappie rule.

Park district lakes and ponds

Each park district’s ice-fishing terms in its own words, including the districts that prohibit it.

Indian Lake

What Ohio DNR’s Indian Lake State Park page says about winter and fishing, the address it prints, the state park ice rule, and air temperature nearby.

Buckeye Lake

What Ohio DNR’s Buckeye Lake State Park page says about winter and fishing, the address it prints, the state park ice rule, and air temperature nearby.

Alum Creek Lake

What Ohio DNR’s Alum Creek State Park page says about winter and fishing, the address it prints, the state park ice rule, and air temperature nearby.

Lake Milton

What Ohio DNR’s Lake Milton State Park page says about winter and fishing, the state park ice rule, and air temperature nearby.

Portage Lakes

What Ohio DNR’s Portage Lakes State Park page says about winter and fishing, the address it prints, the state park ice rule, and air temperature nearby.

West Branch

What Ohio DNR’s West Branch State Park page says about winter and fishing, the address it prints, the state park ice rule, and air temperature nearby.

More Ohio winter pages from the same publisher

Ohio Steelhead: Ohio’s Lake Erie steelhead rivers, with their USGS gauge readings.
Ohio Skating: Ohio ice rinks.
Sled Hills: Ohio sledding hills.
Ohio Polar Plunge: Ohio’s organized winter plunges.