LAKE WINNEBAGO, WI (WTAQ) – It may only be the first week of the new year, but we’re already seeing massive ice shoves on Lake Winnebago. That’s why we consulted lake ice savant, Don Herman.
“I’ve been doing the ice report for actually 45 years,” Herman tells WTAQ News.
Herman operates Sunk? Dive and Ice Service in Oshkosh. He plows snow off the ice, creating easier access for ice fishermen, and also helps retrieve vehicles that break through.
The combination of recent warmer weather and high winds from this week’s winter storm pushed what little ice covered Lake Winnebago onto the shorelines, leaving open water as far as the eye can see.
“Normally you don’t get these kinds of shoves in January. Normally the shoves come late in the year when the ice is breaking up, but what happens is we got that 50-degree weather and rain – and we only had 3 or 4 inches of ice on Lake Winnebago,” Herman says, “Once you get a nice 20mph wind, whichever way the wind is going, that’s where the ice is going.”
And wherever that ice ends up, it’s likely to stay for the foreseeable future. Residents who live on the lake often see their yards fill with fractured ice as the shoves come in.
“If you live on the lake and the ice breaks up with warm weather, it doesn’t matter when it happens – February, January, whenever – there’s nothing you can do. It’s Mother Nature,” Herman explains.
But Mother Nature tends to not get in the way of Herman helping fellow fishermen find safe access onto what ice they can find.
“When we plow on the lake and get an ice shove early, we have to go out with an end loader or a backhoe to open up the ice shoves to get back on the ice again,” Herman says.
Herman is close with fishing clubs on every bank of Lake Winnebago. They agree the warmer weather has been comfortable, but they need a good freeze to safely return to the ice.
“In order for us to get back on Lake Winnebago, before you can drive out or even walk out – we need a week of below zero weather. That’s how long it takes,” Herman says, “There are some years in the 45 years I’ve been doing it, we couldn’t even drive a truck out. And it’s happened before. Sometimes it freezes just enough for four-wheelers. You never know what the year is going to be. One year we had 34 inches of ice.”
During years with significant amounts of ice, the fishing clubs team up to plow over 90 miles worth of “roads” across the lake. But as Herman always says – remember, the ice is never 100% safe.
