A line of trees mark a road on Lake Winnebago. PC: Fox 11 Online
LAKE WINNEBAGO (WTAQ-WLUK) – Monday brought three to five inches of snow to Marinette, Oconto and parts of Brown County. Southern counties, including those around Lake Winnebago were spared.
But, as sturgeon spearing opens in just five days, the lake of snow is both good and bad.
Ice on places like Lake Winnebago is never 100% safe and this past weekend is an example of that.
“We had one unfortunate incident that resulted in a fatality. But, we actually had, that we’re aware of and were called to, five different total vehicles that went through the ice just this weekend between Saturday and Sunday,” said Fond du Lac County Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt.
Crews from Sunk? Dive and Ice Service were busy Monday pulling some of those vehicles from the water, in what’s been familiar scene this winter season. “We’re actually very busy this year. We’ve been going every day,” said owner Don Herman.
A cold snap a couple of weeks ago was good for ice making, but last week’s warmup took a toll on some of the ice, creating cracks and sink holes.
According to Herman, “We had some cracks and lack of snow and the sun and the temperature change and it changes. And, a crack opened up and that’s what they’re hitting.”
But it’s not all bad news, according to Jim Nobbe with Payne’s Point Hook & Spear Fishing Club. He said, “From my point of view, considering the last few years, they’re really good. The water clarity isn’t that good, this and that. And there’s a lot of working cracks because we don’t have snow cover to calm the lake down with drastic temperature changes, but ice-wise, on the north half of the lake there’s 16 to 19 inches of ice.”
A little bit of snow on the lake would have helped with water clarity, as well as, helping anglers and spearers navigate their way around the lake.
Nobbe added, “The snow would be nice, in terms of fishing club aspect, so we could help corral the sheep as I call it, you can control where everybody goes then when you plow. They don’t normally venture far off roads then.”
While fishing clubs say having some snow on the ice would be nice, getting it now could make things even more dangerous based on some of the conditions out on Lake Winnebago.
“These sink holes that I’ve been talking about only have an inch or two inches of ice on them so that will hide them for these people that are going out spearing,” said Nobbe,
That’s why anyone who heads out onto the lake needs to do their homework, know what conditions are in the area you’re traveling or check in with the local fishing clubs for the latest ice updates.
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