OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — As the third week of December arrives, the biggest lake in the state is showing signs of freezing.
Lake Winnebago covers almost 132,000 acres.
At a place known as Asylum Bay, anglers test their luck on and below the area of fresh ice. It’s the third time Wayne Wesner has been out this season.
“Oh, so I don’t have to do housework. I don’t know. I’m bored, so I thought I’d come out and try it a little bit,” said Wayne Wesner, Oshkosh.
But not far from Asylum Bay, conditions change. Water was moving Tuesday morning in Oshkosh where the Fox River flows into Lake Winnebago.
And it’s a similar story at the Merritt Avenue landing, where ice is only forming very close to the shoreline, and open water isn’t very far away.
“It’s still a little bit sketchy. You got two to four inches on most of the areas the guys are fishing,” said Cory Van Vonderen, Fish Tales Bait Shop Owner.
Van Vonderen says Lake Winnebago started to freeze in the Oshkosh area about a week ago. He says conditions can change by the day and the hour.
“Any time we got wind out here. It moves the ice from one side to the other. It just moves it around a lot. So it makes it difficult to judge, until it’s completely frozen,” said Van Vonderen.
Van Vonderen says it could take weeks for that to happen. Meanwhile, panfish are biting.
“Good. I had a couple here, and nothing back there. But it’s just an average day,” said Wesner.
Experts say it’s still very early in the season, and no ice is ever considered to be 100 percent safe.
They say it’s a good idea to check with those at area bait shops before heading out.
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