OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – As the temperatures start to drop, ice on area lakes continues to form.
Experts on Lake Winnebago report ice thickness to be eight to ten inches across the lake.
About a quarter mile off the western shoreline of Lake Winnebago, a solitary ice fisherman tried his luck Tuesday morning in Oshkosh.
Don Herman, of Sunk? Dive & Ice Service, spoke to WLUK after checking the conditions on the lake Tuesday morning.
“Right here along the shore, we got about 12 inches”
Herman says the season is off to a good start.
“I was pleasantly surprised. When I went out yesterday, that there was eight inches and we actually found some places where it was 12 inches”
Ice experts say recent warm temperatures and even that rain around Christmas actually helped, by melting areas of snow that insulated the ice.
“It’s going to freeze real quick. If we don’t have any snow on the lake, we can gain almost an inch and a half, to two inches a night, if it stays around zero for a 24-hour period”
Herman says fishing clubs report no areas of open water in the middle parts of the lake.
The Otter Street Fishing Club in Oshkosh, installed two bridges capable of carrying ATVs on the ice Tuesday afternoon.
As always, law enforcement, and ice experts warn that no ice is ever 100 percent safe.
