(Arnolds Park)– There are now ice fishermen on Smith’s Bay of West Lake Okoboji…where just days ago, the Queen Two was embarking on her maiden Christmas Eve voyage.
The colder weather the past several days has been enough to lock up all of the Iowa Great Lakes with the exception of the main part of West Lake Okoboji.
The still-thin ice is causing concern among authorities. Gary Owen of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources urges anyone thinking about going out onto the ice to use extreme caution. Owen says it takes two inches of ice to walk safely on it; six inches to drive a snowmobile and a foot to drive an automobile.
And a reminder that even in the coldest of weather, ice is never safe under bridges and points…where seams develop.
