(Spirit Lake)– 2024 will be one for the record books when it comes to ice-out on the Iowa Great Lakes. With the exception of a small amount of ice still on West Lake Okoboji as of today (Tues.), Mike Hawkins, a fisheries biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the lowa Great Lakes are free of ice…
“East Okoboji was called on March 2nd and then Big Spirit on March 3rd to be ice-free. Those both set records, Steve. Those are the earliest ice-out records that we have for those lakes and the East Okoboji West Okoboji data goes back to 1916. Not only did we set an ice-off record, this is by far the shortest ice duration that we have recorded on the lakes. I think we’re in that 55 to 58 day range, depending on which lake you look at. That’s almost 20 days shorter than the next shortest winter on record.”
Hawkins says that’s extremely impressive on it’s own…
“We have some records back in the ’40’s and ’50’s and earlier of some 120 to 150 day ice covered lakes, so, you know, definitely a big change and we’ve been sitting records here lately. In fact 2018 was the latest ice-off record, so we were on the other end of the spectrum in 2018 and that’s something folks remember the ice went off the lakes finally on April 29th, which was almost getting up to walleye opener there, first weekend in May.”
Hawkins says even though the ice is now out, the DNR is going to hold off on most of their gillnetting operations due to biological factors…
“We will probably hold off on our netting until kind of that normal photo period, that normal period for walleyes. Northern pike will probably be moved up a little bit to capture some of those brood stock northern pike, which is the earliest to spawn, followed by walleye then muskie. We will likely be holding off until the of March, early April, when the prime time comes for those fish.”
Hawkins says they’ll be closely monitoring things and will provide any updates as they become available.
