Warm Winter Is Casting a Chill on Ice Fishing

These fish houses, which have grown ever more elaborate with features like televisions and ovens, are hauled onto the ice every year. But this year there are fewer of them. Ice-fishing tours and sales of bait and the special short rods used for fishing inside shelters have slipped as well, merchants around the lake say.

If the nation’s unusually warm winter has left most people pleasantly puzzled, it has meant a gloomy slowdown in the world of ice fishing, a beloved long-held tradition in states like this.

In Michigan and Montana, ice-fishing classes have been called off over worries of unstable ice. Ice-fishing contests have been canceled in Iowa and Maine. Worse, in parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota, the authorities have reported cars and people falling through tenuous ice at miserable rates.

After six vehicles slipped under the ice here in a matter of seven days this winter, the Hennepin County sheriff banned cars, trucks and S.U.V’s from driving on any county lake, including Lake Minnetonka, until further notice. Snowmobiles, A.T.V.’s — and people on foot — are still allowed.

No one died in those episodes. But the sheriff, Rich Stanek, said the risks — including those to his deputies, who were spending much of their time speeding across the lake in airboats to rescue people — were too high, leaving some fishermen grumbling that they had no way to get to the fish houses they had set up far from shore.

“We’re losing cars literally left and right,” Sheriff Stanek said. “I’m not here to cancel winter in Minnesota. That’s happening all by itself.”

In the contiguous United States, temperatures were warmer than usual — 3.8 degrees above the average — in December and January. Much of the warmth, climate scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say, has been centered in the Northeast and the Midwest. And to the delight of some Minnesotans, this state had its warmest December and January since officials began keeping records in 1896: more than 10 degrees higher than the average, which is about 11 degrees.

But, said Bill Townsend, surveying the baitfish — shiners, crappies, suckers and fatheads — swimming in tanks at his gas station here, “it’s really been a terrible year.” Sales of ice-fishing supplies are down by half, he said. The weather is also limiting Mr. Townsend’s opportunities to fish from his own ice house — a shelter he bought for $11,000, complete with wood paneling, a double bed and even a bathroom.

Ice fishing is nothing new in places like this. Nearly everyone who grew up near one of Minnesota’s many lakes, it seems, has a childhood story of heading off with an older relative and sitting on a bucket for hours in the chill beside a hole drilled into the ice. Simple, portable fishing tents (and plain old buckets) still exist. But for some, the sport has grown up.

“You pull up to your ice house in a truck and you don’t even need a coat anymore,” said Kurt Erickson, a fishing guide who said requests for ice-fishing trips had fallen significantly this year. “You start your fishing, then you spend a lot of time playing cards, making pizza, whatever. It’s really very comfortable.” Among the advances: a device that sets off a pager if a line under the ice seems to have a bite.

There have always been mishaps, even in the coldest years. At the start of every season, some here said, there is a rush to lay claim to the best spots for fish houses on Lake Minnetonka, and with that comes the risk of being among the first to test the strength and depth of the ice.

“You always get a bad feeling when you drive out that first time,” said Mr. Erickson, who acknowledged that he leaves his windows down and seat belt off for the first drive out, just in case.

But the number of mishaps this year has been notable. Earlier this month, in De Pere, Wis., eight fishermen found themselves stranded on a 100-foot-long piece of ice that had broken off in high winds and floated into the Fox River near Green Bay. Firefighters in a rubber boat weaved in and out of ice chunks to rescue them.

The mere prospect of accidents has resulted in the cancellation of all sorts of fishing competitions, derbies and demonstrations. Montana officials suspended a Hooked on Fishing program for students in Havre when they discovered poor ice conditions, even as the lesson was under way. And in Council Bluffs, Iowa, officials called off the annual Winterfest Ice Fishing Derby, with up to $50,000 in prizes for the most impressive bluegill, catfish, walleye, wiper or drum.

“There just wasn’t enough ice,” said Shannon Meister, a spokeswoman for Winterfest, who said parts of Lake Manawa revealed not just dubious ice, but open water. “In past years, it’s been debatable, but this year it was no question.”

But here along Lake Minnetonka, some longtime fishermen questioned the need for bans and additional rules. Some blamed earlier accidents on inexperienced ice fishermen who chose poor routes or failed to recognize warning signs.

And some said they had no intention of missing out on remaining fishing days and worried aloud that climate change or the causes of this season’s warmth — a jet stream that sat farther north than usual and a relatively small snow cover — might somehow signal the beginning of the end of a sport that has spanned generations.

On a recent afternoon, Boyd Amsler headed down an embankment at Lake Minnetonka to walk out on the ice to his fishing spot. He wore three long-sleeved shirts, a sweatshirt and pajamas under his pants. “It’s warm today,” Mr. Amsler said, venturing onto the ice in pull-on cleats. “And there are some big fish in this lake.”

Steven Yaccino contributed reporting from Chicago.

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