Winter on the hard water
Shanty villages, pop-up shelters and walleye under the ice. Where to go, how a trip works, what to bring and how to stay safe out there.
Photo: public domain (U.S. government work)
Official sources for real-time information. Conditions change daily; these pages are the authority, not this guide.
How Michigan ice fishing works: shanty villages, pop-ups and permanent shanties, driving out, the fish you catch through the ice, where people go from Saginaw Bay to the Bays de Noc, the season, Tip-Up Town and the rules.
The ice fishing shelters people use, from flip-overs and hub tents to wheelhouses and permanent shanties, plus heating, generators, carbon monoxide detectors, sleeping on the ice, wind, renting versus owning, and shanty rules.
Ice safety for anglers: official thickness guidelines and their limits, how to check ice, cracks, pressure ridges and current, Great Lakes bays and drifting ice floes, vehicles and snowmobiles, self-rescue gear and cold water.
How a Minnesota ice fishing trip works: day houses and sleeper houses, resort ice roads and plowed access, Mille Lacs, Lake of the Woods, Leech, Upper Red and the Brainerd lakes, the Brainerd Jaycees Extravaganza, shelter licenses and ice safety.
How ice fishing works on western Lake Erie: why some winters have fishable ice and others none, access from Catawba, Port Clinton and the islands, licensed ice guides and shanties, walleye and perch tactics, and the wind and ice-floe risks to respect.
Printable checklist
A printable ice fishing checklist: safety gear, shelter and heat, drilling and fishing gear, clothing, licenses and shanty rules, food and comfort, and what to pack out when you leave the ice.
Destinations in this guide with ice fishing. Each page covers species, access and when the ice usually allows it. Ice is never guaranteed: check local conditions every day.
Central and northern Minnesota's lake country, from the Brainerd Lakes to Mille Lacs and Leech Lake, built on walleye, pike, muskie, bass and panfish, the mid-May opener, family resorts with boat packages, and winter fish-house villages.
The northwest Lower Peninsula pairs Lake Michigan charter ports like Ludington, Manistee, Frankfort and Grand Traverse Bay with salmon and steelhead rivers, inland lakes for bass, walleye and pike, and trout streams such as the Au Sable.
Houghton Lake, Michigan's largest inland lake at more than 20,000 acres, is a drive-in ice fishing base for walleye, pike and panfish, home of the January Tip-Up Town USA festival, and a summer lake for walleye, bass and bluegill with public launches and beaches.
Ohio's western Lake Erie, from Port Clinton and Marblehead to the Bass Islands, Kelleys Island and Sandusky: spring walleye on the reefs and the Maumee and Sandusky river runs, yellow perch, island smallmouth, a large charter fleet and ferry-hop family trips.
Lake Michigan's two northern bays around Escanaba, Gladstone, Rapid River and the Garden Peninsula in Michigan's Upper Peninsula: walleye and perch through the ice in winter, then open-water walleye, smallmouth bass, pike and summer salmon.
Ludington pairs a Lake Michigan charter port with the mouth of the Pere Marquette River, a harbor lake that fills with Chinook in late summer, Hamlin Lake for walleye and panfish, and Ludington State Park for the family.
Manistee pairs Lake Michigan trolling and pier fishing with the Big Manistee River below Tippy Dam, the Little Manistee weir, Manistee Lake at the harbor's back door, and Portage and Bear lakes up the shore.
Plan a fly-in or drive-to fishing trip in Northwestern Ontario's Sunset Country: lodges vs outposts, walleye, pike, muskie, lake trout and bass, floatplane weight limits, the border, licences and what drives the cost.
Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay is Michigan's big walleye bay: jigging through the ice from about January, a spring river and nearshore bite, summer trolling across the bay, and yellow perch from Linwood and Bay City to Sebewaing and Caseville.
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