Fish houses must be off lakes by Monday

MADISON LAKE — On the eastern bay of Madison Lake, conservation officer Jamie VanThuyne rides his ATV through a scattering of fish houses, stops to pick up trash, takes a look at a couple of walleye carcasses that had been filleted with the remainders left on the ice, and then chisels a hole through a recent fish hole to check ice depth.

"I measured 27 inches, so it's as good as you can ask for," the Department of Natural Resources officer said.

While the ice is more than thick enough to hold fish houses and vehicles, VanThuyne was on the ice with some media tagging along to remind area anglers that they only have a few days to remove fish houses from area lakes or face a citation.

All fish houses must be off lakes by the end of the day Monday. (For structures on lakes in the northern third of the state, the deadline is by the end of the day March 19.)

And VanThuyne warns anglers not to do what a few do each year. "You can't leave (a fish house) at the public access. You have to take it home." Fish houses left at an access can also draw a citation.

DNR ice houses 3 — Department of Natural Resources conservation officer Jamie VanThunye stops at an ice fishing house while checking houses on Madison Lake Thursday. All fish houses must be off lakes by the end of the day Monday. Photo by Pat Christman
The Free Press

If shelters are not removed by the deadline, owners will be cited and structures may be confiscated and removed or destroyed by a conservation officer.

But the annual removal date doesn't mean the end of ice fishing. And people can still bring a fish shelter on the lake between midnight and one hour before sunrise while they're occupied or attended.

VanThuyne said usually only a handful of houses aren't removed by the deadline. "Most people are pretty responsible but there's always a few."

It's a little more common for him and other officers to find debris left behind when houses are removed, a violation that can also draw a fine.

"Remove anything you brought out."

Even the two walleye carcasses he ran across Thursday are technically a violation. He said he often sees cleaned fish carcasses or bullhead or other rough fish left on the ice by anglers, something considered "wanton waste" under the law. "If you're not going to take them home, you need to throw them back in the water."

Because of the cold winter and a good layer of snow on the ice, a lot more houses remain on area lakes this year than in recent Marches when spring came early and melting ice had anglers pulling houses off even before the deadline.

VanThuyne routinely patrols several area lakes throughout the winter, checking licenses, the number of fish caught and making sure people have no more than two lines each in the water. On a weekend he said he will often check 75 to 100 fish houses. He said that tally could probably be increased, except people who invite him in their fish house often end up chatting about where the fish are biting or asking him about DNR regulations.

The fish house removal dates change a bit each year so that they fall on a Monday, giving anglers a weekend before the deadline to get them off the ice.

The two different zones in the state for the differing removal dates are determined by an east-west line formed by U.S. Highway 10, east along Highway 34 to Minnesota Highway 200, east along Highway 200 to U.S. Highway 2, and east along Highway 2 to the Minnesota-Wisconsin border.

Exceptions to the removal deadlines are Minnesota-Canada border waters (March 31), Minnesota-South Dakota and North Dakota border waters (March 5), Minnesota-Wisconsin border waters (March 1) and Minnesota-Iowa border waters (Feb. 20).

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