Ice Fishing

Fishin' Line

When it comes to ice fishing, Great Parks of Hamilton County is always concerned about safety. Park Rangers are trained how to measure ice and are given specific guidelines to follow.

Safe ice involves more than just thickness. Ice clarity is directly linked to safety. Rangers look for things like clear ice, cloudy ice, white ice and cracks that have allowed water to come over the ice and then freeze. These are all factors that are taken into consideration before allowing fishermen on the ice.

In simple terms, we need four inches of clear ice in order to allow ice fishing. If the ice is cloudy, then we need and additional two inches. Additionally, there are some conditions that require ice that is even thicker than six inches.

This probably seems a little extreme to many experienced ice fishermen. The important thing to keep in mind is that we want the ice to be safe before anyone ventures out over deep water. And if you consider how much cold weather we need to achieve that much ice…let’s hope we don’t get there! Spring openings can’t get here quick enough in my opinion!

Neal Ramsey, District Recreation Manager