At long last, ice fishing occurring across most of Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh — The deep freeze of recent weeks had ice anglers across Pennsylvania dusting off the tip-ups, augers, and other gear they hadn’t used in at least two years.

And with more frosty weather in the forecast, hardwater action may have been just heating up.

“It’s shaping up to be a pretty good season,” Tackle Shack’s Mike Haraschak reported Jan. 17, when Tioga County lakes offered plenty of fishable ice. “People haven’t been able to ice fish much the past couple of winters, so everyone has the itch to go out.”

Fishing huts dotted Beechwood and Hills Creek lakes, where ice measured 7-12 inches, and anglers were catching crappies, perch, and chain pickerel, Haraschak said. Hills Creek also was yielding bass, and trout were biting at Beechwood.

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At Hamilton Lake, another regional hot spot, big numbers of bluegills were being iced, along with perch and the occasional trout.

Bait sales were brisk at the Wellsboro shop, and with 50% off the price of ice jackets and bibs, stock had almost sold out, Haraschak said. “We’re doing okay sales-wise.”

Enthusiasm also was high in Pike County, according to Pike County Outfitters’ Ted Metzger.

“We haven’t had ice for a couple of years, so there’s certainly a lot of interest now.”

Anglers were just getting onto Lake Wallenpaupack Jan. 17, with one fisherman landing a “really nice walleye,” Metzger said, further noting that Promised Land Lake was producing bluegills and bass, while Shohola Lake was yielding chain pickerel.

Metzger hadn’t ordered ice fishing equipment because he’s been sitting on inventory, and anglers were pulling their own gear out of storage, he said, “but we’ve been selling a lot of live bait.”

In western Pennsylvania, anglers were pulling walleyes through the ice on the south end of Pymatuning Reservoir, and panfish and trout at smaller lakes such as Glade Mills, North Park, and Northmoreland, according to Allegheny Angler near Pittsburgh.

It has been a colder than usual winter across the state, according to Matt Benz, an AccuWeather senior meteorologist and Minnesota-bred ice fisherman.

Most areas east of the Allegheny Mountains, including State College, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Scranton and Philadelphia, were running three to four degrees below average, he said.

Areas west of the Alleghenies, such as Johnstown and Pittsburgh, have been even chillier, with temperatures about seven to nine degrees below average.

The mercury was forecast to plunge even further the week of Jan. 19, and to trend below-average through the end of the month, which would continue to promote ice growth on area lakes, Benz said.

“So what ice we make now may just stick around longer than we would typically expect unless we see a significant amount of rain.”

Snow, too, can have a negative impact on frozen surfaces because its insulating properties can slow ice growth, Benz said. “In general, with temperatures around zero at night, you can produce up to an inch of ice … so long as you have little to no snow on the surface of the lake.”

Jerry Van Tassel at Timberland Bait in Crawford County is hoping ice stays thick enough for his Feb. 22 fishing tournament, an annual event that mild weather has forced him to cancel some years.

“Last year we had just two days of ice fishing,” he said, “and the year before we may have had a week or a week and a half of ice.”

Canadohta, a natural lake where the tournament will be held, had at least 4 inches of ice as of Jan. 17, and was yielding muskies up to 39 inches, Van Tassel said.

Conditions at neighboring Conneaut, a larger natural lake, were “iffy,” he said, “because there’s too much snow on top of the ice.”

Some lakes in the southeastern part of the state were a little slower to harden.

Blue Marsh and Marsh Creek weren’t quite thick enough as of Jan. 18, according to Mike Acord of Susquehanna Fishing Tackle in Lancaster County.

“Smaller bodies of water freeze up quicker, and the bigger reservoirs take more time,” said Acord, who was getting good reports from Muddy Run and Middletown reservoirs. “And they’re knocking the heck out of trout at Stoever’s Dam.”

Acord was stocking up on extra waxworms, mealworms, fathead minnows and the like to meet customer demand, which came as a nice surprise.

“I wasn’t thinking about it and then it got cold and guys were talking about ice and calling us about bait,” he said. “It’s the first time in I don’t know how many years that we are getting ice.”

At Lake Marburg in Lancaster County conditions looked promising but not quite ready for anglers Jan. 17, according to B and B Lures’ Nathan Brady.

“I was out scouting this morning, and it didn’t look quite safe,” he said. “The ice is forming and shaping up pretty good, but there’s nobody on it.”

Customers were heading to other parts of the state and to Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland, where ice fishing action was well underway, he said.

No matter where folks are ice fishing, meteorologist Benz offers the following note of caution.

“Remember that no ice is safe ice and even with the cold, folks should stay aware of their surroundings. Any water movement from streams, rivers and springs can lead to thin spots in the ice that aren’t easily identifiable. Being from Minnesota, I always carry a spud bar with me on the ice to test out ice thickness as I walk out to my favorite fishing spots.”

For more on ice fishing, including safety tips, visit wwwfishandboat.com.