Ice Shelter Removal Deadline for St. Cloud Area is Monday

(KNSI) – It’s the last weekend for ice fishing houses to be left on the lake overnight in the southern two-thirds of Minnesota, including the St. Cloud area. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. on Monday. After that time, Minnesota DNR Conservation Officer Lt. Mike Martin says ice shack owners will pay a fine.

“The fine itself is $50. And the court cost and law library fee are $87. So, that’s a fine of $137 a day.”

He says the good news is the ice around the St. Cloud area is thick, and there’s little snow on the lakes, meaning it should be pretty easy for anglers to get their shacks off the lake. Martin says after your fish house is off the ice, it’s important to clean up the area.

“So what I tell people is if you brought it out on the lake with you, you need to take it back off the lake with you. Everything is litter. If it’s not naturally occurring from the lake, it’s litter.”

He says the fine for littering is $100. Martin says if there is a mess left behind where your ice house was, or you don’t get it off the lake, the DNR will find you.

“For the last month or so, my officers in this area have been out on the area lakes, and we call it marking fish houses. We use our cell phones and their GPS capabilities to take pictures of each house, the licenses on the house, and mark where that house is.”

He says that will allow them to find the owner if there is a mess behind or the ice house isn’t removed. He says the DNR needs to remove three or four ice houses from area lakes every year.

After the removal date, shelters can remain on the ice between midnight and one hour before sunrise when being fished in. Anglers aren’t allowed to store or leave shelters at a public lake access.

In the northern one-third of the state (north of the 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), the deadline is by 11:59 p.m. Monday, March 21.

Ice is never 100 percent safe. Outdoor enthusiasts should wear buoyant gear, ice picks, and use an auger or ice chisel to test the ice as they venture onto a frozen pond, lake or river.

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