Minnesota Ice Fishing Season Nears End, Deadline Looms for Fish House Removal

(KNSI) – The brief ice fishing season is coming to an end.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says the clock is ticking to get fish houses off the lake. The deadline for the southern two-thirds of the state is 11:59 p.m. on Monday, March 4th. Removal for the state’s northern third is at 11.59 p.m. on March 18th. The DNR urges people to monitor ice conditions and consider removing shelters earlier.

Officials remind anyone who still has a house on the ice to start planning for its removal. The DNR says many anglers with houses in the southern two-thirds of the state have already removed them from lakes due to poor ice conditions.

In some areas, lakes are almost open. Others are difficult to access due to ice pulling away from the shoreline, while it degrades rapidly on others.

If shelters aren’t removed by the deadline, they may be confiscated and removed or destroyed.

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

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