Ice Fishing 2026

[Nauti]

Fished 2/1 out of Port Clinton beach about 3 mile NNW of the Portage in the area around G-Can. Ice was an impressive 10-11in thick. Caught 7 keeper walleye and missed several that we rolled or lost. All were solid 18-22in fish. Lots of company in the area. So nice to be able to fish the big water through the ice! Tight lines all!

[West Basin]

Report a few days ago from buddy on South Bass Is said ice was 8-10 inches. Which means by today (Tuesday, Feb 03) it is probably a few inches thicker, more like 10-12 or more. A few days of little or "neutral' ice growth, then we hit the figid temps again for the weekend.

Heard Catawba State Park had to shut down parking last weekend due to overcrowding.

Ice crack opened up off Turtle Creek a few days ago. Haven't heard if it blew back or iced over.

Catch rates seem to be hit or miss. Yes, most people that did well didn't post anything. 0-4 walleye seems to be the overall success, but location is hard to come by. Lot of area out there now to fish, and the fish move around, so pick a spot, check it with your fish finder (if you have one), / fish it for awhile, and if no luck - move!

As always - be darn careful! Stay away from anyplace that looks "iffy" and stay on the traveled paths.

[stampman]

just came off South bass, 12 to 14 in ice. fishing very spotty at best where we were > talk to others not good but some people get tight lip like I'm going to come and get their . personally I like more people around ( Not 15 ft near) me as the more baits making noise is a good attacker and keeping them near.

[stampman]

As a person who believes in equality I have my wife walk ahead of me on the ice.

[West Basin]

A LOT of people out on the ice over the weekend. From Metzger Marsh / Crane Creek all the way around and up to / out to the Islands. Ice is from 15 - 20+ inches. Fishing success has been spotty, with most folks only managing a few walleye and a few yellow perch. Those that found a good spot have got close to or a limit of walleye, including some "hogs", along with some nice size yellow perch. It's generally taken 5-7 hours to get that kind of result. Temperatures overall are forecast to remain cold through the coming weekend, but not the frigid teens and single digits we've seen now for three weeks. So the ice fishing should remain solid (pun intended) through the weekend. After that, current forecast has warm then cold spells the rest of the month. So the ice fishing looks to continue through the rest of the month, and maybe into March. We'll see.

[West Basin]

Long term forecast changed to warmer. Current forecast through end of month / early March doesn't have any more real cold spells. Instead a lot of daily highs in the 40's and even a few in the low 50's. A few cold nights and days in the low 30's, but overall it looks like from this point forward the ice will slowly deteriorate. If the forecast holds, I would think ice fishing will enter the "be very cautious" stage by next weekend, but should continue for some time. Ice is very thick, so we'll have to go week-to-week. As far as the open water season, it might arrive earlier with this forecast, but once again it's not a matter of open launch ramps and getting out to the Lake. It's much more a matter of Lake ice. If the Lake still has a lot of ice on it, moving around, you don't want to be out there in those dangerous conditions.

[West Basin]

Ice fishing off South Bass Island overall has been slow up through Monday. Few limit catches. Mostly 1-3 fish and some yellow perch and white bass. The ice remains thick, 12-22 inches. Surface has gotten slushy with pooling snow melt water. Fishing should improve as more pre-spawn fish venture into the Western Basin. We'll see how the high winds over the next few days effect the ice. Temperatures cool down this weekend into next week, but cold weather isn't forecast until March. Ice is thick enough to last for quite some time, but the fishing will depend on whether or not the ice remains locked in and the wind doesn't create movement that breaks up sections and causes large cracks. No information om ice fishing off the mainland, other than one report of a few limit catches in the South Passage back last weekend.

[tater140]

I did real well off out of Camp Perry last weekend. Ice was around 12" thick I would guess. The last day we fished was Sunday... I suspect the ice is close to being a no go by now... but I haven't seen it since Sunday. My dad is fishing off of South Bass the last couple of days and it has been very slow for them.