Time to take houses off the ice

By Bill Bartusek

Now that the big game fishing has ended, ice houses will have to come off the ice by March 1. This regulation applies to all houses in the southern two-thirds of the state. North of that line they can remain on the ice until March 16. Look up the exact line in the fishing regulation book.

You can still use your ice house during daytime, but you must remove the house each day before midnight. For those of you who still want to pursue walleyes, you can head to border waters like the Mississippi River when the season is still open. Another option is to head for Lake of the Woods. Some of the best walleye fishing happens there from now until ice out. For the rest of us, fishing through the ice will be strictly panfish. Lucky for us some of the best panfishing through the ice takes place in March and April. The weather is also a lot milder and this makes for some great ice fishing action.

Congratulations to the New Prague Sportsmen Club on another successful Kids Fishing Clinic. It was my honor again to emcee the show. The kids learned about fishing regulations, knot tying, rod building and cleaning fish. They also had a great casting contest with great prizes for the winners.

After the show everyone received a grab bag full of goodies and a tasty lunch. Eugene Palma did a great job in organizing the event. Billy Bartusek garnered many sponsors that donated some awesome prizes for the kids. Both are to be congratulated for their hard work.

All I can say is if you didn't have fun you weren't there.