Photo by Jenny Kirk From left: Gregg Chapa and Nick Mortland try their luck ice fishing on Dead Coon Lake recently as area lakes begin freezing over.

MARSHALL — The extremely cold weather this week has kept a lot of people indoors where it’s nice and warm. But that’s not necessarily true for avid anglers in southwest Minnesota as more and more of them have been getting out onto the ice to fish.

Fortunately for them, the frigid temperatures have helped form solid layers of ice on the local lakes. But no matter how thick the ice gets, it is never 100 percent safe, which is why Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials put out annual safety reminders.

“We preach safety,” local conservation officer Matt Loftness said. “The biggest thing is staying off the ice until it’s plenty thick. The ice is never completely safe, so it helps to bring safety devices, like life jackets and ice picks.”

According to the DNR, the strength of the ice can’t be judged entirely by its appearance, age, thickness, temperature of whether or not it is covered with snow. The strength is based on all of those factors in addition to the depth of water under the ice, the size of the body of water, water chemistry and currents, the distributions of the load on the ice and the local climatic conditions.

“We suggest checking the ice thickness depth before going out,” Loftness said. “Some of these lakes might have moving water. You should also let your family know where you are going and what time they should expect you to return.”

The Minnesota DNR reports that 189 ice-related fatalities have occurred in the state from 1982 to 2017 — an average of 5.4 deaths per winter season. A total of 16 deaths occurred from the winter of 2013-14 to 2016-17, including two individuals who died on Lake Benton in 2015.

“You want to make your plan and try to get out to your spot before it gets dark,” Loftness said. “Don’t take that chance of finding that open hole. Don’t drive after dark if you can help it.”

The general guidelines reveal that 4 inches of new, clear ice is necessary for ice fishing or other activities on foot. About 5-7 inches is required for snowmobiles or ATVs to be on the ice. For a car or small pickup, there should be 8-12 inches of ice. Between 12 and 15 inches of new, clear ice is recommended before driving a medium-size truck onto the lake.

White ice or “snow ice” is only about half as strong as new, clear ice, the DNR reported. People should double the thickness guidelines when traveling on white ice.

“It’s important to be safe, for sure,” Balaton native Corey Warner said. “I’ve got a 4-wheeler that I use (to take the fish house onto the frozen lake).”

Warner said he’s had the opportunity to go out fishing several times so far this year. He added that he enjoys getting outdoors and that he also likes the thrill when he lands a big fish.

“Tis the season to fish,” he said. “I put in field tile, so I’m done working for the year. A lot of farmers and seasonally-employed people get into fishing quite a bit.”

Warner noted that the fishing had been “going OK” so far.

“I’ve been here at Balaton and at Lake Shetek,” he said. “Shetek was really hot. On Wednesday, there were like 30 houses. Now there’s about 200 houses. They’re getting walleyes.”

Warner said he heard that people are catching some small walleyes on Lake Yankton in Balaton, too.

“I figured I’d just as well stay local if it’s going to be this cold,” Warner said. “It sounds like a lot of people from Balaton are going to come down here (Friday) and camp out.”

Jared Hively planned to take his 3-year-old son, Connor, fishing Friday afternoon on Lake Yankton.

“He’s been bugging me to go,” Hively said. “I told him today I’d pick him up early from daycare and we’d go. We’ll be heading out this afternoon after I get done moving snow. It’s just nice to get out of the house and do something.”

Hively said he had been fishing a week prior on Round Lake, but that he’d heard anglers were catching some nice fish at two area lakes.

“Shetek’s been hot and Sarah’s been hot,” he said. “Walleyes. And perch, too, on Sarah.”

While most people have opted to walk or drive ATVs out onto the ice, Hively was one of two brave souls to drive a vehicle on the lake Friday in Balaton.

“It’s pretty scary,” Hively said. “I’m not the first one to do it, but I did drive out there, too. I’m the second one. There’s about 12 inches where I’m at.”

Across the road from Lake Yankton, Benson’s By the Lake convenience store has had increasing number of anglers stopping in for bait.

“It started about two weeks ago and it’s been steady since,” Benson’s employee Kathy Loftus said. “There have been a lot of people fishing out here and also at Lake Sarah. I heard they’re catching small crappies and walleyes.”

Loftus said Benson’s sells a variety of fishing equipment and bait, including fat heads, chubs, minnows and wax worms.

“We sell a lot of bait in the morning, though I don’t always know where they’re headed. It’s been really steady (Friday) morning. I think people are stocking up well (for the long weekend).”

Nick Mortland of Arco and his son-in-law Gregg Chapa of Marshall were among those fishing on Dead Coon Lake on Thursday.

“We haven’t even seen anything swim through yet,” Mortland said. “It could be because of the cold or that we’re just in the wrong spot. It might be later in the evenings, too, when they start to bite.”

Both Mortland and Chapa are avid ice fishermen.

“I just like sitting out here in the nice warmth (of the fish house),” Chapa said. “And if you’re lucky, you catch fish.”

Mortland said they try to get out fishing as much as they can.

“I’m supposed to be retired,” he said. “I don’t get to retire completely, so I guess I’m semi-retired. But this is something fun to do in the wintertime.”

Chapa said he was fishing over by the inlet on Dead Coon on Wednesday.

“The ice was 10 inches thick over there on the west side,” he said. “It’s 12 inches thick here. The ice is just starting to be thick enough so that people can drive out.”

The pair wasn’t taking any chances, though, as they choose to walk out onto the lake and set up a portable fish house.

“The ice can vary yet,” Mortland said. “About a week ago, it was still open out in the middle here. So it hasn’t been that long that it’s been frozen over. I don’t think anybody would want to drive on the lake yet. You definitely have to be a little leery driving on the lakes yet.”

Five people have died after falling through the ice on Minnesota lakes so far this season. Since 2007, an average of three people have died on the ice every year.

“I heard one went through the ice again just recently,” Chapa said.

Not only is the loss of life tough, there’s financial consequences that occur.

“I think it’s around $3,000, depending on where you’re at and what they have to do,” Chapa said. “I was told that your insurance company will take care of it one time. After that, if you do it again, you’re out of luck. And the worst part is that there’s nobody around here that does it (remove a submerged vehicle from a lake), at least not that I know of.”

Chapa added that a lot of the time, divers are required.

“They’ll put a rig up around the vehicle and raise it up,” he said. “It could possibly be more than $3,000. I don’t really want to find out what the price is.”

While Chapa and Mortland were striking out so far — they hadn’t been fishing too long yet — two 17-year-olds from the Luverne area were having fun reeling in perch after perch about 300 yards away.

“I go ice fishing quite a bit,” Nathan Wallenberg said. “The fish have been biting here pretty good. We just landed a couple of big perch, so it’s been good.”

Aleck Schoeneman said he liked fishing on Dead Coon.

“You can see straight to the bottom,” he said. “You can see them come in, so it’s pretty fun. We’ve gotten some pretty nice perch. And every once in awhile, you’ll get a walleye.”

The teenagers were using a jig and a minnow.

“They seem to like orange the best,” Schoeneman said. “The limit is 20 a person per day for perch. We’ve caught a lot here now, so we’ve just been throwing them back.”

The largest perch they caught was 13.5 inches long and weighed 1.5 pounds.

“There are certain points in the day where it really picks up,” Wallenberg said. “It gets slow in the morning. At noon, it tends to pick up a little bit. Then it slows down till about mid-afternoon. But it just all depends.”

Schoeneman said early evenings are usually fairly productive.

“Just at sunset, the perch will start,” he said. “Once it gets dark, the walleyes usually pick up a little bit.”

Schoeneman said he was out on the ice on Saturday and that the thickness had nearly doubled.

“It was around 7 ½ inches thick on Saturday and (Thursday), it’s 12 inches, so it’s frozen quite a bit now,” he said. “Another inch or two and you should start seeing people driving out here.”

While still fairly young, the friends have been fishing for a lot of years already, and both are very safety conscious.

“I was a little surprised the ice was 12 inches thick,” Wallenberg said. “With the weather we’ve been having, that’s pretty good. I don’t come out on the ice unless it’s four inches because the ice is kind of unpredictable, especially with the aerators out here.”

When asked where they learned about ice safety, Schoeneman said, “We’ve had a lot of people tell us to be careful.”

With the deep freeze continuing for the next few days, Loftness anticipates people starting to drive on the area lakes. He cautions people to be prepared and knowledgeable.

“With what’s going to transpire with the weather, I would assume guys will turn it loose and start driving out there,” Loftness said. “But just remember: safety, safety, safety. It’s going to be so cold this weekend. The temperature is going to be negative 13 or worse. If someone puts a vehicle through the ice, frostbite and hypothermia would set in pretty quickly.”

Because of the aerators, the Marshall Police Department is asking that no one be on the pond at Independence Park.