Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - As temperatures have hemmed and hawed the last few days, ice fishers are trying to make one last venture before the season comes to an end. However, the Erie County Sheriff's Office is warning those who do that they may literally be on thin ice.
Erie County Sheriff's Lt. Jeremy Lehning says with temperatures in flux, you're getting a pretty steady thaw.
"Then you're getting days where you're going to get a very, very slight refreeze, which is going to cause people to gain confidence and think that it's OK to go out there when, in fact, it's really not," said Lehning in an interview with WBEN.
Once you see the ice starting to recede from the shoreline, that's when Lehning says the ice is at its most vulnerable, because you'll deal with various depths of ice thickness. Once the ice breaks away from the shoreline, you're not as safe.
Luckily, Lehning says there have been no rescue calls this season.
"We're an underwater recovery team, so we'll be coming in, unfortunately, after the fact, to recover things from, say, a river or a lake, wherever somebody would potentially be ice fishing," Lehinng said.
He says more often, it's snowmobilers that end up fall through the ice.
"People think that they can open the slot up, and get across the ice. Unfortunately, the ice gives way and the flood goes in the water. So that would be a typical response scenario for us, would be coming in after the fact and doing a recovery," Lehning explained.
Lehining recommends ice fishers to wait until next year's freeze to return to the ice.