Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Local ice fishermen are enjoying one the best seasons of ice fishing Western New York has seen on the frozen waters in recent years. However, is their time on the ice coming to end as the weather begins to warm up?
Earl, who ice fishes on Lake Erie, says because the ice is already over 15 inches thick, it's going to be a while before the season ends.
"I think a lot of it depends on what the water out in the lake does, and how it moves around and stuff," said Earl in an interview with WBEN. "Bit if it's a nice sunny day, like it is right now, and it's 60 degrees, if I can get out here, I would be out here."
Despite the ice's thickness on Lake Erie, conditions can become unfavorable later in the season.
"I don't like being out on the ice when it's really windy, but when it's raining, 45 [degrees] and raining, I don't like being out here," Earl said. "I think a lot of times if the ice is broken up along the shoreline, I'm not gonna venture out here. It's not worth my life to come out here to catch some fish."
Another local ice fisherman, Ben, says the weather warming up is definitely a concern for him, but it's not going to stop him unless the ice begins to break up.
"Once it starts to get some water on top of the ice, even though there might be some thickness there, the quality of the ice goes down quite a bit. I've actually fallen through the ice when it's late in the season, even though there's a lot of thickness. It's called candlestick ice. It's pretty dangerous," said Ben with WBEN.
For Ben, he packs it up for the season once people start getting issued tickets for being on the ice.
"In my opinion, the city should be maybe monetizing that somehow. Make it so that way people could pay money and fish from the docks before the boats get in. There's certainly a lot of people who like to come out here and fish. Probably gonna make more money selling passes to go fish and then giving tickets," Ben added.