One group drills holes in the ice, the other skims over the top.

But ice fishermen and ice boat captains share a love for this time of year, considered about the best conditions Mother Nature can provide for their sports.
“It hasn’t been real good,” said John Wyman of Cedar about the present winter while looking across a snow-covered Lake Leelanau. He was standing next to his low-profile ice boat.
“It’s been challenging because every time the ice would shape up, we would get four inches of snow,” he said.
Likewise, Ken Fosmore of Glen Lake said perch had “shut off” the previous couple weeks, when anglers couldn’t buy a bite. But in the past day or two, tasty schools of perch have grown hungry — and were turned into fillets.

“Normally first ice and last ice is very, very good,” said Fosmore, who maintains more than one shanty on Glen Lake. “I’m always saying about this time of year that it’s a shame we can’t keep our shanties out there one more week.”

The state Department of Natural Resources issues two warnings in late winter: Move ice fishing shanties off lakes prior to the March 15 deadline, and keep dogs tied up so they don’t chase deer that are starting to become more active.

Fosmore said a pair of factors may play into turning perch aggressive. One is a resurgence of oxygen into lakes as edges open up and ice thins. Earlier this week, Little Glen Lake had up to 18 inches of solid ice and a foot or so of snow.

The other factor is that perch begin to feed in preparation for spawning in April and May. Wyman is excited about the prospect of a late winter rain that turns Lake Leelanau into a spawling skating rink for his ice boat.

“I think the week coming up should be real good,” he said.