It may be winter, but most area lakes and ponds aren’t frozen enough yet for anglers to head out to catch “the big one.”

Iowa Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Management Biologist Chad Dolan says it’s still too soon for the ice to be thick enough for ice fishing at Lake Darling, “We’ve got a bunch of people that are just chomping at the bit to get out there and a few that have ventured out a little bit. But what we know is just a few days ago, we had a pretty good chunk of the lake that was open water. Ten to 12 acres or so, some resident geese were helping keep that open, [and] has since frozen over, but at best it’s probably skim ice.”

Dolan says there are areas of Lake Darling that have ice two to three inches in thickness, but four to five inches of thickness is best to support ice fishermen and their gear. He says right now there’s too much snow cover on the lake preventing the ice from forming to a thicker depth. For now, Dolan asks ice fishermen to be patient. He says once that snow cover is gone, combined with colder weather for extended periods, thicker ice is imminent.