Ice Fishers Brave Cold and Wind on Lake Otsego
By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
SPRINGFIELD
A few hundred feet from the shores of Glimmerglass State Park, three bundled-up old college friends prepare for an evening of ice fishing on Otsego Lake. They may or may not catch something from the dark depths beneath the blinding snow-covered ice, and that’s all part of the journey.
“First time ice has been safe for us to get out,” Mike Seymour says while preparing a hole to fish from. “Some days you may have a good day, get a good perch and a walleye or two. Some days, you go home and nothing.”
To be safe to walk on, the ice needs to be at least four inches thick. Today, January 31, amidst a cold snap bringing temperatures well below freezing and even 0℉ in much of the Northeast and Midwest U.S., the trio estimates it’s as much as eight inches in certain places. The group is one of several on the ice.
“We usually fish like four hours at a time,” Seymour says. “That’s about all these 65-year-old bodies can take,” he adds with a chuckle.
“I need to be outdoors,” Rob Serowski answers to what draws him to ice fishing, adding that the sunlight keeps his mood high during the winter months.
Using a snowdog, a vehicle of sorts, Jim Cohen pulls equipment across the ice, including a small structure called a shanty. The shanty blocks the wind and keeps in some heat while the fishermen sit, waiting for a bite.
“It could be a lot colder. It’s the wind that really makes a big difference,” he says.
As Seymour warms up with a propane heater, Cohen drills another hole with an auger. The group settles in, ready, and hoping, for a catch.
Otsego Lake closed on January 24, according to Matt Albright at the SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station.
