St. Michael Lake Claims Fish House after Ice Break

Beebe Lake homeowners watched as a pair of fish houses were perilously close to becoming one with the bottom of the lake Thursday afternoon.

One house was rescued before dark. It's not known if someone came after dark to claim the other house that was already partially submerged on Thursday night, but it was not on the lake Friday morning.

Still, ice in most areas of the lake that are normally fished–typically Ernst Bay and on shallow areas near the lake's largest island–were full of activity Friday with both adults getting out for some fishing, and by kids who were enjoying a day off from school.

"You're not going to drive a truck on it," said one angler, who requested not to be named. "But you can get out here if you're careful. We've even run a heater for a bit."

One of the fish houses might have been placed in peril because of a heater running in the building for too long, some on the lake suggested.

Beebe Lake hosts the St. Michael Jaycees' annual Ice Fishing Tournament on Feb. 4. It appears that tournament will be in great shape, as the coldest temperatures of the winter are slated for next week.

The National Weather Service in Chanhassen's forecast states high temperatures will not break 20 next week after the Martin Luther King holiday, and lows will be near or below zero on many nights.

Still, even with the cold weather, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is seeing the fewest number of fish houses on lakes in the central part of the state since they started tracking them 35 years ago.

Since 1977, personnel from the DNR’s Hutchinson Fisheries Management Area have conducted fish house counts on up to 59 lakes each year across five and more recently seven counties.  “The surveys get us out on our area lakes during the winter,” according to Lee Sundmark, area fisheries supervisor. “Even better, it gives us a chance to talk to anglers and find out what they’re thinking and answer questions.”

Hutchinson is about 55 miles south and west of St. Michael.

Counts are conducted the first two weeks of January during daylight hours. This provides consistency when comparing data over a period of years. As each lake is visited, the number of fish houses, permanent and portable, are counted and recorded. 

Over the past 35 years, there has been an average of 14.25 fish houses counted per lake surveyed. This year the average was only 1.9. 

A grand total of 111 fish houses were counted on 59 lakes during this year’s survey period.  This compares to an average total of 734 fish houses counted per survey period since 1977.

Sundmark sees a couple of possible explanations for the dramatic dip in numbers. “Obviously our warm weather and eroding ice conditions have been an issue with anglers getting fish houses out on lakes this year,” Sundmark said. “We’ve had record-setting temperatures and treacherous ice. It stands to reason that fewer fish houses will be out.”