How many states in the US have icefishing? Heck countries?

[Swill]

Ok, for fun, any idea what states / counties have lakes safe for annual icefishing? Not a one time season, fluke thing, but an annual tradition like MN, WI, ND&SD? What about other counties, like Norway, Sweden, Russia?

And regarding these places, is the style of ice fishing comparable to the Midwest? early ice- portables, then ATV and Snowmobiles, then trucks with wheelhouses, permanent skid houses, then walk out only, using planks to reach the safe ice, fishing in 50 degree weather... etc?)

Lastly, if I were to guess, I would bet MN ranks the highest in participation and ice fishing gear purchased in the US.

[Brad B]

Swill I don't remember the exact numbers but there was a article in last years infisherman ice fishing guide that talked about this very thing althou they only looked at the usa and not other countries. I will have to see if I can find my copy from last year.

[Surface Tension]

As far as ice fishing, I get blades from Maine to Washington and as far south as Ill. I get to chat with guys from all over the Northern USA about ice fishing.

Countries that ice fish, don't forget Finland.

[minnbowhunter]

It is a popular pastime in Canada, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine and Germany.

In the United States, people from North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Colorado, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin,Iowa, Michigan and New York, New Jersey, and the states of New England, and other areas with lakes and long, cold winters enjoy the activity

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This is a cut and paste from wikapedia, seems pretty weak to me

from the same place:

In North America, ice fishing is often a social activity. Sometimes, the consumption of alcohol is involved.

and did you know?

In Finland, ice fishing contests have been marred by repeated scandals, where both contestants and organizers have been caught cheating. Contestants have smuggled previously caught and frozen fish with them. Organizers have awarded the prizes to shills, not really participating in the competition, to avoid paying prizes.

[Brad B]

I found the article. Minnesota was ranked #1 with a total of 479,051 Ice anglers age 16 or older this number didn't include those 15 or less so I would imagine the number is actually much higher then this. Total number of days fished for this age group was 5,167,110. the article said that there was alittle over 1.7 million anglers(age 16 & over) that ice fished and that they made up 6.8% of the 25.4 million freeshwater anglers. this was the whole country and not just minnesota. Country wide the article estimated that there was an additional 12 million anglers in the 15 and less group. as a whole the total number of days spent ice fishing by the 16 and over group was 14 million days country wide. of that 660,000 purchased new and various equipment related to ice fishing with a total price tag of 105 million dollars or $160.00 per spender. at a state level #2 was wisconsin with 278,457 & 3,170,300 days fished. #3 was michigan with 220,848 & 1,232,860 days fished. over all this was a very interesting article.

[mr_jman]

I have found the exact same article and just to expand based on Ice Anglers over 16 the list goes from most to least... MN, WI, MI, ME, NY, PA, UT, IL, MT, ND, IN, IA, MA, CO, OH, SD, CT, NH, VT, WY, FL, AK, NE, ID, LA, NJ, MD, WA, NM, OR, CA, NC, WV, KS, RI, OK, AL, NV, AR, KY, AZ, DE... The other states had no activity reported... DC, GA, HI, MO, MS, SC, TN, TX, VA.

As mentioned Minnesota, Wisconin, and Michigan are far and away the top 3 for participation. I'm guessing some of these other states have people who travel to ice fish. I don't see New Mexico or Florida having any ice.

[mozy]

I'm surprised to see Utah so high on the list. It placed above North and South Dakota, Montana, and Iowa.

[Mr.Seaguar]

I wonder what criteria they use to compile that list, because it seems unlikely they are correct. More people icefish in ND or Montana than in Iowa? Iowa has 3 times as many people as MT and 5 times as many as ND. I bet NY is tops anyway, they have so many people there. I googled state poulations to see where more people lived. NY has 3.5 times as many people as MN. Its gonna be tough to beat that kind of advantage. ALso, Florida ranks ahead of Alaska? Uh, no. I have seen with my own eyes people icefishing in MO and MS. MO they ice fish every year. They have safe ice right now.

Other countries? Japan, I know that. We have a guy from China at church who lived in Japan and he said it was popular there. Italy makes that high end icefishing line so I assume they ice fish. I knew a kid from Russia who said they had a fish there you caught thru the ice and when it froze, it smelled like cucumbers. I imagine anywhere you have men who fish and even infrequent safe ice, there wll be icefishing.

[quijibo]

I can vouch for Colorado, you have to go to the mountains for reliable ice. Trout(Lake, Rainbow, Cutthroat, etc..) seems to be the #1 target with walleye somewhere behind. There aren't very many bodies of water out here that can sustain a fish population though, so lot's of "stockers". There are also a lot more rules since everything bigger than a puddle is a water source(reservoir) for some municipality. It still feels a little weird ice fishing without hardly any trees around.

Ice fishing seems to be kind of popular in South Korea too. Or is this Gull lake?

Adam

[weeds]

I wonder what criteria they use to compile that list, because it seems unlikely they are correct. More people icefish in ND or Montana than in Iowa? Iowa has 3 times as many people as MT and 5 times as many as ND. I bet NY is tops anyway, they have so many people there. I googled state poulations to see where more people lived. NY has 3.5 times as many people as MN. Its gonna be tough to beat that kind of advantage. ALso, Florida ranks ahead of Alaska? Uh, no. I have seen with my own eyes people icefishing in MO and MS. MO they ice fish every year. They have safe ice right now.

I'm not sure that population translates into participation. This is only anecdotal but I went to school in upstate New York, and while they do have the requisite lakes, I'm not sure the culture has been developed around them in the same way. As I recall there wasn't the same advantage of proximity of those lakes and all those people. For certain they have ice fishing in the Adirondacks and such, but in my experience the past times there in areas such as the Finger Lakes District seem less geared toward the common person. Even when I was around Champlain, which I'd heard about, I was a little surprised that there weren't so many fisherman in view.

Again, this is far from scientific, but I also noted that tackle wasn't as readily available. I suspect that says something about participation. For what it's worth.

[Phred52]

My guess would be' all the states that develop walk-able ice. Anything less, we,d lose members,anything more, we'd gain!! It would be GREAT to introduce icefishing to Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia!They could occupy their time .....waitin' for ice!! Could that be ALL bad??? Maybe they could be taught how to "fish with SHORTER fused explosives!! Or how to treasure a "BLAST in EVERY cast" or.....there's just too many punchlines to go on! Phred52