Let`s go ice-fishing - waiting for more ice in Southern Finland

In many parts on Lakeland ice is still thin or there is no ice at all. Näsiselkä open water area by the city of Tampere is still partly iceless and according to Finnish Meteorological Institute there is also open water in places in the southern part of Lake Saimaa. Excluding the Kvarken and the Bothnian Bay coastal waters are also mostly iceless.

Plus degrees and rain cleared away the snow from the lakes of Southern and Central Finland in New Years Eve. According to weather forecast we will see a rapid drop in temperature in this week. On Friday and on Saturday there should be some 20 C degrees below zero also in Southern part of the country. Colder days will mean that ice will thicken quickly and also those lakes that are still open will freeze soon.

Ice-fishing at polar night

In Lapland lakes have been frozen already for some weeks. Ari Savikko, an enthusiastic angler living in Inari, reported already a couple of weeks before Christmas, that there were some 30 cm of clear ice on smaller lakes. Perch were biting quite eagerly then. Furthermore, Ari mentioned he managed to get one nice whitefish. There where great condititions to go fishing when there where only a thin layer of snow on the ice.

December may be a rather good season for ice-fishing whitefish in some lakes of Northern Finland, where small whitefish spawn at that time. In early spring when days are getting longer, lighter and warmer, the essential ice-fishing season of whitefish, grayling and arctic char will be started in many lakes of Lapland.

The polar night is going on in Inari still over a one week. You don´t specially need to wonder what will be the best time to go fishing when the moment of light is so short. Soon the days are getting much longer again and we are looking forward to celebrate great ice-fishing days of winter and spring!

Ice thickness on Finnish lakes

Ice conditions in the Baltic Sea

Photo: Whitefish is a preferable catch. Photo: Ari Savikko.

(02.01.2023)