Ice fish houses in southern two-thirds of MN must go

The Department of Natural Resources says ice fishing shelters must be off of lakes in the southern two-thirds of Minnesota by midnight Monday.

The agency says if the structures are not removed by the deadline, their owners will be prosecuted, and the ice houses may be confiscated and destroyed.

Anglers in the northern third of the state have another two weeks before they have to remove ice houses.

Dates of removal are determined by a west-to-east line formed by U.S. Highway 10 starting at the Minnesota-North Dakota border, then east along Highway 34 to Minnesota Highway 200, east along Highway 200 to U.S. Highway 2, and east along Highway 2 to the Minnesota-Wisconsin border.

Fish houses south of this line need to be removed by midnight Monday. North of this line, houses and debris need to be removed by March 21.

The DNR says anyone headed out on a frozen lake should be mindful of the ice thickness.