PROMPTON, Pa. — Ice fishermen in Wayne County weren't deterred by the mild weather on Monday.
With the sun shining and temperatures in the 50s, several fishermen took to the ice at Prompton State Park.
"I love to ice fish. It's a great place to be out at Prompton. It's easier weather and an easy drag. The ice is clean. It's not a hard drag, so it's a nice day to be out," Chris Cole said.
John Derascavage made the ride from the Wilkes-Barre area to spend the morning on the ice. He says coming north was his best chance to find ice.
"I couldn't stay home on a day like today," Derascavage said. "The ice in our area is just about shot. It's been unsafe for about a month. I never saw nothing like it. I've been ice fishing all my life, and I've never seen such unusual weather patterns."
Parts of Wayne County have stayed colder than other places in our area, and even seasoned fishermen know the signs of when it's time to call it quits.
"When you're auguring it, it comes up chunky, and it doesn't have a lot of body to it. It's just a matter of time," Derascavage said.
Even though there's several inches of ice on the water, it's very important to take safety precautions, especially after the warm weather we had this weekend.
"The ice is never really totally safe, and if you're inexperienced on ice, you can run into trouble. That's where I would recommend really understanding how ice forms and the body of water you're fishing," Cole said.
Several scheduled ice fishing derbies in Wayne County have also been canceled for safety reasons due to the lack of thickness needed on lakes and ponds.