Detroit Lake Fishing and Ice Report (12/9/25)

Ice fishing has officially begun in the Detroit Lakes area! On Friday, I recorded a consistent 6” on Big and Little Detroit. Today, Little DL is at 8¼”. It’s amazing how fast ice builds when it’s this cold.  South Lida was 5½–6½” on Saturday, and it’s likely near 8” now. There are ice ridges at every Detroit Lake access, which may make getting on a bit tricky.  Unfortunately, snow is piling up and forming hard-packed drifts up to 12” deep. These will grow over the next 24 hours. Translation: your sled just got much harder to pull—so tune up that wheeler and bring it!  Panfish are in the weeds around 9–12’ weeds on DL and even deeper on other lakes. Walleyes should be near the same spots as a few weeks ago—start on the first breakline from shore and go from there.  Good luck, and be careful–no ice is 100% safe.

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