It’s ice fishing season and angling enthusiasts are getting their huts out onto the lake to enjoy the season. The County of Lacombe will not be handling the registration of ice huts this year but here is some information you may want to know if you’re planning on using a hut.  

Environmental Coordinator with the Lacombe County Jennifer Berry is asking that those ice fishing on Gull Lake and Buffalo Lake ensure their fishing hut is properly labelled.

“The province has made it mandatory to identify your ice fishing hut either with your WiN number or your name, number, and address,” said Berry.

My Wild Alberta says ice fishing huts that will remain on the ice for more than 24 hours will need to properly labelled in contrasting colour with text 2.5 CM or taller. You can easily access your WiN numbers by downloading the Alberta Relm app or by visiting AlbertaRelm.com.

If you do place an ice fishing hut on the lake, Berry recommends paying attention to the weather as spring approaches.

“When we were doing our registration program, we sort of had March 31st as when we would request that people have them off the Lake. Obviously, it's all dependent on weather too. If we're having a warm spring, it might be before then,” explained Berry.

Leaving an ice fishing hut on the lake for too long may make it difficult to remove or it will sink to the bottom of the lake where it will contaminate the local wildlife.

“Obviously, it's not meant to be there and it's not meant to be part of the lake ecosystem. There's the environmental damage, and then there's also possible safety hazards with boaters and other people using the lake during the summer months,” said Berry.

The Lacombe County asks that you remove all debris from the lake when you do decide to remove your hut and gear in order to protect the wildlife and other people heading onto the lake.