I was talking to my good buddy Ryan Ramacher a Lindy Fishing Pro the other day and had to ask him this question. What effect will the late ice out have on the fish spawn?
His answer was this. Right now the females are full of eggs. If the ice stays to long and the water temp doesn't get from 43-47 degress soon all the eggs in the females will turn white and basically die. He told me 3 years ago on Mille Lacs he caught many females that were just shooting out white eggs all over his boat. The males were full of there special juice and he said it was just a mess. When he got to shore of course the DNR was there to check and he noticed all the white eggs. The DNR said that is not good those are dead eggs. Any time they go from yellow to white means they have been in the female to long and are no longer able to hatch.
I have a feeling if we don't warm up quick this may happen through out all of MN this year. That would lead to a total loss on all early season spawning. Hundreds of thousands of potential fish will be lost.