Ice fishing

At least 10 cm of core ice is NVE’s advice for people on foot, or slush ice and core ice frozen together that convert to at least 10 cm of core ice.

The figures are for core ice, the dark, clear ice that freezes without snow in it. Slush ice frozen fast to the core ice adds half its thickness: 10 cm of slush ice on 7 cm of core ice equals 12 cm of core ice. Layered ice that is not frozen together carries only as much as its strongest layer alone. In a group the ice must be thicker, or you must keep a good distance. Vehicles need thicker ice, and are not covered here.

Read NVE’s regional ice warning on Varsom and the observations on iskart.no before you go, and measure the ice yourself when you get there.

• Varsom: regional ice warnings NVE’s ice warning gives a picture of the ice in your region, with travel advice for the season. It does not usually cover river ice and fjord ice.
• iskart.no Ice observations from others, with thickness and photos, and a map of weakened ice on regulated lakes. An observation covers one point, not the whole lake.
• Varsom: webcams Webcams that look out over frozen lakes and rivers.
• Regobs If you have measured the ice, send the measurement in with the Varsom Regobs app. Then others see it on the ice map.

Ask local people too, or others you meet at the water. They may know places to avoid. The warning and the observations give a picture of the region and of single points, and NVE writes that ice is almost never safe, only passable along a sensible route. The links go to pages in Norwegian, and were checked on 6 October 2026.

At inlets and outlets, in narrow sounds, under bridges and around points and reeds the ice is often thinner than out on the open expanses, and at big river inlets it can be dangerous several hundred metres out.

Nearly all lakes have such places. The thickness where you measured tells you little about the thickness elsewhere on the lake.

• Inlets and outlets. Moving water eats the ice from below, and the ice there can be open or paper-thin while the rest of the lake carries well. At big river inlets, dangerous ice can reach several hundred metres out, and the danger is greatest early in the winter.
• Narrow sounds. Water moves faster through a constriction, and the ice forms later and thinner. NVE asks you to take care from a width of 100 metres in a medium-sized watercourse, and below 50 metres in a small one.
• Under bridges. Under low bridges the ice is nearly always poor. The bridge blocks the heat loss that builds the ice, and it often stands in a sound with current.
• Under snow. Snow insulates and slows ice growth, and it hides both thin patches and open holes. Measure where the wind has cleared the snow, and you can overestimate the ice where the snow lies.
• Regulated lakes. The water level changes through the winter, and the ice can crack along the shore and thin out in sounds and at tunnel outlets. On iskart.no the most dangerous places on regulated lakes are drawn in red.
• Around points and in reeds. Around points the wind and the current pick up, and dense reeds keep the warmth from the bottom early in the winter. Both make the ice thinner exactly where it is tempting to walk.

Bring ice picks around your neck, a throw line of about 20 metres and dry clothes, and never go alone.

• Ice picks around your neck, fastened so they do not float up. In a pocket or a pack they are hard to reach when you are in the water.
• A throw line, typically 20 metres. NVE calls it the safest way to rescue someone else. Practise the throw before you need it.
• A life jacket. Children must have a jacket or other buoyancy, and for adults it is extra safety, since the shock can make you pass out.
• A change of clothes in a waterproof bag. Once you are wet, dry clothes are the difference between a story and hypothermia.
• An auger or an ice spud to test the ice. With the spud you test the ice more than a metre ahead of you.
• Never alone. If there are several of you, keep a good distance: those in front can weaken the ice for whoever follows.
• Tell someone where you are going and when you will be back.
• If someone goes through the ice and you are not fully in control, call 113 before you start the rescue, and go no further out than the ice carries you.

A 150 mm auger, a short ice rod and jigs of 5-15 g cover most ice fishing in mountain lakes.

Ice auger

150 mm is enough for everything but big pike, and far easier to carry than 200 mm. Sharp blades matter more than diameter.

Ice rod

A short rod with a sensitive tip. One for perch and char with a light jig, one heavier for pike and big trout if you fish both.

Jigs and mormyshka

Jigs of 5-15 g cover most mountain lakes. A mormyshka with maggot or a piece of worm is what saves the day when the fish are slow.

Sounder or tip-up

A sounder saves you hours of drilling over empty water. Tip-ups let you cover several holes at once where they are allowed.

Something to sit on, and a thermos

Ice fishing is sitting still in the cold. What decides whether the trip lasts long enough to produce fish is usually whether you get cold.

Perch and char are the surest species through the ice, and trout, whitefish and pike are taken too.

Mountain and north is waters from 750 m up, and everything north of the Arctic Circle. The months are the same as in the season table and on the water pages.

Drill 8-10 holes in a line out from shore, fish just off the bottom with short lifts and long pauses, and move if nothing happens in ten minutes.

1. 1Drill several holes at once, ideally 8-10 in a line out from shore and across different depths. Then fish your way through them. Ice fishing is searching, not sitting.
2. 2Start just off the bottom. Drop the jig until it hits, wind up half a metre, and jig with short lifts and long pauses. The take almost always comes in the pause.
3. 3If nothing happens in ten minutes, move. Fish do not come to you under the ice the way they do in open water.
4. 4Put the snow back over a hole you leave, or mark it. An open hole is a trap for the next person, and for animals.