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Mosquito Creek Lake
The Army Corps of Engineers’ Pittsburgh District, in an article that quotes this lake’s manager, strongly discourages ice fishing on its reservoirs. That comes first on this page because it is the strongest thing any source says about this lake.
No ice report here. We don’t know the ice on any Ohio water today, and nothing on this page says you can walk on it. Read ice safety first, and check the ice yourself, every few steps, every trip.
What does the Army Corps of Engineers say?
The Corps’ Pittsburgh District wrote a winter safety article that quotes this lake’s manager (said Tim Hough, resource manager at Mosquito Creek Lake.
(U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 02.19.2025)). It lists precautions, introduced this way: Here are some safety precautions to follow when visiting a reservoir in the Pittsburgh District during winter:
(U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 02.19.2025)
“Ice fishing is strongly discouraged at all reservoirs, even if the ice is reportedly thick enough to be considered safe.”
Why it says so:
“A fall into the water could happen for any number of reasons: ice fishermen hauling heavy equipment onto a frozen lake not thick enough to hold their weight; hikers chasing after unleashed dogs onto thin ice; or drivers sinking their vehicles because snow obscured the edge between shoreline and water.”
Its other precautions include: Call the ranger station before visiting a lake or trail, so rangers are aware of your presence on site.
(U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 02.19.2025) Bring an ice awl if participating in activities around ice.
(U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 02.19.2025) Winter safety is crucial even as warmer weather approaches, which can further destabilize ice conditions.
(U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 02.19.2025)
What does Ohio DNR’s state park page say?
Ohio DNR’s page for Mosquito Lake State Park reads differently from the Corps’ article:
“Under the proper winter conditions, park guests can enjoy snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, ice skating, ice fishing, and ice boating.”
“NO motorized vehicles (no snowmobiles, no vehicles) are permitted on the frozen lake or shoreline.”
The two agencies don’t say the same thing, and we print both. Neither says the lake’s ice will hold anyone. The park page’s fishing section, which is about fishing in general: Fishing is popular throughout the year with plentiful catches of walleye, bass, crappie, and northern pike.
(Ohio DNR park page, read in a browser November 11, 2026)
- Mosquito Lake State Park
1439 State Route 305 Cortland, OH 44410
(Ohio DNR park page, read in a browser November 11, 2026)Directions Apple Maps
That is the address Ohio DNR’s park page prints. Directions links open Google Maps or Apple Maps with it; on a phone they may open the maps app or your browser. An address is where the park is, not a statement about ice there.
Read November 11, 2026; do not rely on it after December 26, 2026.
Ohio DNR’s website refuses automated readers, so its park pages were read in a web browser on November 11, 2026 and each sentence quoted from them was matched on the page then. We let that reading stand for 45 days, through December 26, 2026. After that date this page hides those passages in your browser and shows a notice in their place, and the next build of the site removes them, unless the park pages have been read again. With JavaScript off the passages stay, which is why each carries its own date line.
What does ODNR’s map show?
ODNR’s fishing map (PDF) is titled Mosquito Creek Reservoir Fishing Map
(ODNR map (PDF)), places it in Trumbull County
(ODNR map (PDF)) and gives 7,199 Acres of Water 42 Miles of Shoreline
(ODNR map (PDF)). The map marks an area Wildlife Refuge - No Trespassing
(ODNR map (PDF)). It also prints Reservoir last surveyed: 2004
(ODNR map (PDF)).
What limits apply?
The general state ice rules are on the rules page. The Ohio code names the lake in its crappie rule: It shall be unlawful for any person to take or possess more than thirty crappie in the aggregate in any one day from each of the following areas:
(codes.ohio.gov) The list includes Mosquito lake in Trumbull county;
(codes.ohio.gov)
Mosquito Creek Lake: has the air been freezing?
Air temperature observed at Youngstown, Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport (National Weather Service station KYNG, about 8 miles from the forecast point), and the Weather Service’s hourly forecast for a point on the lake near Cortland.
The numbers load here from the National Weather Service when JavaScript is on.
Weather is not ice thickness. This panel reads air temperature and can’t see ice, so it never tells you ice will hold. Minnesota DNR on what else matters, and by how much ice varies: Temperature, snow cover, currents, springs and rough fish all affect the relative safety of ice.
(Minnesota DNR) Ice is seldom the same thickness over a single body of water; it can be two feet thick in one place and one inch thick a few yards away.
(Minnesota DNR) How the numbers are worked out · Stations and points · Ice safety