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Pymatuning Lake
ODNR’s map puts the lake in Ashtabula County, Ohio Crawford County, Pennsylvania
(ODNR map (PDF)). The Ohio code gives it its own ice rules; they are quoted below beside the general ones.
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 is caught through the ice at Pymatuning?
Pennsylvania’s state park page for the lake:
“Walleye, perch, and crappie are most often caught through the ice.”
The same page, right under that sentence: Ice thickness is not monitored
(Pennsylvania DCNR). It goes on:
Be aware of changes in ice thickness across a body of water. Perimeter ice is weaker due to shifting, expansion and sunlight reflecting off of the bottom.
(Pennsylvania DCNR)Avoid areas with protruding logs, brush, plants, and docks. These structures absorb heat, weakening the surrounding ice.
(Pennsylvania DCNR)Several days with temperatures above freezing will weaken the ice.
(Pennsylvania DCNR)
What does Ohio DNR’s state park page say?
“Under the proper winter conditions, park guests can enjoy ice boating and ice fishing.”
Its fishing section, which is about fishing in general: Anglers will also find good catches of crappie, black bass, bluegill, yellow perch, white bass and channel catfish.
(Ohio DNR park page, read in a browser November 11, 2026)
- Pymatuning State Park
6100 Pymatuning Lake Road Andover, OH 44003
(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.
How are Pymatuning’s ice rules different?
The general rules: Throughout the state, it shall be unlawful for any person to use more than six tip-ups while fishing through the ice.
(codes.ohio.gov) In the inland fishing district it shall be unlawful for any person to cut or fish through a hole in the ice which has a diameter that exceeds twelve inches.
(codes.ohio.gov) On Pymatuning, Ohio Administrative Code 1501:31-13-07 (Effective: June 30, 2023
(codes.ohio.gov)) says Fish may be taken in Pymatuning lake by hand lines and units of rod and line only, at any time of the year, except as is otherwise provided in this rule.
(codes.ohio.gov) and makes it unlawful to:
“Set, use, or maintain more than five tip-ups or other legal devices when fishing through holes in the ice.”
“Cut or use a hole in the ice for fishing purposes that is larger than ten inches between the farthest points as measured in any direction.”
ODNR’s fishing map for the lake adds: Special regulations apply to frogs, turtles, tadpoles, minnows, and ice fishing - see the OH and PA regulations for specific information.
(ODNR map (PDF))
Which license do you need?
Pennsylvania DCNR: When fishing by boat, fishing licenses issued by either Ohio or Pennsylvania are honored anywhere on the lake.
(Pennsylvania DCNR) When fishing from the shore, only Ohio licensed fishermen can fish from the Ohio shore and Pennsylvania licensed fishermen from the Pennsylvania shore.
(Pennsylvania DCNR)
Those two sentences are about boats and the shore. Neither says which applies to someone standing on the ice, so ask ODNR or the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission before you cross the state line on foot. Ohio license costs are on the rules page.
How big is the lake, and where is the map?
ODNR’s Pymatuning Lake Fishing Map (PDF) is titled Pymatuning Lake Fishing Map
(ODNR map (PDF)) and gives the lake as 16,349 Acres of Water 106.4 Miles of Shoreline
(ODNR map (PDF)). It carries this line: This map is not suitable for navigation.
(ODNR map (PDF))
Pymatuning Lake: has the air been freezing?
Air temperature observed at Ashtabula - Northeast Ohio Regional Airport (National Weather Service station KHZY, about 16 miles from the forecast point), and the Weather Service’s hourly forecast for a point on the Ohio shore near Andover.
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