A week ago, I was at the bottom end of Banks Lake to check out the ice conditions and see if people were out fishing for perch at the Coulee City Marina, or out on the main lake. We found good ice in the marina, but there was no sign of fish on the fish finder when we drilled some test holes. However, there was a big crowd of anglers out on the ice way out off the tip of the island. There were at least a dozen huts and other anglers out on the ice. My crew from the Fishing Magician R&D Department and I headed out to see if we could find some of the big whitefish that everyone was targeting. We drilled a bunch of holes near several of the huts, but didn’t mark many fish. Turned out, the huts we were near were all empty, as their owners wouldn’t be there until dark. There is no point in traveling to Banks now. There was just one hut out there when I checked recently. The anglers must have waded through water to get out there. I sure wouldn’t have done it. The ice isn’t safe.