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Island Diary February 2026
Sun., Feb. 1st – It’s the perfect day for ice fishing and winter fun. The sky is clear, the temperature is in the mid-teens and the wind is gentle. Snowmobiles and ATVs are running to and from the multiple ice fishing shanties stretching from Green Island to Rattlesnake Island as seen from the West Shore. Someone has even set up an ice shanty off Ballast Island.The west end of DeRivera Park is filled with snowmobiles from the mainland, and there’s a BYOB and soup ice party off the Boardwalk. A group from Oak Harbor travels to Walleye’s on Middle Bass via snowmobile. Someone has even set up an ice shanty off Ballast Island. Brian Cultice puts finishing touches on the February Gazette issue while playing bingo on a cruise ship off the coast of Florida. Technology is wonderful!
Mon., Feb. 2nd – Put-in-Bay girls and boys basketball teams play an away game with Harvest Temple Christian Academy and stay overnight at the Holiday Inn on the mainland (Harvest Temple 46, Put-in-Bay 40).
Tues., Feb. 3rd – Temps in the upper teens and mild NWN winds make for a beautiful day on the ice. Jordan Beck organizes a minnow delivery of 56 gallons with Dustin Shaffer and Island Air Taxi. They coin it “JD’s Flying Fish” service. T-shirts are in the works. Rachel D’Alessandro from the Boardwalk is featured on Cleveland’s Channel 5 news in a story about winter island life and venturing out on the ice. Bobbi Dobos takes her 2-year old daughter Briar out ice fishing.
Wed., Feb. 4th – Maddy Hart is driving her new mini-truck from Shrock’s Marina in Marblehead to Middle Bass Island. The girls’ Panther basketball team plays an away game in Tiffin. The results are not good….PIB 4 points, Tiffin Calvert Catholic 41 points.
Thu., Feb. 5th – It’s Greta Koehler’s 7th birthday. Today’s special at Erie Islands Petroleum & Pit Stop is a fresh, hearty Meatball Sub — packed with savory meatballs — delicious, satisfying, and priced just right! Perfect for lunch, dinner, or a quick grab-and-go bite.
Fri., Feb. 6th – There’s snow in the morning. Registration for the Kurt Rohrbacher Memorial Ice Fishing Tournament takes place at Topsy Turvey’s.
Sat., Feb. 7th – It’s Senior Day at the school for the final home basketball games of the season. The ice is perfect for snowmobiles and ATVs. Lots of island hopping going on. Reportedly, there were Travelers on snowmobiles from Vermilion. The Kurt Rohrbacher Memorial Ice fishing tournament takes place, but due to the walleye not cooperating, only a limited number of people weigh in. Congrats to 1st place and big fish winner Tony Fox (a repeat from last year), 2nd place winner Matt Sharrow, and 3rd place winner Matt Kubacki. The 7th & 8th grade Panther Cheerleaders host an evening of babysitting at Town Hall. For $25, parents can drop a child off from 5 to 8:30 p.m. for dinner, crafts and activities. Congratulations to PIBYC’s Rolling Raffle Winner! #80, Kathi Spayde who won $50!
Sun., Feb. 8th – There’s a pancake breakfast fundraiser at fire PIB Vol. Fire Dept. station. Congratulations to Brooke Wertenbach on winning the ice rescue bucket. Ty Winchester is making take out pizzas at Pasquale’s for the Super Bowl. In the evening there’s a game party at the Yacht Club and members of the PIB EMS hold their EMT Olympic games.
Mon., Feb. 9th – Put-in-Bay Panther Girls basketball team is playing their last game of the season at Fairport Harbor School Skippers on the east side of Cleveland. The Pantherettes lose 59-27. The boys play Calvert in Tiffin in a non-conference away game. On this date in 1986, Put-in-Bay High School senior Jeff Verhoff perishes after going through the ice on his snowmobile as he returns to Middle Bass Island after hanging out with his school friends on South Bass Island.
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Tue., Feb. 10th – High temperature for the day jumps into the low 40s. It’s a heatwave.
Wed., Feb. 11th – Put-in-Bay Days in Key West kicks off. Among the entertainers are the Reese Dailey Duo, Ray Fogg, Jeff Clark, Kari Wolf and LauraLea & TrippFabulous!
Thu., Feb. 12th – There’s dense fog. There’s a report of ODNR officers checking fishing licenses and overlimits out by Rattlesnake Island. Griffin Sheehan gets a $140 ticket because his fishing license expired. The total ice cover of the lake is hampering good fishing.
Fri., Feb. 13th – Brian Cultice and Andy Christiansen drive their new ATVs from the Catawba State Park ice ramp to the one at South Bass Island State Park. Melinda Myers and Steve Gulas cross the ice to do a little exploring on Green Island.
Sat., Feb. 14th – They’re a terrific ice party for Valentine’s Day off Middle Bass. It was just like in the good old days. The family has a memorial for Jeff Bykowski off Rattlesnake, his favorite ice fishing spot! Both a snowmobile and ATV go through the ice out by Ballast Island.
Sun., Feb. 15th – Danny Drake from Getaway Inn visits his uncle and aunt, Bill and Alice Boag, at their winter digs in Perdido Key, Florida, and serves a brunch to other island folk, Kelly and Marty Faris from Catawba Ave., Natalie Ontko Price (PIBHS Class of 1994) and her husband Steve, Jim French from the West Shore, Kendra and Jeff Koehler from the Gazette, Pat Thwaite from East Point, Mark and Mary Myers from the South Shore, Jay Faris (PIBHS Class of 1988), Debbie and Dale Larcey and Barb Hunter from Fox’s Den. A group of snowmobilers is spotted out near Ballast Island.
Mon., Feb. 16th – Temps are in 40s. PIB’s EMTs and EMRs responded to a simulated officer-involved shooting and motor vehicle crash. PIBPD officers Gary Allred and Jason Simon are the “victim patients.” Police Chief Mike Dillon supports collaboration between the departments. Partnerships like this strengthen the entire community!
Tue., Feb. 17th – Temps are in the 40s and the weather is great, so many islanders are taking their little ones out of school early for the winter break to avoid the next two days of predicted bad weather. The school administrators and teachers are undoubtedly losing sleep over the upcoming state test scores for the kids. There’s no Fat Tuesday fastnacht party at the Town Hall as in years past. Everyone must be on diets.
Wed., Feb. 18th – With temps in the 50s and low visibility, Mother Nature screws up flights to and from the islands. There are no grocery order deliveries from the mainland. In spite of it being Ash Wednesday, there are a few euchre players at the yacht club. According to AI, “Playing cards has historically been considered sinful, often condemned by religious authorities from the late 14th century through the Puritan era as lewd, idle or associated with gambling and the occult. On this date in 1923, the island doctor and his Toledo nurse lose their lives after they dropped their car through the ice after treating a patient on Middle Bass and returning to PIB. Liam Market turns 10.
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Thu., Feb. 19th – There’s fog most of day with temps hovering around the freezing point. The kids at PIB School are studying extra hard in anticipation of the week-plus long winter break that won’t see them in the classroom again until Monday, March 2nd.
Fri., Feb. 20th – As the sun rises, a lowlying thick fog covers the island, but it miraculously disappears and turns into a bright, clear sunny day by nine. There’s no school at Put-in-Bay as mid-winter break begins. There’s open water around Starve Island and in the passage between Put-in-Bay and Middle Bass.
Sat., Feb. 21st – Just a handful of fishermen are on the lake as temperatures hover around freezing all day. Topsy Turvey’s is serving breakfast in the morning then closes in the afternoon for Jordan and Megan Beck’s wedding reception. PIBYC Manager Dona Mitchell is this week’s winner of the club’s Rolling Raffle.
Sun., Feb. 22nd – There’s a breakfast and bloody mary bar at the yacht club. Light snow falls most of the day and into the night.
Mon., Feb. 23rd – Ice fishing has not quite ended as there is still a shanty off the West Shore. The 2026 Ohio Sea Grant & Stone Laboratory Winter Program takes place in the Bob Evans Memorial Auditorium at the Nationwide & Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center on the Columbus campus of The Ohio State University. Members of the PIB Vol. Fire Dept. gathered to practice ice rescue training with their MARSARS Ice Rescue Sled. They practice rescuing both alert and unconscious individuals and get some useful training under their belts! With ice conditions worsening, they want to be fully prepared in case of emergency!
Tue., Feb. 24th – There are just a handful of shanties off the West Shore in the direction of Green Island. Garmann/Miller & Associates, Inc. begins accepting bids for renovation construction at Put-in-Bay School’s 1919 building.
Wed., Feb. 25th – A bright blue sky follows a light overnight snowfall. There’s plenty of open water with floating ice to the east of the islands, but enough trapped ice on the west side for a couple of ice fishermen to have their shanties out. It is a nice day and Lisa Brohl from the Lake Erie Islands Conservancy checks on a big tree that fell in Cooper’s Woods and then heads home to trim her grapes. Even though the yacht club is only open two days a week, its soup of the week is Past Pagioli.
Thu., Feb. 26th – The snow on the ground is gone, but temps in the teens return overnight. With calm winds, skim ice covers much of the lake immediately east of the islands. Yoga is on the morning schedule at the Senior Center. There’s movement around that B-dock construction barge that’s been at the public docks all winter. There’s a bit of open water inside the confines of the public docks.
Fri., Feb. 27th – Little puffs of white cloud dot the beautiful blue-sky day over the islands. There are still a few ice fishermen off the west side of South Bass and Sugar Islands enjoying the mid-40-degree temperatures. Mike and Susan Byrnes kayak in some of the open water around the island. Jeff Bast posts that he unlocked his minnow carts and anyone who wants or needs minnows can come down to the Village’s help themselves. What no one takes will be dumped in a few days.
Sat., Feb. 28th – Diane Nemec is this week’s winner of Put-in-Bay Yacht Club’s Rolling Raffle. Precipitation for the month of February was down 84% from the 30-year average for the islands. The Pelee Island Transportation Service opens its 2026 ferry reservations phone lines for trips to and from Pelee Island and Sandusky.
Putinbay.com is proud to present the Put-in-Bay Gazette’s Island Diary for February 2026, in the March 2026 issue of the Gazette.
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