Many thousands of residents and visitors alike are taking to area waterways in search of winter fishing opportunities.

Soon, tip-up towns will start to appear in various locations, often with anglers’ vehicles parked near the fishing site itself.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources makes it their business to keep an eye on area ice conditions.

Over time, agency personnel have become adept at determining whether ice is safe or not.

Because it’s impossible for DNR personnel to inspect every ice sheet every day, here are a handful of guidelines — many of the common-sense variety — that the rest of us can use to gauge the safety of ice:

— You can test ice thickness and quality using a spud, needle bar or auger.

— Strongest ice: clear with bluish tint.

— Weak ice: ice formed by melted and refrozen snow. Appears milky.

— Stay off ice with slush on top. Slush ice is only half as strong as clear ice and indicates the ice is not freezing from the bottom.

— A sudden cold front with low temperatures can create cracks within a half-day.

— A warm spell may take several days to weaken ice, and cause the ice to thaw during the day and refreeze at night.

— Ice weakens with age.

— If there’s ice on the lake but water around the shoreline, be extra cautious.

— Stronger the current on the lake, the more likely the ice will give to open water.

— Avoid areas of ice with protruding debris like logs or brush.

— Keep an eye out for dock bubblers or de-icers as the ice near these mechanisms will be unsafe.

Safety should always be number one when recreating on ice. Good times can turn into tragedies in a manner of seconds. Think before you act.