I live in Pittsburgh and here in the mid-west we have iced over conditions into March/April.  

My fishing hole is 60 mins from where I live, so it's not easy for me to just go out and see if there's ice on the lake or not.  

Besides, going out and looking with your eyes, how do you determine when the lake's ice has melted and when you can go out and fish?

I got burned last year. We had weather in the 50s a handful of days in a row.  I drove over to the lake and it was covered in ice, so the few warm days in the 50s wasn't enough to melt the ice.

I was surprised that the lake was frozen despite the warm weather we had that particular week and was crushed when I drove over and found it frozen.

 It was a depressing ride home....

So how do you determine if it's fishing time?

Is it steady temperatures above X degrees?  

Does rain help or hurt an iced over lake?

Do you check your lake after X days above X degrees temp?

I'm realizing you southerners with fishable conditions year round are quite lucky.

One of the lakes I fish is a 6 hour drive away. There are a few web cams in that area that are pointed at neighboring lakes. I keep a watch to see when the ice goes out, I then wait at least another week to 10 days for the water to warm up enough to get the fish active before I drive all that way.

Thanks Scott.  How did you find the web cams?

The owner of the marina near here was telling me a story.. He was teaching his granddaughter how to drive and was using the parking lot at the boat ramp. It was late winter and still complete ice cover on the lake.

As the girl was driving around the parking lot he noticed a truck from out of state, towing a boat. The truck pulled up, baked down the ramp, then noticed the ice cover . What followed was a string of verbage that was not family friendly.

I rely on first hand reports from a local. I keep the email addresses of one or more in a 'local anglers' file and will contact them for reports on conditions (including ice-out). Boat ramps are the best places to get them, especially if there is a line of guys waiting to launch. 

Night temperatures usually I check in the forecast. If I see a week that is gonna have a few nights in the high 30s into the 40s then that weekend I'll drive to one of the local lakes and check it out. I also have a pond near my apartment, if that is melted then lakes are usually partially melted.

I have a couple of ponds around my house that I check on the drive home from work.  If they have been clear of ice for a few days then the lakes I fish are usually clear of ice except back in the creeks and coves.