While many are looking to get out of the house and spend some time outdoors during this mild-stretch, the number of those taking part in ice fishing this winter is up quite a bit.

Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, Darrell Crabbe, says they've seen a large increase in the number of licenses purchased compared to last year.

"We were up about 12% in the number of resident angling licenses issued, but that was as the end of November. We haven't seen the new figures and they won't be out until March when this fishing season is ended."

And although the weather may have been teetering above and below the zero degrees mark the last while, Crabbe says the ice still seems to be thick enough to support the increased crowd.

"With the Fort Qu'Appelle chain the ice isn't as thick as it normally has been in the past at this particular time of year, although it's still at 14 inches or so, and at Buffalo Pound, we were getting 16 or 17 inches of ice. To date, we haven't seen the same number of people going through the ice as we have in the past."

He goes on to say that some springs have come up on certain parts of lakes, but that the Federation has markers set out warning anglers to stay away from them.

Crabbe says it's not just ice fishing that has garnered more attention lately but he's seen an increase in the number of those snowmobiling and skating outdoors as well.

The winter fishing season lasts until March 15 here in southern Saskatchewan.