Upstate NY is the same way. I will start venturing out to explore the lake in early March to see if the ice is going. Once I see the ice is gone I will be out there trying something anything.
I set my expectations though. I treat it as practice ... getting my casting arm, my skipping arm, my flipping and pitching arm etc. in tune for the season. That way if I get skunked then it's no big deal.
Oh ... and as everyone else has said already the name of the game is slow ... slow jigs, slow worms, slow everything.