What's in YOUR ice shanty?

[Geezer]

So it's finally time to pull out the shanty for ice fishing season. I have seating, a wood stove and lots and lots of coffee!

Should be able to drive it out next week. Can't wait! Anyway, What do you fellow icefishermen have in your shanty? Is it just four walls around a hole or do you go deluxe?

[briansnat]

Ice shanty? I just bundle up and sit on a bucket. Don't need no stinkin' ice shanty.

[Rain]

What is it with guys and their ice shacks? My dad could spend all day in that thing and come home with only one or two fish. I'm pretty sure he just used fishing as an excuse to spend all day in his man cave out on the ice while we stayed home chipping ice from the driveway

[dinosaur]

I was in Minnesota once and befriended a fellow by shooting a couple deer for his family. He invited me out to his ice shanty. I can't remember the name of the lake but we drove out onto it in a 4X4. There was a whole town set up on the lake replete with street signs, plowed roads, even streetlights. They had a festival going with food vendors and ice bowling. Now that was cool. The ball would rocket down the alleys.

The shanties were like small houses with addresses and the names on the streets were Pike Street, Bass Blvd., Walleye Way, and others. They had generators running power all the way from shore and porta-potties.

Minnesota rednecks know how to ice fish.

[Lorax]

Originally Posted by dinosaur

I was in Minnesota once and befriended a fellow by shooting a couple deer for his family. He invited me out to his ice shanty. I can't remember the name of the lake but we drove out onto it in a 4X4. There was a whole town set up on the lake replete with street signs, plowed roads, even streetlights. They had a festival going with food vendors and ice bowling. Now that was cool. The ball would rocket down the alleys.

The shanties were like small houses with addresses and the names on the streets were Pike Street, Bass Blvd., Walleye Way, and others. They had generators running power all the way from shore and porta-potties.

Minnesota rednecks know how to ice fish.

Ice fishing in the upper midwest is amazing like that! I've been here just over 8 years and I still am blown away by the ice villages and the fun we have here when the water gets hard.

[Judy Ann]

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin was the first place I saw ice sailing and ice fishing. Too cool. I love the Grumpy Old Men movie that has the ice fishing in it. I think that was the one with Ann Margaret?!

[Rosie]

Originally Posted by dinosaur

I was in Minnesota once and befriended a fellow by shooting a couple deer for his family. He invited me out to his ice shanty. I can't remember the name of the lake but we drove out onto it in a 4X4. There was a whole town set up on the lake replete with street signs, plowed roads, even streetlights. They had a festival going with food vendors and ice bowling. Now that was cool. The ball would rocket down the alleys.

The shanties were like small houses with addresses and the names on the streets were Pike Street, Bass Blvd., Walleye Way, and others. They had generators running power all the way from shore and porta-potties.

Minnesota rednecks know how to ice fish.

Wow that's a regular metropolis compared to the lonely huts I saw out on Moosehead Lake while visiting relatives there! I guess folks in Maine just like to live a little more simply.

[dinosaur]

I don't think so. We're Americans. Anything short of a death in the family is a good reason for a party.

[Lorax]

Originally Posted by Rosie

Wow that's a regular metropolis compared to the lonely huts I saw out on Moosehead Lake while visiting relatives there! I guess folks in Maine just like to live a little more simply.

It's really no different than a summer cabin except you use it three completely different months out of the year.
At any time, you can see grills going, football games being played out on the ice and people coming and going on ATV's of every kind.
On the one lake near here, everyone takes their used Christmas trees and drills holes to "plant" them every so far, making a road to the makeshift villages so you can find your way when it's foggy. It also provides structure for the fish when the ice melts. it's a strange sight.
A lot of these shacks are set up in the same places for decades. Grandfathers have taken their grandchildren there and the grandchildren, now grown, use the same spots with the same neighbors.
It's a culture thing.

[Grandpa]

Originally Posted by Judy Ann

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin was the first place I saw ice sailing and ice fishing. Too cool. I love the Grumpy Old Men movie that has the ice fishing in it. I think that was the one with Ann Margaret?!

And grumpy old men two when Sophia joined Ann Margaret........ sighhhhhhhhh