Ice shanty

Three ice shanties

The Vista Shanty, an unusual shanty with a view.

An ice shanty (also called a fishing shanty, fish house, bobhouse, or ice hut) is a portable shed placed on a frozen lake to provide shelter during ice fishing. They can be as small and cheap as a plastic tarp draped over a frame of two-by-fours, or as expensive as a small cabin with heat, bunks, electricity and cooking facilities.

More durable ice houses are generally left on a lake for the duration of the winter. Lighter cheaper versions can collapse into a package to be moved from lake to lake during the season.

Many northern communities have developed bodies of laws about the operation of ice shanties - frequently including dates by which they must be removed, even if the ice can still hold them.^[1]

Folklore

In northern climates, ice shanties are the center of a large, often humorous, folklore. Fishermen often decorate their ice shanties in humorous ways (toilets are a popular joke addition), while others studiously work on ways to make their ice shanties more comfortable and efficient. Much of the folklore involves the inherent danger of erecting a structure atop a frozen pond. A common saying goes that every lake has at least one bobhouse on the bottom (at least one snowmobile, too).

References

1. ^ "Remove Bobhouses Today!" New Hampshire Fish and Game, 1 April 2004.

External links

• 2005 newspaper article about motorized bobhouse in New Hampshire
• 2008 article about thefts from New Hampshire bobhouses - "a rare event in the world of ice fishing"