Ice houses must be off local lakes tonight (Mpls StarTribune login:fritopie, password:fritopie)
No, this is NOT my backyard….
For those of you Texas natives who have never experienced ice fishing, you have my condolences. Down here in the Tropics, it’s difficult to imagine a lake freezing solid enough to be able to tow a shack onto it, park your truck, drill a hole in the ice, and fish. Thousands of Minnesotans spend a good part of their winters doing just that, however. In fact, on some of the bigger lakes, there are veritable villages that pop up in early December, and remain in place until the end of February or mid-March.
Some people bring televisions, grills, anything to make their shack feel like a home away from home. For some folks, it’s exactly that.
Ice fishing houses in the lower two-thirds of the state must be off lakes by midnight tonight.
Houses in the northern third of the state must be off the ice by March 15.
Recent warm weather that softened or melted a bit of the ice on area lakes may make removal of the ice fishing houses a bit difficult. If the houses settled into meltwater or softened ice, which then refroze, the houses may have to be chipped out of the ice before being taken off the lakes.
People who leave their ice fishing houses on the ice after tonight face prosecution, and their shacks could be confiscated.
Never having been much of a fisherman, the idea of spending my weekends on a frozen lake never really appealed to me. There is something about being out in an icefishing shack in -30 degree weather that I found unappealing. Thankfully, the chances of the lake in our backyard freezing over are about the same as my being elected Queen of England.
Yes, I am ashamed to admit that now, when Houston gets below 50 degrees, I put on a jacket. Years ago, I often trooped out on the lake at 10 below, armed with nothing more than a down jacket and a pint of peppermint schnapps, just to catch a few 5-inch perch. Ah, to be young and foolish, and freezing my butt off, again.