Ice shanty

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. [" [http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Newsroom/News_2004/News_2004_Q2/Bobhouse_remove_040104.htm Remove Bobhouses Today] !" New Hampshire Fish and Game, 1 April 2004.]

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

External links

* [http://archive.citizen.com/2005/january2005/01.08.05/news/rumney_01.08.05a.asp 2005 newspaper article about motorized bobhouse in New Hampshire]
* [http://unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Bobhouses+hit+in+spate+of+break-ins&articleId=b350e0b7-59d1-4b0c-856e-0381862d6c00 2008 article about thefts from New Hampshire bobhouses - "a rare event in the world of ice fishing"]