Ice Fishing
Aside from the established methods of casting from the shore, or trolling from a boat, or just sitting in the sun with a cane pole, Michigan offers an additional method called ice fishing. In the middle of the winter, you put on all the clothes you own and walk out on a frozen lake. You attach a rope and drag an old wooden box to sit on with a gas lantern inside to avoid freezing to death. You carry with you (1) a broomstick, (2) a can of peas, and (3) a heavy steel weapon named after the ancient warrior, Spud The Greek. You chop a hole through the several inches of ice with the Spud, then open the pea-can and surround the ice-hole with the peas. When a fish comes up to take a pea, you hit him with the broomstick.
There are two alternative to the can of peas method – the traditional dark-house method, which minimizes the risk of freezeinng to death, and the high-tech tipup technique for people who really don’t like fishing at all.
Imagine a wooden structure known as a dark house, the size of a 2-seater outhouse on skiis. [i]For those born after 1950, that would be 2 telephone booths. If born after 2000, think of a walk-in closet or a Tiny-house t. It is carefully positioned at a location on the frozen lake considered to be a good spot for fish to hangout. The rest of the procedure is much like the pea can method except the fisherman is shielded from the wind and snow, and no peas are required.
I plan to introduce a high tech
HT Explorer Wood Stick Tip-Up | Dick’s Sporting Goods https://share.google/E8gLdTpCiGFiSxTTo
Design details for building your own vary endlessly – see legacy copies of Popular Mechanics. Factory made ones can be ordered online from Dick’s Sporting goods
Popular Mechanics All Access Membership – Popular Mechanics Shop https://share.google/kM9I4WdsYMDKRIrya
Alternatively, you can stand next to the hole in the freezing cold, for hours on end, while jigging your lure to attract a fish
The tipup is a device that the would-be “fisherman” enlists someone to install on the frozen lake. Without getting into the workings of the device, it automatically hooks the fish and signals the “fisherman” with a visible flag that a fish is on the line.
I intend to introduce a model next year, available on Amazon for $599, which emails to the fishermans TV set a color photo of the fish, suitable for framing. It will include an additional optional that orders UberEATS to go to the lake, unhook the fish, and deliver it to a selected restaurant, where it is prepared and delivered to the fisherman’s residence.
By: Jim
Written: September 22, 2025
Published: October
Revised:
footnotes
| ↑i | For those born after 1950, that would be 2 telephone booths. If born after 2000, think of a walk-in closet or a Tiny-house t. |
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