Babs Young has been out and about during the pretty weather, camera in tow. She writes: This is the South Arm of Lake Charlevoix near East Jordan last Friday. Now I think these swans will ferry the fishers to and from their ice shanties. It has grown a little colder and we’ve had a nice shower or two of snow since this picture was taken.
I am always astonished at the fishing shanties out there in sight of open water. Maybe the fishers are counting on the swans to help them out. I have some experience of swans, and I am dubious about their good nature, but who knows?
Posted in: Babs Young photos, Everything else on Torch Lake Views
Torch Lake Views 
Joss
January 30, 2012
Well, I’ve never seen ice shanties before. Those are for fishing, right? But they should be hides for bird-watching. Right out there on the water, wow! You’d see everything!
Gerry
January 30, 2012
Those are indeed for fishing. You will see them pop up here on a regular basis in the winter. One day we’ll probably manage a photo of a fishin’ shanty floating jauntily in the middle of Torch Lake after ice out. We see everything.
P.j. grath
January 30, 2012
Ice fishing shanties. Now where in our recent travels did I see–? Oh, yes, it was at Cadillac.
Swans are lovely, but I would not count on them for help of any kind.
Gerry
January 30, 2012
I think your swan policy is prudent.
Fee
January 30, 2012
Swans I like to look at, from a safe distance, although I believe they can be quite territorial. Clearly, no-one introduced them the the mantra of “caring is sharing” when they were little fluffy cygnets.
Geese, now, are just thugs. In my (admittedly limited) experience, they attack first and ask questions later. Or just don’t bother with the questions and attack again. The neds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_(Scottish)) of the avian world in my opinion.
Gerry
January 30, 2012
You are so right about the geese. I will have to do a post about the geese that terrorized me when I was just a fluffy cygnet myself. I just went off and read about the use of “ned” and all the ways that Youth has of aggravating Elders and now I have to go make cinnamon toast to make myself feel better.
Gail
January 30, 2012
Fishing shanties on a frozen lake. Is there a list of do’s and don’ts for establishing and maintaining said fish house? Territorial rights? Heating requirements? Proper size of opening? License?
Gerry
January 30, 2012
Ahhhhhh-ha-ha-ha-ha . . . don’t give the Township any ideas or they’ll be spending thousands of dollars on a zoning amendment covering the ice shanty.
Fishing itself is governed by a great many rules and regulations, and all of those must be followed whether you’re on the shore or in a boat or out on the ice in a shanty. There are likewise rules about dumping stuff in the lake.* A person who is foolhardy enough to leave a shanty out there too long will reimburse the public for the expense of getting it out of the lake. All the other rules of proper etiquette on the ice are informal and enforced through the usual mechanisms of the neighbors talking about you.
The ice shanty is one of the last bastions of individual liberty. If it were to be threatened I would have to get out there on the ice in my YakTrax to join the protest.
(*That reminds me of the story of the general store that fell through the lake. I was going to give you a link, but I can’t find a post about it. I will make one.)
Sybil
January 30, 2012
That is scary that the fishing huts are out there, when the ice near the shore is open. Isn’t that the reverse of how it should be ? Ice thickest closest to shore and open in the middle What’s scarier, is when they start driving about on the lake with their cars …
Gerry
January 30, 2012
But it is not so very scary. The ice is thicker across the way than it is where the swans (and Babs) are. The patterns can be funny. Mostly people drag their shanties out there behind a sled – a/k/a a snowmobile – to set them up. Then they just walk back and forth on fishing expeditions. It’s actually . . . sort of meditative. Sort of. Up North meditative.
uphilldowndale
January 31, 2012
Is there any difference in the fish bait requirements than in the summer? Is supply and demand similar through the year?
Gerry
January 31, 2012
You are asking me? This is a big thrill. Mostly people do not ask me for opinions, advice, or information. I offer these things anyway . . . but I digress.
In my experience, a person who wishes to fish for food (as opposed to fishing for the spiritual experience of catch-and-release) would do well to dig a good number of angleworms out of the garden or the manure pile for summer fishing for “panfish.” A person who wants to fish for larger fish in the summer will most likely go to the bait shop and purchase excellent lures of great ferocity. (Muskie Baits spring to mind.) Another good thing to do is to net a bunch of live minnows as bait for larger fish. (These can be purchased too, but why would you want to do that?)
In the winter–and here my experience is somewhat more limited–fish are so surprised to see something come through the ice that might be food that they are not particular. The difficulty is not in finding the most delectable dish to put before the fish. The difficulty is in finding the most delectable fish to put beneath the hole in the ice.
I believe I should ask Darren Dawson to add a more polished perspective. (He actually knows what he’s talking about. See last year’s Fish Story.)
shoreacres
January 31, 2012
I first heard about ice shacks from Garrison Keillor,of Lake Woebegon fame. I’ve never seen an actual one, but I hear stories now and then. It seems ice shacks and Texas deer blinds have a great deal in common. I suspect they have even more in common with deer camp, which involves a certain amount of alcohol and a great deal of bonhomie.
We’ll all a-twitter down here because a black swan has shown up in a marina. We never see swans, unless an uber-expensive hotel hires a flock to entertain guests. Who knows where this one has come from.
Love the reference to the geese. I happen to still have my Little Tots Record Album and Mother Goose Book. This would be c.1948-50, I suppose. The cover illustration is Mother being ferried across a field of children by her goose. I just read through the lyrics on the accompanying cards. My, my. How times have changed.
Cinnamon toast? How could I have forgotten cinnamon toast? That’s even better than Nutella!
Gerry
January 31, 2012
Cinnamon toast is particularly good because you almost always have all the ingredients. I like that about a recipe.
I believe the black swan has probably escaped from the nearest ballet company. I recommend you offer it asylum. Imagine forcing a swan into toe shoes. Dreadful business.
shoreacres
February 2, 2012
Addendum: I woke early this morning and caught part of the fishing show on the radio. I spoke too soon – the guys were talking about seeing trumpeter swans on the east side of Galveston Bay. From their comments, it seems they’re more common than I realized.
Now that I’ve seen pictures, I’m wondering – are those trumpeter swans on your lake?
Gerry
February 5, 2012
I am pretty sure those are mute swans on Lake Charlevoix–the decorative “introduced” variety. I am by no means a swan expert, though.
dawn king
February 3, 2012
Love cinnamon toast. Thanks for the sweet comment over on my DC post.
Gerry
February 5, 2012
Thanks for goin’ to town.
Scott Thomas Photography
February 4, 2012
It has been a sad winter here…no ice shanties due to no ice on our lakes. This is a beautiful photo showing the contrasts of our winter so far…some cold but not enough. Some snow and ice but not enough.
Gerry
February 5, 2012
Yeah, what’s all this about anyway? How the heck are the kids going to learn to play hockey if they can’t run a hose to make a rink over behind the volunteer fire department?
Scott Thomas Photography
February 6, 2012
That’s for sure. I wanted to photography a pond hockey tournament this winter, too. They have all been cancelled so far due to lack of ice.