Ice shanty

{{Short description|Portable shed placed on a frozen lake to provide shelter during ice fishing}}

File:IceShantiesForSturgeonSpearingLakeWinnebago.jpg, Wisconsin, US]]

File:shanty vista (360282448).jpg

File:1964_fevrier_002.jpg, Quebec, Canada 1964]]

An ice shanty (also called an ice shack, ice house, fishing shanty, fish house, fish coop, bobhouse, ice hut, or darkhouse; {{langx|fr|cabane à pêche}}) 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 tarpaulin draped over a simple wooden frame, or as expensive as a small cabin with heating, bunks, electricity, and cooking facilities.

More durable ice houses are generally left on a lake for the duration of the ice fishing season, although this can cause problems, such as thaws and re-freezing causing houses to be immoveably frozen onto the lake.{{cite web |title=USE OF ICE FISHING SHELTERS |url=https://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/env/pdf/LandWaste-TerreDechets/IceFishingShelters.pdf |publisher=New Brunswick Canada |access-date=23 May 2023 |ref=December 2019}} 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.{{cite web |title=Ice Thickness Guideline |url=https://www.fishandboat.com/Fish/Fishing/Documents/ice_thickness.pdf |website=Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission |publisher=Official Pennsylvania Government Website |access-date=23 May 2023}}

{{cite web |title=Ice Shelters - what you need to know |url=https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/enforcement/ice-shelter-faq.pdf |website=Minnesota fishing regulations |publisher=Pennsylvania Government Website |access-date=23 May 2023}}

"[http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/newsroom/news.html?news=334 "Remove Bobhouses from Ice by April 1" New Hampshire Fish and Game, 1 April 2016.]