Shanty - shan't we? A lesson in patience

Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. We need to come up with a name for the gray days like the weather service names storms. I think we are already on the Zs, but that's okay because tomorrow is a good day for taking that long winter nap.

Now, onto the theme of this blog. I am sure everyone remembers the family vacation and these famous words - "Are we there yet?". About the fifth time you heard them, the reply got more blunt and agitated.

Today's question is "Is there ice yet?". It is being asked everywhere - Facebook, Twitter, bait shops, tourism bureau and chambers. Houghton Lake, a shallow lake, freezes first in our area, along with Lake St. Helen. Higgins Lake usually follows a couple of weeks later.

Why the furor? As soon as the first ice forms you can expect an outbreak of "shanti-itis." It starts with locals gathering at the bait shop discussing ice color, thickness, what part of the lake is safe. Finally the employee who draws the short straw goes out with the spud to check the thickness and condition of the ice. Mind you, if he goes through the water it is probably just knee deep at this point. But facts are facts.

This is where the lesson in patience comes in. The docks have been hauled in since the middle of November, beginning the waiting time for good ice to get back out on the lake and fish through the hard water. The wait is like driving the Seney Stretch. The speed limit was raised on M-28, so it is a bit faster now, but there is no way to speed up cold weather. It is what it is to repeat another often used phrase.

Sometimes it is hard to tell who is more anxious for the ice - the anglers or the local merchants who rely on good winter weather to make a decent income. Patience.

I cannot offer any good ice fishing tips. I leave that to our local experts which is anyone out there setting their tip-ups. Seriously, there is a lot of good advice shared from shanty to shanty, on Facebook, or around the minnow tanks.

Mark Martin will be conducting his ice fishing school on Houghton Lake January 6-9, 2019. He and his pro staff even host a free seminar, sharing their tips on how to ice fish like a pro. The seminar is at noon at H&H Fireworks January 6.

So don't be surprised, even though the ice shanty towns are not popping up all over the lakes, there are a few with terminal shanti-itis braving the wind, the cold, the challenge as they spud their way off the shore. Relief and a cure comes only after the first hole is drilled as they sit patiently and wait for the first tip up to pop.

The cure for shanti-itis is ice fishing in Roscommon County. Our Catch Us If You Can contest continues through this season. And if you call to find out about the ice conditions, and no one answers, we are all out on the ice. Come drop your line. Lodging can be found here.