For outdoorsmen up north, few activities create more anticipation than ice fishing. Something about packing up the truck and driving it across a frozen-over lake with a group of friends brings the youth out of any angler like a snow day during the work week. However, a group of guys in Minnesota realized a way to make ice fishing even more festive, and decided to create an ice fishing hut that doubled as a bar.
YouTuber apbassing made the trek to Lake of the Woods, Minnesota, to experience this social fishing phenomenon and documented everything in one of his videos. In the clip below, we see him not only catching some fish, but also meeting some interesting characters in the same fashion you would in any conventional bar. It's not every day you can enjoy drinks, eat a pizza, and jig for walleyes at the same time!
This is one of the most innovative fishing concepts we've ever seen, and it seems inevitable that this will eventually catch on. In fact, it almost resembles ideas like Uber or social media in making us ask ourselves, "Why didn't I think of that?" Not only is it relatively easy to set something like this up, but it also adds a welcoming element to those who don't have an interest in fishing. And, even if you decide you do want to fish but don't catch anything, you can still achieve the novelty of being able to say you got to go fishing in a bar, which alone makes it worthwhile. However, it sure would be ideal to find a hotspot for walleye so you can have some nice fillets to go along with that beer.
If ice fishing bars don't pick up and become the newest fad among anglers, we're definitely adding this ice bar in Minnesota to our bucket lists.
