Is Luxury Ice Fishing the New Glamping?

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Photo credit: Getty

The sport of ice fishing, long known for the rickety, unheated shacks in which chilled fishermen and fisherwomen, rods in hand, wait for fish to bite, has never been for the faint of heart. Well, until now.

Glamping (short for “glamorous camping”) has struck the fishing world. Word is spreading about the trailers made by Minnesota company Ice Castle Fish Houses, which are downright luxurious compared to the subzero accommodations to which most ice fishers have become accustomed.

Consider the company’s eight-by-30-foot-long "King’s Castle" trailer, which has a suggested retail price of $36,250.00. Inside you’ll find 10 fishing holes and cushy bunks, plus a sofa, three-burner stove, an oven and a four-speaker stereo system. There’s even an air conditioner inside, which isn’t as crazy as it sounds—the trailers can also be used to camp during the summertime.

Ice Castle Fish Houses offers plenty of other models, but also manufactures tricked-out custom trailers to suit a client’s particular needs. One such client is Dennis Larson, who succinctly explained the appeal of his custom $44,000 trailer to The Wall Street Journal. “It doesn’t matter how cold it is outside—it’s like being home, only you’re able to catch fish,” he said.

Larson’s trailer is particularly cushy. It boasts a full bathroom with a heated shower, a king-size bed, a fireplace, and a dome satellite dish for watching football. Oh, and an underwater camera system that allows him to watch crappies and walleyes swimming under the ice beneath the trailer.

Not so bad, right? We could handle a night on the ice if we spent it in one of the Ice Castle trailers. The aesthetic may rely upon more camouflage than Martha Stewart might like, but hey, it’s a huge improvement upon this.

Get a load of one of the trailers in the photos below.

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Photo credit: Facebook/Ice Castle Fish Houses

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Photo credit: Facebook/Ice Castle Fish Houses

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Photo credit: Facebook/Ice Castle Fish Houses

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Photo credit: Facebook/Ice Castle Fish Houses

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Photo credit: Facebook/Ice Castle Fish Houses