Every winter hobby has a type. Skiers are one type. Snowmobilers are another. And then there is the ice fisher, who gets up before dawn, drives onto a frozen lake, drills a hole, sits on a bucket, and waits. For hours. In the cold. On purpose.
We would like to introduce you to the newest member of that community. He is made of snow, he is extremely patient, and he has been out there since six.
He is built for this
Most ice fishers spend the first hour of the morning fighting the cold. Hand warmers, layers, a thermos, a shanty with a heater. The snowman brought none of it. He sat down on the bucket at dawn, looked at the hole, and was immediately the most comfortable person on the lake. The other fishers noticed. One of them moved closer, on the theory that he must know something. He does not. He is just fine.
He understands the waiting
Ice fishing is ninety percent waiting and ten percent pulling a perch through a hole, and the waiting is where people wash out. The snowman does not wash out. He has been standing in a yard for six weeks. Four hours on a bucket is a short shift. He watches the tip of the rod with his pebble eyes and he does not check his phone, because he does not have a phone, and he does not wonder if the fish are biting somewhere else, because he cannot get up.
This, the regulars will tell you, is the secret. He is not better at fishing. He is better at sitting.
He has opinions about the shanty
There is a shanty on the lake, a little heated hut with a stove and a radio, and the snowman has declined every invitation to come inside. He is polite about it. He says he prefers the fresh air. The fishers who have seen him near the door understand that this is a safety decision and they respect it.
He has caught nothing and he is happy
At the time of this writing the snowman has caught zero fish. His bucket is empty. His line is still. He has watched a man three holes over pull in four perch and a walleye and he has not been bitter, because bitterness is not in him. He came out to sit on a lake in the cold and watch the light come up over the pines, and he has done exactly that, and by his accounting the morning was a complete success.
The man with the walleye is, for what it is worth, also happy. Ice fishing is one of the few hobbies where everyone on the lake is having the same morning regardless of the count.
Why we sent him
We like hobbies. We like them best when a snowman is doing them, cheerfully and seriously and a little bit badly, the way a person would. Golfers have had a snowman in their vocabulary for a century, but the rest of the hobby world has not caught up, and the ice-fishing community in particular has been waiting for a mascot who actually enjoys the conditions.
That is the whole idea at Snowman Dayz. A snowman with a life. A snowman who took up a hobby. A snowman who is, right now, on a bucket on a lake, not catching anything, completely content. We think he is the best thing on the ice this morning.
If you have ever sat on a bucket before sunrise and called it a good time, you are already in the club. The rest of the club is in The Snow Day. Bring a thermos. He will not need one.