Karen Wils photo Young Bob at the “Old Northtown” fish shack in 2008.

ESCANABA — Sometimes the icy winds on Little Bay de Noc, whip up a whiteout of snow.

For a short time, the world is a blur.

Stonington, Garth Point and Sand Point slip into time wrap. A person can almost dodge the drifting snow right back into yesterday. We can almost visit the fish shacks of our parents and grandparents.

Smell the wood smoke from an antique fire. Glimpse the silhouette of an old, black Model T parked on the ice alongside an ice shanty.

Just for a few wind swept crazy minutes, you can hear the faint voices of our forefathers as they celebrate a nice catch. “Little Bay de Noc, walleye capital of the world,” they cheer as the ice groans.

Ice fishing in Upper Michigan has long been a means of food and great recreation. It seems like most families had a fish shack tucked away on the corner of their yard or property.

From the “first ice” in December until “break up” the quest was on to fish the hard waters and provide walleye, perch and northern pike for many fish fries. Using a little white button for bait, they also caught lake herring (like the whitefish) a fish that is seldom seen today.

I heard stories about my Russian grandfather ice fishing. A scrappy, little man in a woolen coat and hat, John Stasewich needed only to go out his back door in north Escanaba and down through the jack pines to get to the Bay.

My mother would tell stories of him fishing on the outside in typical Russian style. (He never owned a shack.) Back in the 1930s a meal of fresh fish was a very welcome thing.

My dad came from Gladstone. Up there ice fishing is almost like a second religion. The head of the bay would fill up like a shanty town just like in the movie “Grumpy Old Men.”

My dad’s shack had sled like runners on it so that it could be easily pulled by hand to follow the good fishing spots. Inside the shack were a tiny woodstove and a neat little pile of clippings of wood to feed the fire. It was common for the guy closest to the stove to be sizzling hot, while the fella by the door still had the chill of the lake.

Back then, the ice fishermen tackled the ice with homemade ice chisels and a hand held ice augers.

Holes were cut in the thick lake ice with chain saws to make larger openings in shacks that needed a “view” to watch for a spear pike.

After the block of ice was cut through, it was slid back underneath the ice. Speckled decoy fish were then used to chum in the big predator pikes. As the pretty little fake fish danced in the water the fisherman waited patiently. Would the reptilian looking pickerel come within range to use the spear?

My brother Mark enjoyed his spearing fish shack for many years. Sometimes he’d bring home a large pike that my mom would make the most wonderful fish soup with.

And other times, he’d bring home a damaged decoy after a big fish tried to take a bite out of it.

In the olden days, a lot of “elbow grease” went into ice fishing. Everything was done by hand, blocking up the shack, moving the shack, chopping holes, feeding the fire and dragging everything trough the slushy wet or hard packed snow was work. But it was work well worth it.

When the winds die down, yesterdays are erased again. Today’s ice cover battles some modern shipping channels, bubblers and warmer temperatures.

Snowmobiles, ATVs powered ice augers, propane heaters and fish finders are some of the today’s necessities to ice fish.

But some things never change and the ageless ice still beckons and still provides some awesome fish fries.

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Karen (Rose) Wils is a lifelong north Escanaba resident. Her folksy columns appear weekly in Lifestyles.