R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press A cross-country skier and a dog cross the snow-covered ice between fishing shanties on Little Bay de Noc recently. This winter’s prolonged cold weather has provided far better ice and snow than last year, much to the appreciation of anglers and winter sports enthusiasts.

ESCANABA — In the winter wonderland that is the Upper Peninsula, businesses that benefit from tourism are doing much better this year than last. In part, a lack of snow in other places, e.g. Minnesota, has pushed visitors this way.

While Delta County hasn’t seen as much snow as other areas of the U.P., which affects activities like snowmobile trail riding, cold temperatures have provided solid ice for winter anglers on the bays.

“Business is good after a lackluster year previous,” said Paul (“Blade”) Bloedorn of Blade’s Bait and Tackle. “We have excellent ice, and we have a lot of anglers out there enjoying it.”

At the Bay View Motel, “Most of our (guests) are ice fishermen, and we do have a lot more traffic because we have ice this year,” said co-owner Tammy Thiel, adding that while business is noticeably better than last winter, the motel does still have availability.

She noted that the motel’s busiest season by far is summer, but during winters when other regions — like the Lower Peninsula, Wisconsin and Minnesota — don’t have much ice or snow and Little Bay de Noc does, the Bay View can get as busy as summertime, with its attached bait shop an additional draw for ice-fishing visitors.

Blade said that fishing in the bay has been steady and should be picking up and continue to be good until the end of the season on March 15, following a January period he called the “winter blahs” when anglers don’t get many bites.

Early in the season, “there gets to be a lot of pressure and activity on the bay. Fish start to scatter a lot because of all the movement on the ice. It takes them a while to get acclimated to that, and then they get back into their patterns,” Blade explained.

Good fishing makes for increased business for bait shops, shack and trailer rentals, local eateries and lodging.

In the central southern U.P., delayed and little snowfall inhibited certain sports from taking to wooded trails, but exposed areas and ski hills that control and groom the conditions are better equipped.

In areas farther north, west, and east, greater snowfall has attracted snowmobilers, skiers, snowshoers, and sightseers.

“The regions that we consider the major winter destinations, like Ironwood, all the way over to Sault Ste. Marie, up into the Keweenaw and along Lake Superior — they’re having a very, very good winter,” said Tom Nemacheck, executive director for the Upper Peninsula Travel and Recreation Association (UPTRA). “Some of it is the fact that there’s extremely poor or no snow in some of the areas that we compete with, you know, like Minnesota, Wisconsin. …The middle of Minnesota right now is completely brown.”

Nemacheck, who’s been in his role for almost 30 years, said that he’s seen this happen before, during other winters that have graced the U.P. with snow but not other places. He pointed out that many snowmobilers make monthly payments on their machines, and making sure their sleds get ridden is a way of getting their money’s worth.

“They love their activities. So when this happens, this particular scenario, it’s just just logical to go where the snow is,” Nemacheck said.

Some big winter events in the U.P. have passed — the I-500, for example, occurred in Sault Ste. Marie last weekend — but several more are still upcoming and are likely to bring people to different pockets of the U.P.

The UP 200 sled dog race, Winter Carnival at Michigan Tech, Heikki Lunta Winter Festival in Negaunee, the Trenary Outhouse Classic and the Pond Hockey Championship in St. Ignace are still to come, bringing participants and audience members to otherwise-quiet communities.

More snow is still expected, too, and with temperatures to remain below freezing for a while, locals can expect the continuation of winter tourism for some time.