This exhibition will consist of hand carved and painted ice fishing decoys. These pieces of folk art from the North Central region of the United States range in style from realistic renderings of fish and bugs to “critters”. There is also a wide range in size, some as small as 3”, others as large as 14”.
Ice fishing dates back to the ancient migration patterns of the earliest North Americans. In present day, ice fishing as a sport is mostly found in regions that have cold, long winters, such as the Great Lakes. The fisherman cuts a hole into the ice and builds over it a small cabin to block out any light. After attaching the decoy to a hand carved jig stick, he drops it into the water. By jigging the stick he can make the decoy move in the manner of a fish and hopefully attract larger fish, like trout, to the surface where the fisherman can spear him.