Wheelhouses becoming new norm on Minnesota ice Sales ‘extremely strong’ during pandemic BY DAN DETERMAN
Ice fishing has always been a staple activity for Minnesotans, especially in the lakes area, but a new phenomenon has seemingly taken the sport over in the past decade as smaller fish houses have given way to the wheelhouse - often larger structures with features more akin to an RV. At resorts on larger lakes like Mille Lacs, wheelhouses have become a tremendous part of the business model. “The wheelhouse boom has completely transformed the industry over the last 10 years, and will continue to do so,” Red Door Resort owner Brian Linne said. Red Door Resort, on the north side of Mille Lacs Lake, has roughly 220 sites it rents for 26 | 2021 LOVE OF THE LAKES
individuals in the winter, with roughly 90 houses of its own brought out onto the 15-mile stretch of ice it maintains. Then, the resort rents spaces for 60 to 70 wheelhouses, keeping the spaces clear throughout the season. With many people accruing additional savings during the pandemic, wheelhouses seemed to have been a popular purchase for lake goers. “Sales have been extremely strong, especially lately with the pandemic,” said Brett Drexler, team leader at Ice Castle Fish Houses. “I think people are looking for something to do and the recreational lifestyle boomed.” Business was very strong at Red Door Resort in 2019 for ice fishing, largely due
to weather making the ice at resorts farther north impassable early in the season. “A lot of those resorts and other access points further north were closed for a while that season,” Linne said. “We actually had pretty good ice from that standpoint, so we ended up with a lot of that traffic (that may have gone to other lakes).” In 2020, the weather was more cooperative state-wide, but Red Door saw a similar amount of business. Linne believes the COVID-19 pandemic was absolutely a factor in the popularity of ice fishing over the winter months, as well as the increase in wheelhouse sales. “Our fish houses were 100% booked on
