The Story Behind Minnesota’s Biggest Fish Tale Ever Told, Hookers On Ice
Former Ohio Mayor Craig Shubert made headlines when he suggested that ice fishing may lead to prostitution. Which naturally led to an old urban legend about Minnesota ice fishing. Forget about Sasquatch and the Lochness Monster, Minnesota has tales about "Hookers on Ice".
Shubert was the mayor of Hudson, Ohio a small town with a population of about 22,000 people. Ice fishing was not allowed in the city of Hudson until a meeting was held this past week where city officials decided to allow it at city parks. During the meeting was when the former mayor spoke up about it leading to ice shanties and then prostitution. Shubert has since resigned and you can check out the clip below:
It definitely went viral. There was stunned silence and laughter after he made the accusation. Even Charlie Berens had something to say about it:
So where does this all stem from? Well, allegedly there is an old Minnesota Urban Legend about prostitutes plying their trade in ice shanties along Milles Lac Lake in Minnesota. Let's dive right on into it, shall we?
I found an article dating back to 1988 simply tilted "Hookers on Ice". According to the article, it's "a tale that doesn't really need to be verified to be widely believed". It states that prostitutes have plied their trade on the frozen lake where some plush fish houses have such niceties as beds, refrigerators, stoves, televisions and stereos.
The article even went on to say there very well could be isolated instances of prostitution on a frozen lake where as many as 10,000 men gather on winter weekends. An Aitkin County Sheriff even said a deputy investigated a report that a pair of local women were selling sex in the area, but there was not enough evidence to make an arrest.
So there's no actual evidence on if these stories are actually true or not, but some say ice fishing can get pretty lonely. Once again I found myself at another ice fishing story. I went from a one-of-a-kind ice fishing limousine house near Minnesota to a hilarious Minnesota ice fishing fail, and now talking about hookers on ice. Who would have thought?