what about when the ice melts

[Ampenah]

so this isnt anything really applicable to the actual game, but it's something that's always kinda. prodded at me.
Most, if not all, of the ice fishing huts are over water (duh thats where the fish are). Now, the Long Dark of course has all of these places frozen over, with the only running water being in waterfalls or the start of the ocean, understandably. But what about before it all froze over? Are the ice fishing huts just. floating houses that miraculously didn't drift away or sink when the lakes froze?
I guess you could say that people built the huts on the ice after the freeze, but they all look so well put-together, and there's so many that I doubt someone could build those in the freezing cold, gathering the materials for carpentry and walking out on ice, in the case of desolation point and the highway, that was hard to trust, at least early on.

[zcapp96]

I assume they are kept on land during the summer and pushed out in the winter once the ice is strong enough, this is set in northern Canada!

[Ampenah]

ah, that makes a good bit of sense haha! sorry, i'm from the mojave desert, so it's an event whenever we get rain, nevermind low enough temperatures for snow and ice.

[Liliel]

Portable huts is the most likely explanation, they often have some type of sled legs under them to make moving easy.
But I've also come across floating saunas and cabins, you just anchor them in place. Those might be a problem at winter though, since there's a big chance they'll freeze into place at an angle.
I've also once seen and interesting solution, a little hut that was placed on top of some kind of pillar. We'd swim out to it and hang out. I guess this one only works if the lake has an incredibly steady water surface level hahah

[iheartmyocd]

Ice huts are stored at home (usually, some people with year 'round camps store them there) and transported via truck bed or trailer to the lake where they are pushed into position. In areas where ice fishing takes place, (here), people keep track of the ice's thickness from the moment it first freezes and the fishing season will not begin until it is thick enough to be safe.

My brother-in-law is a devoted ice fisherman and has a fishing hut he made from a one man camper trailer (caravan) which he put on runners and has installed a wood stove in.

[Stridswombat]

Nevermind ice fishing huts, they remove whole bridges during Winter where I live and then put them back again for spring.