In Ice Tribes James Card makes the case that ice fishing is much more than an oddball outdoor activity: It’s a sport of strategy, stoicism, and analytical skill. It can also be a sport of camaraderie, a winter lifestyle all its own. Where ice fishers gather, they create a feeling of festivity and community spirit.

Card’s Ice Tribes is an exploration and celebration of America’s Ice Belt—the latitudinal tier where water temporarily turns solid for a few months each year and provides a playground for those who love the ice. Card fishes on remote sloughs on the northern plains and lands fish in northern lakes. He profiles innovators and inventors who have transformed ice fishing; he delves into regional practices such as spearing pike and sturgeon in dark houses and other specialized techniques for certain species of fish.

In Ice Tribes Card explores the traditions of ice fishing and the science of ice formation, cataloging the joys and wonders of the sport even as he depicts the terror of breaking through the ice and ponders ice fishing’s future in a changing climate.