The sport of ice fishing is being transformed by technology

In ancient Israel, somebody walking across a body of water constituted a miracle. In Minnesota, it just means that it is ice fishing season. On a late January afternoon at a bend in the St Croix river, which divides the state from Wisconsin, half a dozen tents are visible, spread evenly across the ice. Inside each one sits one or two people, fishing rods (and perhaps a beer) in hand. Every now and then somebody new arrives, pulls a sled across from the car park, and starts drilling, briefly disturbing the quiet with the sound of an electric motor. All across the surface of the river, the ice is pockmarked with holes about six inches wide. Overhead, a bald eagle circles, perhaps wondering what on earth these people are doing.