North Dakota fish house regs

So I was scanning over the regs for this winter in case of any changes, and I see a new rule for houses. ” Any house left unattended on ND waters must be able to float” What? How do you make an inch castle float? So no more putting the house out for base camp and searching for a good bite? Or fishing till dark, hitting a hotel, and come back out in the morning? Can anyone she’d any more light on this? I was planning on a trip or 2 with a wheel house this winter.

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So I can see your concern here,it used to state,made of floatable materials,and I dont believe it was ever enforced.The ice is just getting thick enough to start pulling houses out in some places.There have always been lots of ice castles left on the ice in the past,and I believe always will be,at least on Devils Lake,where I am from.I could see this might hold true for a couple places in ND,but not most.
A quick call to our Game and Fish department should clarify it,701-328-6300,Bismarck,or 701-662-3617,our Devils Lake office.Hope it helps!!

I see where it says”if it’s not able to float, it must be removed when the angler leaves the ice.”

I also see that,and if so public outcry will have that changed before season is over.It will definitely be the hot topic at Game and Fish district advisory board meetings!!

My father in law lives in ND and has always said this is the law. He’s not very into fishing so the outreach about this law must be pretty good.

I’ve just never seen it before. The way it was written appeared like a new rule. I’ve been fishing Devil’s lake area for 6-7 years now, 2-3 day trips. I see a lot of houses that probably wouldn’t float….

So I did a little checking on this subject this afternoon,since my son also leaves an ice castle on the lake for extended periods.
First I read the ice house regulations in the 2018-2020 proclaimation,wording was slightly different,but basically saying the same thing.
Next I called our district Game and Fish office,and was assured they could be left out there unattended,same as always,and they would have to actually put the house in the water to see if it would float or not,and they were not about to do that!!
We had a good chuckle about that!!Maybe we will see a change in wording for the 2020-2022 proclaimation!!