Dipping temperatures spawn ice-fishing villages on Maine lakes and ponds and many baby boomers hooked on the sport are promulgating the age-old tradition.

Joe Dame, 50, of Standish, and Chris Parker, 42, of Sebago, are regulars who tackle the elements to take part in the sport. Both are passing on the legacy to family.

Fishing shacks dotting the ice-covered scenery become proverbial neighborhoods. Dame has braved the cold to fish on the ice for 35 years and he enjoys the company out on the ice. “People are pretty friendly,” Dame said about what becomes seasonal neighborhoods.

Over the years, ice fishing has been a family event for the Dame family. Dame said his 24-year-old son, who grew up in the sport, still enjoys it. But interest has waned for Dame’s wife, Michelle.

When the couple’s children were growing up, they participated as a family. She bundled up the kids and packed up hot chocolate. They even took their dogs. “It’s a good family day out,” Joe Dame said.

But now the children are adults and Dame’s wife has lost interest in ice fishing. “She gets bored,” Dame said.

“He’s hardcore,” Michelle Dame said. “He stays out there all day.”

Dame is one of a dozen friends who will trek north to the Moosehead Lake area for ice fishing. While many fishermen drag homemade shacks out onto the ice, Dame has a portable fishing shack from L.L. Bean. The shack sets up quickly, like a tent. Besides fishing locally, he likes to venture around the state to fish with his buddies.

Chris Parker and his family fish close to home. Ice fishing has been a generational sport for Parker. He learned to ice fish from his grandfather and now he takes a grandson along. Parker fishes with his dad, Abe Parker.

For Dame and Parker, the villages of fishing shacks become societies. “People like to get together and tell stories,” Parker said. “It’s mostly hunting stories.”

“I talk with everybody, ” Parker said. ‘I’m a social butterfly.”

The Parkers take four-wheelers out onto the ice and the younger family members use them to visit other shacks. They fish Hancock and Walden ponds in Denmark, Tricky Pond in Naples or Sand Pond in Baldwin.

If Dame is fishing at Hancock or Trickey ponds, he shops at Jordan’s Store across Route 114 from the lake in Sebago to buy bait from Carroll Cutting. The store is a favorite gathering spot to talk fishing.

Many fishermen shun chain stores to buy in the community where they fish. Parker is also a customer at Jordan’s. He obtains his state fishing license, bait and other needs there. “I try to buy everything from Carroll,” Parker said.

Dame’s daughter, Jessica Dame, works in the store, which lures anglers. Fishermen and families famished by cold chow down on sandwiches, chips and pizza bought at the store. “Quick stuff,” she said.

Eating is a major event to help stay warm while manning the fishing holes drilled through ice with augers. Equipped with Coleman stoves out on the ice, Dame and friends cook up burgers and deer steak, if one of them was successful during the hunting season. “Everyone brings something out,” Dame said.

“You’re out in the fresh air, you’re hungry,” Dame said.

There’s camaraderie on the ice. Dame said fishermen in other shacks willingly share information. The fishermen become a close-knit community, looking out for one another.

If an unattended fishing shack is in danger of sinking, someone will go to the rescue. “They’ll help you out,” Dame said. “In a little village, someone knows you.”

Parker and his dad once “lassoed” a shack, owned by another fisherman from Standish, that had flipped over and was in danger of sinking. The grateful owner returned to leave a gift. And Parker helped rescue a snowmobiler, who had plunged through the ice.

Although large holes can swallow people and their machines, fishermen claim their own fishing holes and Parker hasn’t seen anyone try to take over someone’s favorite spot. “Ninety-nine percent are sociable,” Parker said.

Ice fishing is an affordable sport. Once the gear has been purchased, Dame said it’s inexpensive. “For $20 (including gasoline, if fishing locally) you can enjoy yourself all day,” Dame said.

But Dame cautions people to be properly dressed for ice fishing to withstand the cold and wind chills. “Be prepared,” Dame said. “Sometimes its brutal.”

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