I have not been to the L'anse area to check the ice personally, but a friend who drove along the lakeshore on US41 this past weekend said there were about 30 vehicles parked along side the road at the red rocks, down from the Bishop Baraga statue. He also said the parked cars were the people that were fishing in that area. He said there were about 20 tents on the ice in that area, a hundred yards or so from shore. I cannot attest to the safety of the ice, but if 20+ people are in that location, it must be decent. Good luck. Be heading there myself from Houghton in the next week after several days of cold weather forecast for here.