A source for fishing reports, product reviews, and up to date information on Lake Minnetonka.
Showing posts with label Humminbird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Humminbird. Show all posts
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Another day, another fish! (1/27/2012)
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Fishing Report - Wayzata Bay (1/26/2011 @ 4:00 - 7:00)
Got out again today. Another quick update since there's fish being fried right this second (Ended up holding off last time).
Not many new developments for you, unfortunately, but I can say that the bite is definitely still going.
(Almost forgot to take a picture, but I did snap one of my dad filleting the fish. If you want to see it, click here, but I'm going to refrain from putting it up on the page since it's not quite as nice to look at fillets as it is to see some fish.)
Still ~20' (19' exactly, this time). Tried to get onto a bit of a shelf this time as opposed to being on the transition, did just as well as I've been doing.
Got to bring my Dad out today, which was really nice. He's the one who got me interested in fishing way back when I was about 5 years old. He bought a house on Minnetonka specifically for that reason (As well as a boat, obviously). He's put more money and effort into this hobby then I ever could have, but has never had squat for luck with Walleyes on Minnetonka. Hearing "Oh man, this is awesome!" and "WOW, that was cool!" a couple times tonight made it all worth it. Walleye are, by far, his favorite fish to catch, but as I said, his walleye count on Minnetonka was at 2 (In a total of 17 years living on the lake) and one of which was a fluke (Caught it while targetting pike). After tonight, he's up to 5. Still no incredible feat, but to double your count in one night after 17 years, I think it meant a lot to him.
We totaled 5 fish, 3 kept (One was a little small, but it was the first of the night and my Dad was pretty excited about it), 2 went back, and a handful of perch like usual.
One thing that was different is that I stayed out a quite a bit later then usual due to a recommendation from a reader (Thanks Nate!) who said he was having luck from 6-7, and it seemed to pay off! We caught 4 from 5-6, then managed 2 more around 6:30. There was a quiet spell in between the two bites though.
I'll also advise to avoid days like today where the ice was noisy as heck. I know the fish count doesn't do that claim justice, but it's hard not to notice that the fishing shuts down when the ice starts talking.
The other two nights that I've been out have been conveniently timed with a rising barometer, and I've caught fish, today wasn't too much different: Pressure 29.74 in (Rising) (From WeatherUnderground)
Not many new developments for you, unfortunately, but I can say that the bite is definitely still going.
(Almost forgot to take a picture, but I did snap one of my dad filleting the fish. If you want to see it, click here, but I'm going to refrain from putting it up on the page since it's not quite as nice to look at fillets as it is to see some fish.)
Still ~20' (19' exactly, this time). Tried to get onto a bit of a shelf this time as opposed to being on the transition, did just as well as I've been doing.
Got to bring my Dad out today, which was really nice. He's the one who got me interested in fishing way back when I was about 5 years old. He bought a house on Minnetonka specifically for that reason (As well as a boat, obviously). He's put more money and effort into this hobby then I ever could have, but has never had squat for luck with Walleyes on Minnetonka. Hearing "Oh man, this is awesome!" and "WOW, that was cool!" a couple times tonight made it all worth it. Walleye are, by far, his favorite fish to catch, but as I said, his walleye count on Minnetonka was at 2 (In a total of 17 years living on the lake) and one of which was a fluke (Caught it while targetting pike). After tonight, he's up to 5. Still no incredible feat, but to double your count in one night after 17 years, I think it meant a lot to him.
We totaled 5 fish, 3 kept (One was a little small, but it was the first of the night and my Dad was pretty excited about it), 2 went back, and a handful of perch like usual.
One thing that was different is that I stayed out a quite a bit later then usual due to a recommendation from a reader (Thanks Nate!) who said he was having luck from 6-7, and it seemed to pay off! We caught 4 from 5-6, then managed 2 more around 6:30. There was a quiet spell in between the two bites though.
I'll also advise to avoid days like today where the ice was noisy as heck. I know the fish count doesn't do that claim justice, but it's hard not to notice that the fishing shuts down when the ice starts talking.
The other two nights that I've been out have been conveniently timed with a rising barometer, and I've caught fish, today wasn't too much different: Pressure 29.74 in (Rising) (From WeatherUnderground)
Oh, one more bit of good news, bringing my Dad out to catch some fish finally convinced him it's about time to go get the wheel house, so I'm really hoping we'll have that on the ice by this weekend. For those interested, we also saw three pickups all around 1 house that was easily 8x16 (Looked like an ice castle), so if that doesn't convince you that people are out on Wayzata in "full force" then I don't know what will.
Questions/Comments/Concerns, shoot me an email (holland.joe@gmail.com) or leave a comment.
Tight Lines!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Fishing Report - Wayzata Bay (1/24/2012 @ 4:00-5:45)
Got out to Wayzata again today, in the process of frying up some fish now so I'm gonna keep this one a bit shorter.
Got to my spot around 4:30 (This spot is a little further away then the last spot, but still very similar structure), sun was already on it's way down. Quickly drilled about 3 holes all of which were between 17-22'. Marked fish on all three holes but stuck with the 19' hole (Mainly because the ATV was close by, and I usually setup near it to block wind).
About an hour of pulling up nothing but perch (Again though, these perch were really nice sizes. Even bigger than the ones from the last outing. Biggest was probably 9". Still not much of a keeper, but nice to see.)
Then, just like the last time I was out, the instant that sun hit the horizon (Not that it was very visible in the first place, though..) the walleyes moved in. There was a good 10-15 minute period between the perch bite and the walleye bite, but stick through it and you might have some luck. 19 feet of water, on a hump rather then a hole, and using a Northland Tackle Moxie Minnow tipped with minnow heads (All the sponsor-hype about this jigging spoon aside, I've been having some really, really great luck with it. Lift it up 4-5 feet then let it flutter down and you'll usually get at least one fish that's somewhat interested).
The walleyes were both bigger and smaller then last time. Biggest one came in at 18", smallest was 9", with a couple between 9"-12". Didn't keep the smaller guys this time, got enough from the last outing for a meal, so I figured it'd be better for them to go back and grow a bit.
So again, similar things that have provided luck both outings now.
Lastly, I saw about 8 full sized pickups out there, as well as at least two wheel houses. So I'd say it's a pretty safe bet to drive out there. I was on about 14" of ice myself.
If you've got any questions, comments, or are even just looking to be pointed in the right direction, feel free to leave a comment below, or shoot me an email @ holland.joe@gmail.com.
Tight Lines!
Got to my spot around 4:30 (This spot is a little further away then the last spot, but still very similar structure), sun was already on it's way down. Quickly drilled about 3 holes all of which were between 17-22'. Marked fish on all three holes but stuck with the 19' hole (Mainly because the ATV was close by, and I usually setup near it to block wind).
About an hour of pulling up nothing but perch (Again though, these perch were really nice sizes. Even bigger than the ones from the last outing. Biggest was probably 9". Still not much of a keeper, but nice to see.)
Then, just like the last time I was out, the instant that sun hit the horizon (Not that it was very visible in the first place, though..) the walleyes moved in. There was a good 10-15 minute period between the perch bite and the walleye bite, but stick through it and you might have some luck. 19 feet of water, on a hump rather then a hole, and using a Northland Tackle Moxie Minnow tipped with minnow heads (All the sponsor-hype about this jigging spoon aside, I've been having some really, really great luck with it. Lift it up 4-5 feet then let it flutter down and you'll usually get at least one fish that's somewhat interested).The walleyes were both bigger and smaller then last time. Biggest one came in at 18", smallest was 9", with a couple between 9"-12". Didn't keep the smaller guys this time, got enough from the last outing for a meal, so I figured it'd be better for them to go back and grow a bit.
So again, similar things that have provided luck both outings now.
- 20 feet of water (Despite the guy at Wayzata Bait telling me people were finding fish out deeper)
- Humps / Sunken Islands / Spines seem to be preferred to holes / bowls
- SUNDOWN. SUNDOWN. SUNDOWN. Can't stress this enough. Again, my window of good fishing was a mere 30-45 minutes long.
- Stick around. Perch can be a good sign.
Lastly, I saw about 8 full sized pickups out there, as well as at least two wheel houses. So I'd say it's a pretty safe bet to drive out there. I was on about 14" of ice myself.
If you've got any questions, comments, or are even just looking to be pointed in the right direction, feel free to leave a comment below, or shoot me an email @ holland.joe@gmail.com.
Tight Lines!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Walleyes! (1/19/2012 @ 12:00 - 5:00)
Got out on the ice today and did a good bit of live streaming. Had a request from a reader as far as some walleye spots on Tonka. Unfortunately, he asked for spots "other then Wayzata bay" and the spot I ended up at was on Wayzata bay, but either way, fish on!Got to my spot around 12:30 after having some trouble starting the ATV in this cold weather. As if that wasn't enough trouble, on my way out I had the fish house jackknife out to the side due to so much clear ice and almost ran over it. In an attempt to stop, I actually did run over it a little bit, but no damage was done. To make it even worse, as I tried to shift gears from drive into neutral, it went an extra gear past neutral and went into reverse. Luckily the hitch that I have on my house released rather then staying attached, or else I would've been going backwards right on top of my portable. Lastly, once I finally did get to my spot, after drilling only 3 holes I ran out of gas mid-way through the 4th. At this point I was almost ready to head home.
Figured I'd give it some time and after hole hopping a bit I settled on the one that seemed to have the biggest perch. Not that I was too happy about that, but it's not a bad sight pulling 6-7-8" through the ice one after the next. I wouldn't be too sad to have Minnetonka turn into a good perch fishing lake if nothing else. It was about 3 hours of on and off fish, for 20 minutes you'd catch them one after the next, 20 minutes later it'd be dead silent, them's the breaks on Minnetonka.
Right before sundown (Literally, about 2 minutes after the sun went past the horizon) was when the fishing finally turned on. Walleye after walleye for a solid 20 minutes, in total I pulled 6 of them through the ice and kept 5. The last one was a bit small, and I figured I'd give him a couple more years before he makes it to the table. Was fishing in about 20 feet of water, and pulled every fish right up off the bottom. Had a Northland Tackle Moxie Minnow tied on with minnow heads as a kicker.
For those of you who stuck it out with me on the live stream, thanks a bunch! You can watch the video I took after the break. The action starts at about 5:00 and is pretty constant for about 15 minutes, then the last fish come up right near the end of the video.
P.S. Forgot to mention I was seeing cars and SUVs out on Wayzata Bay. I won't say it's safe yet (Saw 11" of ice myself) but after this week I'd say it's probably safe to say otherwise.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Mille Lacs Fishing Report (1/6/2012 @ 7:00AM - 7:00PM)
Update: Apparently certain message boards no longer think that my content is suitable for their websites. I won't mention any names. Just a heads up for those of you who've been linked to this site from another, and want to keep following the blog. I appreciate everyone who's been sending emails and supporting the blog, as I've been having a great time (attempting!) to keep it up to date, and help people get on some fish themselves. As I've said before, I'd love for this to be somewhat of a "hub" for Minnetonka info, so if people have some reports they want to share, let me know!
Another update is that we're currently in the process of converting our old ATV into an ice machine. Think Lake of the Woods IceFox style ice machine. Oh yes.
Just got back from a pretty darn good day out on the ice. We headed up to Mille Lacs (I know, I know, it's a Minnetonka blog, but it's also a fishing blog ;) ) and rented a house through Lyback's fishing resort. Going to Lyback's has always been somewhat of a tradition for my family. My father and all his brothers have been going out there for going on 40 years now and despite having the capability of using our own house (As seen on the right sidebar) we still like to try to go out of Lyback's at the very least once every couple years. These guys go through hell and back just so you can have a smooth and worry free day on the ice even if you're not renting from them, so we figure it's always good to pay it back once and a while.
And with that being said, THANKS to Eddy (And his staff, I apologize for forgetting the guy's name who helped us out). Not only did you make the trip seamless, but you also managed to put us on fish, and point us in the right direction of fish when the bite turns off.
Got to the house at 7:00am, and I didn't last longer than about 30-45 minutes before I took to the portable. Drilled a good 10 holes in the Pope's Reef area and wasn't having much luck. Marked a fish here and there, and not many takers. Decided to head out towards the Graveyard since that's always kind of been our favorite spot out of Lybacks. Found about 20-22 feet of water and was hammering the perch one after another, but they were even smaller then the perch we get on Tonka! Couldn't stand losing that much bait for nothing, so I started back towards the house to see if my father and uncle were having much luck. Stopped at one last spot just south of the Graveyard and managed to find exactly what I was looking for. Got about 8 real nice jumbo's within roughly an hour window. I'd say from 9:30-11:00am, about 16 feet of water, and the structure that I was looking for was sort of an "underwater channel" so to speak. Eurolarvae were the ticket for me today. A Northland Tackle Moxie Minnow, tipped with a few larvae, and the perch would SLAM that thing. Minnows and minnow heads would get some real light bites, but as I said, larvae were the hot bite (All walleye came on fatheads, though).
The guys at the house (on Pope's) managed a few smaller perch, and some small eater eye's, as well as the biggun' of the day that came in around 5:00pm (Although, we'd swear this fish had been cruising around our spot for a couple hours because we'd seen him swim by a couple times). We didn't want to bother measuring and being disappointed that it wasn't keepable, so we didn't grab an exact length, but I'd guess around 24". The bite at the house, other than the one walleye, had almost shut off completely by about 3:00. Ice conditions were... strange, but for the most part, safe.
By no means a record breaking day on Mille Lacs, but seeing as we were told when we got up there that the bite hadn't been very good the past couple days, and that we "just missed" it, I'll take what I got!
Tight lines.
(Pardon my french :P - Also, I stop saying much of anything around 14:00, until the last few minutes of the second video. Unfortunately, as soon as I got around to re-rigging the camera mount and starting up the live stream, everything had quieted down.)
Another update is that we're currently in the process of converting our old ATV into an ice machine. Think Lake of the Woods IceFox style ice machine. Oh yes.
Just got back from a pretty darn good day out on the ice. We headed up to Mille Lacs (I know, I know, it's a Minnetonka blog, but it's also a fishing blog ;) ) and rented a house through Lyback's fishing resort. Going to Lyback's has always been somewhat of a tradition for my family. My father and all his brothers have been going out there for going on 40 years now and despite having the capability of using our own house (As seen on the right sidebar) we still like to try to go out of Lyback's at the very least once every couple years. These guys go through hell and back just so you can have a smooth and worry free day on the ice even if you're not renting from them, so we figure it's always good to pay it back once and a while.
And with that being said, THANKS to Eddy (And his staff, I apologize for forgetting the guy's name who helped us out). Not only did you make the trip seamless, but you also managed to put us on fish, and point us in the right direction of fish when the bite turns off.
Got to the house at 7:00am, and I didn't last longer than about 30-45 minutes before I took to the portable. Drilled a good 10 holes in the Pope's Reef area and wasn't having much luck. Marked a fish here and there, and not many takers. Decided to head out towards the Graveyard since that's always kind of been our favorite spot out of Lybacks. Found about 20-22 feet of water and was hammering the perch one after another, but they were even smaller then the perch we get on Tonka! Couldn't stand losing that much bait for nothing, so I started back towards the house to see if my father and uncle were having much luck. Stopped at one last spot just south of the Graveyard and managed to find exactly what I was looking for. Got about 8 real nice jumbo's within roughly an hour window. I'd say from 9:30-11:00am, about 16 feet of water, and the structure that I was looking for was sort of an "underwater channel" so to speak. Eurolarvae were the ticket for me today. A Northland Tackle Moxie Minnow, tipped with a few larvae, and the perch would SLAM that thing. Minnows and minnow heads would get some real light bites, but as I said, larvae were the hot bite (All walleye came on fatheads, though).
By no means a record breaking day on Mille Lacs, but seeing as we were told when we got up there that the bite hadn't been very good the past couple days, and that we "just missed" it, I'll take what I got!
Tight lines.
(Pardon my french :P - Also, I stop saying much of anything around 14:00, until the last few minutes of the second video. Unfortunately, as soon as I got around to re-rigging the camera mount and starting up the live stream, everything had quieted down.)
Friday, December 23, 2011
Fishing Report (12/23/2011 @ 11:00-4:45) - Wayzata Bay
Got out again for a good portion of the day today. Started on Gray's but was quickly in nothing but perch again and got tired of wasting minnows so I hopped the causeway and went over to Wayzata Bay. Had enough ice to walk everywhere I went, and I saw people walking/fishing around a good majority of the bay, including over by the Yatch club landing. The ice was a bit spotty though. I was on 8+" in one spot, then less then 6" in another. Never saw anything under 4-5", but as I said, it was definitely spotty.
Managed to get a fish worth mentioning finally. Pulled in this ~30" northern around 1:00. Saw another one on the sonar (and could see him down the hole) but he wouldn't bite not matter what was thrown at him. Was fishing in about 12' when I saw the northerns, later moved a bit deeper (As deep as 34') but never had much luck.
This guy gave me quite a run for my money. As soon as he hit, he snapped the tape that was on my reel (The tape that comes standard on a Frabill straight-line combo) so be weary of that happening to yourself if you hook into a nice fish. Spent the entire 5:00 fight holding the reel onto the rod with one hand, while trying to reel with the other.
With that being said, I don't think I've ever had so much fun pulling in a pig northern like this on the ice as I did with that straight line combo. The 1:1 gear ratio, and the fact that the fish can literally take a dive and spin the reel right out of your grip makes the fight an absolute blast. I've had a few issues with tangles so far, but I think that's mostly because I was trying to reel the line out backwards rather than just pull it out like normal fly fisherman do. Since switching to the pull-only method, everything's been just dandy. I really recommend grabbing one of these rods if you haven't already, or at least a fly reel. I saw a decent looking one at Dick's the other day for only $20 that I might go grab if it's any comparison.
Aside from the one fish, I spent most of the day hole hopping and trying to find something steady. I was marking fish every 15 minutes or so, but I couldn't get any of them to commit for the life of me. Also had more than one school of perch move in on me.
I'm hoping I'll be able to give the other end of Wayzata a try next. Probably not tomorrow since I have a family get-together, but maybe on Christmas day.
This guy gave me quite a run for my money. As soon as he hit, he snapped the tape that was on my reel (The tape that comes standard on a Frabill straight-line combo) so be weary of that happening to yourself if you hook into a nice fish. Spent the entire 5:00 fight holding the reel onto the rod with one hand, while trying to reel with the other.
With that being said, I don't think I've ever had so much fun pulling in a pig northern like this on the ice as I did with that straight line combo. The 1:1 gear ratio, and the fact that the fish can literally take a dive and spin the reel right out of your grip makes the fight an absolute blast. I've had a few issues with tangles so far, but I think that's mostly because I was trying to reel the line out backwards rather than just pull it out like normal fly fisherman do. Since switching to the pull-only method, everything's been just dandy. I really recommend grabbing one of these rods if you haven't already, or at least a fly reel. I saw a decent looking one at Dick's the other day for only $20 that I might go grab if it's any comparison.
Aside from the one fish, I spent most of the day hole hopping and trying to find something steady. I was marking fish every 15 minutes or so, but I couldn't get any of them to commit for the life of me. Also had more than one school of perch move in on me.
I'm hoping I'll be able to give the other end of Wayzata a try next. Probably not tomorrow since I have a family get-together, but maybe on Christmas day.
Still working on perfecting the video making, as I screwed up the audio again and the angle of the video is pretty bad, but literally as I hit RECORD the fish nailed my bait, really wish I would've got the audio of my reaction :/
Video of the fight with the Northern. Comes through the ice first @ 4:14
Fishing Report (12/22/2011 @ 12:00-6:00)
Finally got out in full force today, so to speak, and had a pretty good day on the ice. The fishing was pretty constant, but it was mostly smaller little perch. Got a couple good sized bluegills, and right at sundown I missed a good hard bite that I picked up right off the bottom.The perch bite was so hot that I couldn't even keep them off my hook. Not that that's a good thing.. But I snapped the picture (below) of one fish, and in the background you can see my bobber already on it's way back down.
There were quite a few others out today, which was real nice to see. Probably a total of about 15 people came and went over the course of the day. Plenty of ice, so if you've got the itch to go out fishing and not go too far, Gray's is a good bet.Snapped this picture near sundown to show a few of the other guys that were out there. I was one of the farthest people to the north, no one seemed to venture too far past the drop off into the main hole.
Also managed to test out my phone's streaming capabilities. The video didn't turn out great seeing as it was just a test. I plan on getting a mount for it, and hopefully get some decent videos up which people will be able to watch live (Stuck at work dreaming of fishing?) or on demand whenever you'd like. This is the first one, like I said, it's just a test, so bear with the horrible filming, quality, and sound. About half way through the audio cut out and never turned back on (I hit mute :P) too so it might get pretty boring after that, not that the first half is very exciting in it's own.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Apologies! ...and mods!
Extremely sorry about the lack of updates within the past few days. I'm on call for work, and this just happened to be a weekend that we were doing a server migration for a customer out in Spring Park, which ended up taking roughly 20 hours over the course of Saturday and Sunday (Plus another 4 on Monday..). Which also led into a 10 hour day on Monday, and a 11 hour day on Tuesday because of various issues we never got to over the weekend.
But, enough excuses. In the midst of all this working, I managed to get a few hours to myself to make some modifications to the portable fish house, as well as purchased a new GPS/Sonar. Oh, I also plan on getting on the ice on Wednesday, provided everything's held up alright over these warm days (I'm pretty confident it has, I've seen fisherman on Gray's everyday from Friday until Tuesday).
The unit I picked up is the Humminbird 385ci GPS/Fishfinder Ice Combo. I was lucky enough to snag the last one from the Gander Mountain store closing sale (5% off all ice fishing stuff, 20% off electronics, 10% off shelters, 30% off fishing stuff, 30% off everything in store unless marked otherwise, etc.) and despite being listed as $450.00 on their website, it was only $400.00 in store, and there was a orange sticker on it that brought it down to $350.00. That, plus the 20% off, gave me a $450.00 unit for just under $300.00 after tax, not too bad. Can't exactly give you a review of it yet, as I haven't gotten to use it, but my reasoning for picking it up (despite the sale) was a review from another guy who told me that he'd used the normal circular flasher dial his whole life, and since switching to a vertical display, he vows he'll never go back. Other reasons were to have a bow mount fishfinder in the boat, to have a GPS so I don't have to constantly steal my Dad's, so I have an extra flasher if I decide to bring a buddy out (still have my Ice-35), and because I figure even if I dislike the vertical display, I always have a flasher-mode. Like I said, no review yet, but look for it in the next couple days after I get out on the ice.
On to the portable modifications...
As you can pretty obviously see, I'm still using a rather old portable (It's next on the upgrade list), I believe ~12 years old. We've since replaced the tent and done a few upgrades, though.
A lot of people modify their portables and make them look a lot nicer. Me? Not so much. I'm for function over aesthetics. The modifications we've made are all quite simple, and the number one consideration going into each of them was weight.
The chairs that came with this unit eventually broke, so we took a bench press bench and used the two cushions to make a couple new sliding seats, I'm hoping to add a couple folding backrests this year.
The center console is simply a piece of wood about 16" wide and just long enough to go from the front of the sled to the back. All it is, is a hole for the bucket and a square-shaped hole for the cooler we most commonly use. Depending on the day (If we plan on being out a long time or not so much), the cooler slot is also used for our minnow bucket which has a very similar size thus allowing a nice snug fit to avoid any sloshes and spills during transport.
The "shelf" on the front was just added this weekend. It folds up for travel (Secured simply with the blue bungee cord you can see in the second picture), and down for use. All it is, or will be, is a couple cup holders, and a small place to temporarily place jigs/weights/depth finders/whatever.
The two red rod holders are simply these, cut down to size, and mounted with a simple bracket. They can move front/back, but are sturdy enough to hold your rod without tilting on it's own.
I also picked up a Fish Trap Organizer, and some Red Rope Christmas Lights. I see tons of new lighting options all over the place, but I've yet to see anyone who offers red (Aside from Chrstmas lights). Why'd I go with red? Well, many night walleye fisherman probably already know, but for the rest of you, it's simple enough. With the red light, you don't have to allow nearly as much time for your eyes to adjust to the darkness as you would if you're sitting in a fish trap with nothing but those bright-white LED lights. Typically, as the night comes, I'm moving less often, so it's not necessarily a game changer, but it's something I highly prefer over the white lights. The Organizer I picked up for pretty obvious reasons, to organize stuff. Simply a place to put my jig boxes and any other loose tackle. The selling point for me though, was the addition of the plastic hooks on the bottom of the organizer allowing you to hang up your coat, gloves, etc.
Aside from those few things, not much has changed, but that's not to say that the experience on the ice in this house hasn't changed. Simple upgrades like these (Cup holders, more space to place things aside from in the sled itself/on the ice, etc) make everything that much easier. We've all been in the situation where in the process of untangling your line, you accidentally kick over your pop then knock something down a hole, then drop the rod, and so on, when it rains it pours. It's small little mods like these that can help alleviate those frustrating situations. It's also nice to know that your rods and bait bucket aren't flying around loose in your sled somewhere while you're driving the ATV from spot to spot. Again, small things like these that just make everything else go that much smoother.
I've still got this itch that I haven't scratched quite yet, so here's to a slow work day and a full day on the ice! See you out there!
But, enough excuses. In the midst of all this working, I managed to get a few hours to myself to make some modifications to the portable fish house, as well as purchased a new GPS/Sonar. Oh, I also plan on getting on the ice on Wednesday, provided everything's held up alright over these warm days (I'm pretty confident it has, I've seen fisherman on Gray's everyday from Friday until Tuesday).
The unit I picked up is the Humminbird 385ci GPS/Fishfinder Ice Combo. I was lucky enough to snag the last one from the Gander Mountain store closing sale (5% off all ice fishing stuff, 20% off electronics, 10% off shelters, 30% off fishing stuff, 30% off everything in store unless marked otherwise, etc.) and despite being listed as $450.00 on their website, it was only $400.00 in store, and there was a orange sticker on it that brought it down to $350.00. That, plus the 20% off, gave me a $450.00 unit for just under $300.00 after tax, not too bad. Can't exactly give you a review of it yet, as I haven't gotten to use it, but my reasoning for picking it up (despite the sale) was a review from another guy who told me that he'd used the normal circular flasher dial his whole life, and since switching to a vertical display, he vows he'll never go back. Other reasons were to have a bow mount fishfinder in the boat, to have a GPS so I don't have to constantly steal my Dad's, so I have an extra flasher if I decide to bring a buddy out (still have my Ice-35), and because I figure even if I dislike the vertical display, I always have a flasher-mode. Like I said, no review yet, but look for it in the next couple days after I get out on the ice.
On to the portable modifications...
As you can pretty obviously see, I'm still using a rather old portable (It's next on the upgrade list), I believe ~12 years old. We've since replaced the tent and done a few upgrades, though.
A lot of people modify their portables and make them look a lot nicer. Me? Not so much. I'm for function over aesthetics. The modifications we've made are all quite simple, and the number one consideration going into each of them was weight.
The chairs that came with this unit eventually broke, so we took a bench press bench and used the two cushions to make a couple new sliding seats, I'm hoping to add a couple folding backrests this year.
The center console is simply a piece of wood about 16" wide and just long enough to go from the front of the sled to the back. All it is, is a hole for the bucket and a square-shaped hole for the cooler we most commonly use. Depending on the day (If we plan on being out a long time or not so much), the cooler slot is also used for our minnow bucket which has a very similar size thus allowing a nice snug fit to avoid any sloshes and spills during transport.
The "shelf" on the front was just added this weekend. It folds up for travel (Secured simply with the blue bungee cord you can see in the second picture), and down for use. All it is, or will be, is a couple cup holders, and a small place to temporarily place jigs/weights/depth finders/whatever.
The two red rod holders are simply these, cut down to size, and mounted with a simple bracket. They can move front/back, but are sturdy enough to hold your rod without tilting on it's own.
I also picked up a Fish Trap Organizer, and some Red Rope Christmas Lights. I see tons of new lighting options all over the place, but I've yet to see anyone who offers red (Aside from Chrstmas lights). Why'd I go with red? Well, many night walleye fisherman probably already know, but for the rest of you, it's simple enough. With the red light, you don't have to allow nearly as much time for your eyes to adjust to the darkness as you would if you're sitting in a fish trap with nothing but those bright-white LED lights. Typically, as the night comes, I'm moving less often, so it's not necessarily a game changer, but it's something I highly prefer over the white lights. The Organizer I picked up for pretty obvious reasons, to organize stuff. Simply a place to put my jig boxes and any other loose tackle. The selling point for me though, was the addition of the plastic hooks on the bottom of the organizer allowing you to hang up your coat, gloves, etc.
Aside from those few things, not much has changed, but that's not to say that the experience on the ice in this house hasn't changed. Simple upgrades like these (Cup holders, more space to place things aside from in the sled itself/on the ice, etc) make everything that much easier. We've all been in the situation where in the process of untangling your line, you accidentally kick over your pop then knock something down a hole, then drop the rod, and so on, when it rains it pours. It's small little mods like these that can help alleviate those frustrating situations. It's also nice to know that your rods and bait bucket aren't flying around loose in your sled somewhere while you're driving the ATV from spot to spot. Again, small things like these that just make everything else go that much smoother.
I've still got this itch that I haven't scratched quite yet, so here's to a slow work day and a full day on the ice! See you out there!
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