Request: ATV Rack?

Wondering if anyone out there knows of a rear-mounted ATV rack that's capable of carrying a portable fish house?

I've got a runner kit, but with all the running around I've been doing (Including a decent bit of driving on asphalt to avoid thin ice in channels) it's still taking it's toll on both the runners and the sled.

So, if anyone's got any recommendations, or thinks they know what I'm looking for, please leave a comment or shoot me an email!

The pictures to the right seem to be what I'm looking for, but the website that sells these racks have very few details about them. I shot the guy an email, but haven't heard back quite yet.

Ideally, it would be something that carries the house off the ice while moving (See Picture 1), but can quickly be lowered to the ice so you can flip the top over and get to fishing (See Picture 2). If it were a perfect world, I'd also love it if you didn't have to disconnect the fish house from the ATV rack (Aside from maybe undoing a few bungie cords or something of that nature).

Little summary of what I've heard from this weekend. Fishing seems to be okay still. Could've just been my spots that weren't producing (As I said, Wayzata bay was pretty heavily pressured).

Some things that you may want to consider:

• The bite seems to be for a longer time period. I've heard fish coming in as early as 4:00 and as late as 8:00.
• Fish (may) have moved deeper. Had two reports come in of finding fish in water that was significantly deeper than 20'.
• As far as I can tell, avoid the crowds. Stick close to them and you'll undoubtedly catch fish, but you'll be weeding through 20 small fish for every 1 that's worth keeping. 

Looking to get out this week and put those theories to the test. Will report back as soon as possible!

So Many Snakes

Well, I've gotten in a good bit of fishing lately. Not nearly as much as I would like, but I've been out probably 4-5 times already. Most of which thus far has been pretty strictly on Gray's and Wayzata Bay. I checked out a small local lake with no access the other day, but a local told me they had some pretty bad winter kill a couple years prior, and after walking the entire distance of the lake and marking no fish, I had no choice but to believe her.

When I've been out on Tonka, I've been on pretty steady pike action the entire time, whether I want to or not. I've pulled in a total of at least 12 northerns so far, most of which have been anywhere 20"-30", with the majority being on the lower end. Can't complain too much, but just like the perch problem, these aren't the fish I'm looking for at all.

First break, 12-15 feet of water, as close to a weedline as you can get. Drop a sucker and I'll almost guarantee a couple pike within an hour.

Been on the search for some crappies, but I don't think Gray's is gonna be worth my time too much longer. Planning on heading over to North Arm today if the wind dies down a bit and I can catch an early break from work.


Was out on Wayzata Bay last night at sundown and had absolutely zero luck. Didn't even mark more than a couple fish. By the time I got out there, there were a solid 15 people on the ice and the landing was bumper-to-bumper. By the time I left (Less than an hour or so later) there were 2 remaining guys out there. Sometimes it's a little comforting to know you're not the only one doing something wrong..

Every report I've gotten from Gray's thus far has been pretty equally as bad. Some of us manage to get some pike, but other then that, it's been perch and small sunnies. Not exactly sure the cause of it all, but it's definitely inspired my desire to try out some other bays. I'd also like to hit Gray's later in the evening one of these nights.

On another note, it sounds as though my father wants to take a couple days off work and head up to Mille Lacs for a night or two, so expect an update from up there in the near future as well.

Should have another report within the next day or so.

First Fish.. Ice Update (6-8")

Well, I finally got out and did some fishing. Didn't stay out too long though, details follow..

Got out around 9:30am, which was already a bit later then I would've liked. Sun was shining and it was close to 34 degrees as I was getting out of the car. Great weather for fishing, but not so much when it's still early ice.

With that being said, there's a solid 6-8" out on Gray's Bay already. Plenty of good clear black ice that you can see through, with a good deal of holes already drilled that you can follow on your walk out. A good amount of cracks too so you can pretty easily judge the thickness wherever  you are thanks to that clear ice. Another good thing about it was it made getting to the deep hole really easy, didn't even have to break out the GPS. Just look down, and as soon as you stop seeing weeds, go another 5-10 feet and you'll be in 16-20 feet of water.

The main reason I didn't stay out there was how noisy the ice was. I'm pretty used to being out in a big 2 ton fish house with only 10-12 inches of ice and hearing lots of settling at night, but for some reason when you see multiple cracks go right beneath your feet, you get a little on edge. Like I said, there was at least 7" of ice where I was, and the cracks seemed to only be on the upper 3-4" of the ice, not all the way through. But a combination of me, a good amount of gear, a brand new sonar, my 1 year old dog, and tons of cracks got to me and I decided to pack it in rather then moving spots.

There was one small spot (20 yards wide) that was still open water, somehow, about 3-4 days ago. If you refer back to my "Update on Gray's Bay Ice Conditions (12/9/2011 @ 2:00PM)" post, it's the small northernmost red circle on the map. I'd bet you have a few inches by now, but be weary of that area.

The fishing I did get done wasn't much. Maybe two hours worth, I was back on dry ground by 11:30. I managed three small sunnies and a medium sized crappie, all went back to be caught another day.

I wanted to get some pictures of the ice to show people how much there actually is, but my phone was giving me an SD Card Unmounted or Damaged error. But there's more then enough ice to bring portables out there, I'll just be waiting for a colder day, or at least a day I can leave the dog at home.

I also saw one guy out on Wayzata bay, about 50 yards out from the 101. So it seems there's some safe ice out on Wayzata already. I'm almost positive the main part of the bay is ice locked, and I plan on getting out tomorrow or the following day to check ice near the landing.

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!

Gray's Bay Ice Report (12/8/2011 11:30AM)

Managed to skip out on my lunch break, grab the auger, and hit Gray's to see if we've had any change in the ice lately. Mostly good news follows:

Looks like I was for the most part the first person out there. There was one other hole drilled, but it was only about 10' from shore, and looked like it had been long since it re-froze over. Stupid me forgot to bring out a ruler for official measurements, but I'd say we moved from 2-4" since the last time I checked to 3-4.5", depending on the spot. With that being said, I wouldn't doubt there are a few spots that are still under 3", and aren't safe yet. Can't stress this enough: BE SAFE. Drill holes and check thickness often, and bring ice picks. Better safe then sorry. Now, onto some pictures!

Got about 6 holes drilled in total, and it was pretty consistent all around. Luckily there was a guy on lunch break sitting in his car at the ramp who was nice enough to tell me "Don't worry! If you fall in, I'll call the ambulance!" - Gee, thanks for putting that in my head.

The depths in the holes that I was drilling was probably only about from 2-3' deep, to 10' deep at the max. I haven't made my way onto the deeper hole in the middle yet, so take some extra caution there. Aside from the guy at the landing, I was alone, so I wanted to make sure if I took a wrong step I'd hopefully be able to touch bottom. Not a thing you want to have to plan for, but them's the breaks on early ice.

BUT, some good news is that I was seeing fish down there. I was paying more attention to the ice then the fish, but I did see one smaller crappie swim by and a few even smaller sunnies.

I did notice a lot of people checking out what I was up to out there, and a good handful of them looked like ice fisherman. Had one guy ask me how the ice was as I was leaving, so I can definitely tell I'm not the only one who's itching to get out there.

You probably won't see me out there tonight like I had originally hoped. But with single digits tonight and tomorrow night in the forecast, you can be sure I'll be out Friday and Saturday.

Again, I can't repeat it enough, be safe, be smart. Don't go out alone, and definitely don't stay out past dark alone. If you need a fishing buddy, check out one of the many links on the sidebar. Most forums have "Open Seat" opportunities where you can tag along with another fisherman. Keeps you both safer, and helps you meet some great new people.

Looking Good..

Whelp, here's what I've been waking up to the past couple days. Sorry about the crummy cell phone picture quality.

Ice as far as the eye can see. Wayzata Bay has begun it's process of becoming ice locked. It likely won't be ready for foot travel by this weekend, but by early next week I'm sure we'll see people beginning to wander out there.

Saw a couple guys walking around on Gray's today. Didn't see any fishing or holes being drilled, but it's pretty clear that I'm not the only one who can't wait for the ice to be safe.

I added a few links to the side bar of some websites that I'd advise checking out.

Upper Midwest Outdoors is far and away my favorite fishing forum. The community is great, the people are extremely welcoming, and I've got some really great info and fishing reports from this site. Owned and operated by Shane Hendricks, this is one of a few sites I'd recommend to just about every Minnesota fisherman.

Hot Spot Outdoors is another forum that I love. I'm not as active on HSO as I am on UMO, but with the sheer amount of people that come through HSO, it's another great resource for information and fishing reports. Some really great people on these message boards as well.

Wayzata Bait and Thorne Bros are my two go-to stores for anything fishing related. Thorne Bros has the most amazing ice fishing selection you'll ever come across, and the store is full of guys who are more then willing to help. Wayzata Bait is my place for bait.

Last but not least is Lybacks Fishing Resort on Lake Mille Lacs. Obviously it's a bit unrelated as it refers to Mille Lacs, but Eddy's ice and fishing reports are some of the best out there. Lyback's does fish house rentals, storage, maintains roads (Make sure to pay your access fees!), and are all around some of the friendliest people out there. If you want a great fishing experience for a great price, Lyback's will always be my first recommendation for Mille Lacs.

I haven't managed to get my hands on a Slush Inhaler yet, but I'd like to do a product review on one of my favorite bobbers. Some of you may have noticed in the picture in my previous post that almost all of my rods, deadsticks excluded, are rigged with spring bobbers. If you haven't caught onto the spring bobber craze yet, the idea is that they allow you to detect even the slightest of bites. This is great, but in my opinion doesn't even compare to the capability these bobbers have to detect up-bites. Up-bites are exactly what they sound like, when the fish is approaching your bait from below, bites, and keeps moving upwards. With a normal bobber with a couple split shots below it, you'd never have the slightest clue that a fish was down there, but with a spring bobber, the spring will go limp, allowing you to detect those up-bites that you'd otherwise be completely unaware of.


With that being said, there's a spring bobber that I prefer over all others. I've tested the Frabill springs, HT-STB & HT-SBF springs, Easy-Bite, Clam/Jason Mitchell, and St Croix Legends springs. By far, I prefer the St Croix springs over the rest.

Keep in mind, you will be paying a bit extra for the quality, but it's worth it. These springs are unmatched. High quality, very visible, and quite durable. Another great thing about these springs is that they come in 4 different action levels: light, medium light, medium, and heavy. I like to use the light ones for gills, medium and medium light for crappies and walleyes, and occasionally the heavy for walleyes as well.

The downside to these springs, is that they were specifically designed for the St Croix Legends ice rods, something I don't use. So I had to come up with a solution, and I've found one that seems to work quite well.


These are the HT-Stb Spring bobbers. I tried these out, and didn't like them one bit, but they did come with these small foam inserts to attach the spring to the end of your rod. Pick up a pack of these (Found them at Mills Fleet Farm for $2.00) and your choice of St Croix spring.






Insert the spring into the foam insert, and put that into the top eye hole on your rod. Here's a picture of how I do it.



Simple enough! So there you have it. Again, you will be paying a bit more for this setup then you will for other springs, but I guarantee you will not regret it. These are the Aston Martins of spring bobbers.

Pros:
- Comes in multiple action levels
- High visibility
- Very durable
- Great action
- Bar none, some of the best spring bobbers around

Cons:
- Expensive (In total, the setup will run you about 10$ a piece. 9$ per spring + ~1$ per foam insert.
- "Some assembly required."

That's all for now. Here's hoping the next post includes some action shots on the ice!

First Post - The Ice is Here!

Well, it took a few weeks of impatiently waiting but I managed to make it out on Gray's Bay today to drill some holes and check out ice thickness. I didn't go out too far since I was alone, but the few holes that I drilled all seemed pretty consistent with about 2-3" of ice. I'll probably give it a day or two before I actually get some fishing in, but it's awesome that it's finally here! If you plan on going out prior to this weekend, make sure to check the thickness every 20 feet or so.

We made a couple upgrades to the wheeler this year, but the biggest upgrade has got to be wifi. I'm hoping to be able to make posts here from the house while on the lake, so if you're looking for the most up to date fishing reports for Minnetonka, this should be a good place to check!

I'll be posting everything from pictures to video and I plan on posting some product reviews so people can get an unbiased point of view on some of these products that get pushed out every winter. The new age of fisherman are all about talking up every other product they get told to, and it's a little annoying that every new lure apparently "Forces fish to bite!" The first review will be of the Slush Inhaler as soon as I get a chance to test it out.

So with all that being said, look for another post and a potential fishing report coming in the next couple days. Be safe venturing out on to the ice, but now would be your last chance to get all the gear ready. Re spool the reels, make sure the auger fires up, and clean out the portable, because tight lines are only a couple days away!

I know I'm ready...