Jet

Spiel, What would you charge to have a reel seat retrofitted onto an existing factory rod with sliding rings with a decent wood seat and mid-grade cork? -j

Many of the new float rods I want only have sliding rings and I thought it wouldn't be to hard and expensive to have a reel seat retrofitted. Thanks for the enlightening discussion.

I'm the only one in my office waiting for winter! Bring on the hard water season! Thanks for pics Limeyangler.

Lloyd you certain have a secret magnet for fish whether on Quinte or the Blue Zone. And good job to your crew for landing those pigs!

Mine feels small now compared some some of those Lunkers! Great job guys.

Awesome report Solo as usual. Love the reel, mine's on the way!

Welcome to OFC Kirk! You'll find some great fly fishers here.

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I made sure to relay them to my brother! Geoff, Hinge to Hinge is 31 inches. That allows me to place my hut vertically or horizontally. After some test, I found it best to lay it horizontally because the ridges help hold it into place as the widths of each joint were cut to fit in-between the slots on the hut floor. But so far on the grass pull, it works both ways, since at 44lbs it has plenty of gravity in its favor.

It's actually quite simple. My hut rests right on top. My style hut is full of grooves, so it holds snug. It also weighs 44 lbs, and with gear on top its grows. There are two holes in the front of each ski and from there I pull. What is hard to see is that when fully extended it locks into position with two holding screws, so it is essentially a platform.

Added new pictures above!

Sweet fish!

I have the same hut as the Clam 2000 from Fabrill and I'll echo that it has ample room for two guys. I use two fold up chairs, i have room for my big BPS waterproof bag in-between, and my backpack I throw in the space beside my chair and the door. Still plenty of room to pile stuff on top in the middle such as jackets, rods/rod bag and on the other side of the second seat and under each seat. I have a fold up stool that i place in-between the holes for my fish finder to elevate it up for viewing and to clear the heater which i place in front. I now use a Coleman Blackcat, but a Mr. Buddy will fit nicely as well, which you can attach to your 20lb tank with a hose and keep the tank outside. Only issue I foresee is that it radiates straight out horizontally and may not spread head efficiently. The Coleman can tilt up on an angle, which is why I got it. You are right that it will be tight and a burning hazard to try and fit a 20lb tank inside, so if you go with this style hut you may want to consider the heaters I mentioned or a sunflower one that is portable with legs that you can attach to a hose. I drill two holes on my side: one for the transducer and one to fish. On the other side you can drill just one hole and use the extra space for a heater as well. I use that free space for my butane stove to cook.

That is awesome. Love the pictures, especially the one at Canadian Tire - it brought back a lot of good memories. I haven't seen that store since 1992. Thanks for sharing!

This one looks alright. http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index...0950#msg1010950

The first good decision you made is having a budget. Lots of good rod choices mentioned here and as you said you got some shopping to do. Go hit up BPS to check out the rods in your price range, then go to Ang Spec to see Tom about 15 mins away. He's got some good rods in your price, particularly from Streamside. Until you go out and hold and feel the rods, everything is going to feel like a possibility - including the very expensive ones!

That's gonna look great on the wall!

I went to Cabelas for the first time in Idaho and yes it was quite amazing. I certainly hope that one does come up this way and give BPS some healthy competition. Thanks for sharing those awesome pictures.

I love happy endings Yes you got a great deal there GBW. I got the same style hut its perfect for my foot powered adventures. Worst case if you bring three people, just use it as a warming house. That's what I do. Plus if its not too cold I prefer to be outside anyway.

Well at least your story still provides some hope for us because those boarder guards that let you cross without paying duty are Canadian! But yes I lived in Detroit and I agree the shopping is great, especially price-wise.

In the States yes, so with our dollar it might be a good idea! But I've yet to see huts in Canadian Walmarts personally. It's guaranteed the Sub-Zero one will be half-price sometime in February (if I remember correctly) because I splurge every year. So you'll have to wait till the season is practically over. However, finding a store that has that hut in stock is a whole other ball game and unless you're lucky the hassle might not be worth it...and that's if you can even find one. My friend however was lucky enough to get it during the sale so it can happen!

Last year I was looking for the same thing, something for 2-4 people that would fit into my compact sedan and I could carry on foot out onto a Lake as far as I needed to go without compromise. It sounds like you're in the same "boat" so this is what I concluded from my search last season: For up to 4 people and I can transport manually and affordable: http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/5/Sp...e%2BShelter.jsp http://www.clamcorp.com/Shelters/PopUpCabi...89/Default.aspx My ice fishing partner bought this and it works quite well. It folds into a backpack and its light. There is also a larger 6 man versions. At first I thought it would not work well in the wind, but with the anchors down, it was very sturdy. It sets up quickly, but on a real windy day you might want some help, but then again with most huts high winds will always be more difficult. The main drawback IMO was the lack of a floor. Not a big deal but it is colder and things get more wet after hours with the heater on. You can always retrofit something easily. Almost all brands offer this type of hut including Frabill and Eskimo. I ended up getting the Frabill Outback: http://www.frabill.com/store/index.php/cat...67/category/12/ It sets up fast, affordable and comfy for two adults. You can do three adults but not recommended cause it'll get tight. You and two kids could work however. There are also larger versions of this style hut from Shappell. The flip-overs are very nice, but much more expensive and heavy. So you'll need a vehicle cover lots of ground and ample trunk space to get it to your destination. For under $200 keep your eyes peeled for used ones, build your own or wait for the yearly 50% off sale at Canadian Tire. I also contemplated using an old pop-up tent but decided it wasn't worth destroying. Most cheaper tents won't anchor well and are designed for you to lay down. Ice huts allow for a lot of vertical mobility. And a good quality tent is going to likely cost you what a similar ice hut will cost and it still needs to be renovated.

Sweet stuff Leechman! You really got a good eye for design.

As long as there are only a few C.O.s slower response time will always be a reality, but incidents like this where lots of people call and report regardless of guaranteed action can help them prioritize their time for the best effect. In this case they had got so many calls that Metro Police were forced to respond. That was impressive. Even more impressive was despite the crazy stuff he probably deals with every single day, the officer I spoke to was quite serious about catching these guys. He said people were calling and saying that the same six guys have been down there day after day fishing right under the dam. They won't catch ever culprit but watching two guys interrogated by the police in front of everyone and then sent packing with over $300 in tickets after celebrating their old black Salmon made my day.

Hey Guys, UPDATE So I finished my home-made ski system to throw my Frabill Outback on top of and solve the common problem with this style hut (Clam 2000, Shappell 3000) when trying to haul its wide flat shape through snow. I can't take all the credit as my brother was really the brains and handyman behind it. I was able to get the ski's for $5 and used scrap metal laying around the shop. My main issue with building a ski system was having something that could fit into my compact sedan, which is why building a fully assembled ski-system wouldn't work for me after loading the hut and sled into the car. This one collapses nicely and fits on the floor in the backseats. I'm very happy with how it turned out and backyard tests on the grass have me excited for the hard water season. I can't wait for the hard ice season, and I wanted to ask anyone if they have any ideas they could share about using skis to build runners for a portable hut. I have a Frabill Outback Hut. I got a set of old skis and this is what I'm trying to build for the same style hut. So far this is the idea I have. What my novice Photoshop jpeg is trying to say is, I'm thinking of connecting the skis with two metal bars with a pivot point in the middle. This will allow me to collapse the ski system for easy transportation and when fully extended, the hut can rest on top. But before I hack into my skis I wanted to see what other solutions OFNers have come up with that they'd be willing to share. Thanks in advance, -j

Where this incident happened, there are two signs on either side of the dam that says "No fishing 60 meters downstream of the dam." These guys were standing right in front of that sign.