GeorgeJ

I'm setting up for ice fishing for the first time this winter, so far I bought a used Argo, a new ice auger and a couple of rods. I still need a ice hut, I want a portable not sure if I should get one with a floor or what other options to look for. I'm not sure what else as far as equipment I will need, so considering the time of year and inspiration from pxtyson's thread I think it be great to see what others are using for equipment and how they are getting it to and from their favorite ice fishing hole!

pxtyson I think it be a great idea to see other ice fishing rigs, I know I got a couple ideas just from seeing your set up. I'm not sure that would be a high jack of your thread so maybe a new one could be started if there is interest.

I live in Essex county bush and farm fields all around for the last 6 years and have seen one Jack, but I have seen many Coyote's. Still a few Cotton tails.

looks great, my only thought and not a criticism is that you are carrying a lot of weight up high so be careful for uneven ice, again nice job. Here is what I'm setting up for ice this year I just got it, has tracks too. Someone suggested tracks for your ATV that really would make it an ultimate ice fishing machine. Have fun!

AWESOME! Thanks for taking time to post that video, a great inspiration for those who are sitting on the fence thinking about ice fishing.

cool I likes Dave a hole lot!

sorry to hear but everything happens for a reason, it happened to me and I ended up better off because of it! Good luck and take this opportunity to spend more time with your family!

Exactly, if you don not have a clean vital organ shot and I know it's the hard to do but wait for the next one. Nobody wants an animal to suffer needlessly and I'm sure you didn't either, but this one probably did. Another thing that may have helped is to have waited a half hour or so after your shot before tracking down the animal allowing it to settle down and die.

I was up to Bancroft several times this past summer, I was lucky enough to be able to bring both. ATV on the back of the pick-up boat on a trailer behind. I'm glad I didn't have to pick, but right now with all the hunting and this area basically shuts down to hunt I'd probably bring the boat.

I see a couple of adds in kijiji where guys are offering the Boater's course at their homes and promoting the idea of getting it done before home testing ends. Anybody hear that it's ending or think home testing should? I did it at home and followed the rules but I see where cheating would be easy if you don't take it seriously.

Sorry to hear of your loss George

I've been looking for an Argo for a few weeks now and haven't come up with a good one yet, so I thought I'd put it out there to you guys if you see one for sale must be an 8 wheeler could you let me know. I would even consider new or a demo if it is a good deal. The list price on these things new is way out of line as far as I'm concerned but you never know there might be a deal lurking out there somewhere, thanks.

let me understand you spent $8000 in repairs to travel 311,000 kms? thats 188,000 miles, I'm not a big fan of GM products but I don't think that's unreasonable. Good luck with the Nissan but being an auto tech for 32 years I know Nissan's are expensive to repair.

Nope I had it backed right off and it was still very stiff to turn when under load in the water, since the greasing I had to actually tighten it a bit to aid in proper handling.

Hey Guys looks like the extensive greasing I gave the pivot shaft did the trick, motor steers a lot easier, just goes to show you don't trust the pre delivery done by the dealer unless you know them and their quality of work real well!

Wow great outing for you, I ate pike for the first time after an outing on Baptiste last week and it is absolutely fantastic tasting fish!

A friend of mine has a transferable coupon sent to him from Argo that gives a $1000 off the purchase of an Argo, now up in Bancroft I have two boat ramps and a main snow mobile trail at my doorstep. I'm thinking it be great just to be able to drive right into the lake or onto the ice and start catching fish, no trailer to deal with as you would with a boat and also would be great for ice fishing in the winter. Anybody have any comments on these, are the tracks necessary for ice/ snow travel? Thanks

windy and lightning around Windsor/ Essex right now, very hot and humid all day.

John the fishing was ok considering it was our first time fishing it. We caught nice sized pike and walleye just up from the dam. It would have been nice to have had more action but the fish we caught were decent sized so that made up for it. We went off the fish finder only and don't know the lake at all yet.

I think if you buy a new Dakota and take care of it you will be happy with it, there are horror stories about every make truck out there. I could tell you one about a Tacoma but what's the sense, there are plenty of good stories to off set the bad. Whatever you buy treat it right and you should have many years of trouble free driving. Like I mentioned my Dakota is 3 years old and it has not had a warranty claim yet and is still great to drive. I have a friend that has an 03 4x4 with about 150k and all it's had is front brakes and ball joints which were replaced for free. I should mention both these trucks are used as trucks not as cars, they both tow and haul regularly, hope this helps.

In my opinion when it comes to trucks always always get 4wd and a V8 when possible. I have an 06 4wd club cab with the 3.7 six. It is ok but would rather have the V8 when towing, the truck was a clearance special so it was a deal but had the six. Three years old no regrets and no problems.

looks like a great outing, thanks for sharing!

good report, I fished Baptiste last week, we caught Pike, Pickerel and small mouth. Although we didn't catch any we saw a floating dead perch so they must be in there too. It was my first time on Baptiste.

thanks guys for your suggestions, for sure I know now that the effort should be way less than what it is to steer this boat. Today I looked it all over again and tried greasing it again in different ways for example while turning the motor back and forth while pumping grease into the steering pivot grease zerk. I can't say this did any good till I put it into the water again but I will keep my fingers crossed. Also I don't know if this means anything but now when I tighten the screw that increases the steering tension I can still move the motor side to side compared to before I greased it when there was no way you could move it with the tension screw tightened. Hopefully I got some grease everywhere it needs to be and it will help, if not I guess I will take it to the Yamaha Dealer in Bancroft (not the dealer I bought it from) and let them have a look.

hey guys got my first Pike ever last week on Baptiste, (actually my first fish ever on Baptiste) about 18" long, wish I had a pic to share future son in law didn't know how to use the camera and I had trouble with hook so once I got it out I wanted to get him back into the water.