Rich

I had a Fish TV. It was cheap but did the job just fine. Lasted 3 seasons of hard use and abuse before it finally bit the dust.

Thanks for the kind replies. I had a Cabelas Excursion hut before. It actually looked tougher than this one, but barely lasted a season. This one is going on 2 seasons now still looks and works like brand new. I cant really see any disadvantages to it besides the canvas isn't as heavy duty as other pop-up huts I've seen just gotta be careful with it. That being said, thats just a hunch so far there's no holes! It's big enough to fit 3 comfortably, light enough to slam on top of my sled and easy enough for me to completely set up by myself (including anchoring) in 20 minutes. In other words - I recommend it. I got mine at Wal-Mart. haha

You'll never drag your rectangle deathtrap far enough to get to them!

Hitched a ride out to one of my favourite haunts today in hopes of meeting a longtime fishin pal at the old spot. Got there a couple hours before Rob was supposed to arrive and set the hut up, put a pike line out and got base camp all good & ready. Indoors at base camp was pretty simple by myself. Bucket, rods, tackle and my Amp energy drink. lol After I got base camp set up I drilled a circle of holes around where I estimated the weedbed I was fishing to be. In every one of those holes, I was catching these: After a couple hours of moving around and stinging bluegill left right and center (none of them very big either) I decided to wait it out for Rob in the hut. Rob said his ride was delayed and he'd be a bit longer. Well to my surprise, in the very random spot I setup the hut, there were quite a lot of hungry crappies. Not quite slabs, but some decent ones in the mix. I released them all except one that literally inhaled my Kastmaster. Right when Rob says he's finally on his way, he has a ride, I, in an even more random series of events, hook a jumbo perch amongst the crappies! That thing was on drugs. It was right up high, sitting 3 feet below the ice with the crappies. The day continued, and I literally had the lake to myself the entire day. Rob never did show up, his ride played more tricks and he got stuck watching Call of Duty. Haha. He really missed out, too bad. My only disappointment in the flurry of action inside the hut is only one brief pike encounter. It was a modest sized fish (maybe 30") that smacked my Kastmaster tipped with a minnow, but soon after shook the hook. Inside the darkness of my hut I could actually watch all these fish feeding above the weedbed, that kept me occupied most of the day too. But alas, time went by and I had to pack up. While waiting by the ice access for my ride home I drilled around and found a shallow weedbed in 5' of water. It was loaded with more bluegills, that were willing to take my Kastmaster at first, then I had to downsize to cut up minnows on tear drop jigs. They hammered that. Amongst the small bluegills in this weedbed there was a random little perch that poked his head at the jig for a while before I finally got him. haha What a great day on the water. I did a lot of walking and drilling, and sitting and waiting, and jigging and jigging - but I do believe I couldn't have asked for a better payout.

Not sure what all the complaint is about, I was getting bit pretty regularly all day. :-) Ryan stealing minnows from the local vendor. He took 5000, but left a 10 there so its all good. (JK! LOL!!!) Base Camp One of the several fish that fell victim to my Kastmaster. You know, there was a joke made of me being out in the open all day. But that really is why I caught fish. I kept moving, kept changing tactics, kept bombing spoons.. in turn - kept getting bites. That said, after a day of drilling non stop holes and freezing my bum off in the open - I wish I got skunked comfortably in a hut. LOL

Regularly been getting perch on the reservoir in 26 feet, I horse them up usually, lol.. no problems yet. Though I haven't got any small enough to put back either. What a great year for panfish.

LOL

I've got cheap HT ice rods, the expensive, longer jigging rods, tip-ups, ice lightning rods and ice ugly stiks. Ice fishing doesn't variate too much. With the exception of my much heavier pike rods, any of those other rods can substitute for another. Go with what feels good in your hand at the store!

Please, stop 'herting' the fisheries. Have a good one boys. Not an OFAH member.. never really believed they had a voice in anything when I saw the amount of free product they're giving away to get people to join. Credit card companies use the same marketing.

My dad's bass boat did 74 mph.. when it ran.

... Politics ... Scrap fishing licenses and gun registry because anyone with 1/4 of a brain can see both are counter productive to the outdoorsman right now and even less productive to the MNR! CO's are checking fishing licenses, handing out fines, but that money isn't going to their budget? ONTARIO IN A NUTSHELL

Anyone who fishes bass regularly knows, those minor variations in baits based on conditions are what makes or breaks a trip sometimes.. Spinnerbaits for example.. I can't tell you how many times I've outfished the guy next to me throwing a spinnerbait, simply because mine had real gold plating on the blades and buddy had brass. That little extra shine might seem like a joke to new fishermen, but to me having tossed a spinnerbait for 20 years.. it matters BIGTIME!

Put your minnows away, and leave the hut at home. Drill lots of holes and don't take a spoon off your line. Fish no shallower than 25 feet.

No worms in these ones. And yes, I didn't bother taking pics, but incidental largies are pretty common there. Lots of 10 - 14 inch fish... they just seem to go crazy there in winter like no other place I've been. As for the poachers, they will be very unhappy one of these days. Undercover CO's were out and on the ball. Badges flashed, stuff searched. They're looking for trout and bass keeper dudes, and people fishing with too many lines. Told me they'd be coming back regularly, too much of an issue with locals keeping trout. I'm hoping it was you who tipped them off buddy, if so thank you! Great to finally see MNR out there.

The brown, by the way was an incidental catch, Josh caught it on a minnow when he was experimenting a little deeper. It was out of season and therefore released. Thanks everyone for the comments it was certainly a day that seemed too good to be true.

Nice gators for sure! Thanks for the report!

Acme Kastmaster is my personal fav but any worked.. Tinglers, Buckshots, Pimples.

Sleded, his buddy Josh and I headed out yesterday for some perch action. What beautiful weather. Perch were sitting on deep weeds in 26 feet of water, and seemed to only be hungry for jigging spoons. Only one keeper on minnows. Kept 9.

Up between 4 and 5 everyday, work or not. Live the butcher life! lol

It's true, he does root for the underdog. He's been a fan of ME for a couple years now. lol

That was a good year.

YEAH call the kid a liar cuz cops are never wrong.. sheesh. Cops do this stuff all the time dont believe me try growing up in NORFOLK COUNTY where they're ALL corrupt. It's not IF they're corrupt, it's HOW corrupt is my arresting officer today? Bassmaster4, glad you didnt get tazered or shot by that powertripping fool.

Johnnyb are you the dude who was talking to Rob about me on the ice?

If you think corruption in the law is a rarity... well ignorance is bliss I guess.

I think you'd hate that experience nowadays Scott. Straight up fishing, none of that "funny business" anymore. And with the exception of this one trip (literally) we make damn sure 99% of the fish make it back down the hole.