finally pulled the trigger and bought a few ice fishing items

[huzzsaba]

My first post in a while...

Really excited since I FINALLY bought my first ever portable ice hut.  Bought a 4 person Woods arctic toaster on sale and it has good reviews.  Hope it lives up to its name of toaster.  Already set it up in the house and seems to be of very good quality and material is nice and thick and well insulated. It is on the heavier side, but it comes with a nice backpack type carrier and 8 nice ice anchors.

First time ever using a portable hut let alone buying one. Will try it without a heater to see how it goes.  Already spent too much for this winter season ?.

Will try it out on cooks bay this thursday.  Hopefully ice is still decent with this spring like weather last 2 days. I also purchased a manual ice auger at a good price, and likewise, never used one before ?.

So far haven't had much luck with quality fish this season in the one outing on couchiching and one on simcoe. only small size perch.  Hoping this portable provides better results since of course it's portable!

here is a video from youtube of the same hut I bought...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeEdPCfcdhE

 

 

 

[chris.brock]

Good purchases Huzz!

let me know if you'll be up in Haliburton, I'll tow you out to a spot

[irishfield]

No practice drilling in the living room...

[huzzsaba]

4 minutes ago, chris.brock said:

Good purchases Huzz!

let me know if you'll be up in Haliburton, I'll tow you out to a spot

thanks Chris. I'm seriously tempted by your offer.  Will be in touch!

[huzzsaba]

4 minutes ago, irishfield said:

No practice drilling in the living room...

already did with the guard on of course!?

[Chuck Enwinde]

Looking good huzzsaba.  Couple of tips for your gear. The hub can turn in to a kite easily, I like to sink an anchor before I even take mine out of the bag if there is any wind at all.  Treat your auger well and it will treat you well, but one bang on the ice could render it useless.  It's so much easier to cut with blades in mint condition that it's worth every effort to keep them that way.  Good luck on Cooks.

[porkpie]

Get yourself a long piece of bungee cord from TSC, and tie it to one side of that tent.  Whenever your setting up put an anchor in the ice first and then hook the cord to it.  It will let you secure the hut from the wind while still having lots of flexibility to set up.  Nice hut, I have a woods portable shack also and it’s probably as good a quality as any of the others!

[misfish]

2 hours ago, porkpie said:

Get yourself a long piece of bungee cord from TSC, and tie it to one side of that tent.  Whenever your setting up put an anchor in the ice first and then hook the cord to it.  It will let you secure the hut from the wind while still having lots of flexibility to set up.

This is solid advice. Another would be if you have a cordless drill, get the anchor adapter. You will be thankful you did this.

As for the ice, lots, but lots of water on top.

I did not know Woods made an insulated hub. I will have to check it out.

 

Enjoy

[AKRISONER]

two tips

1. the anchors they provide you are usually trash and you will be crying trying to to start your 4th or more anchor. Canadian Tire sells HT anchors, they are much sharper and easier to start. (I still need to experiment with sharpening the stock anchors.)

2. Better than using the crappy string lines they usually provide you with an ice hut, me and the boys use ratchet straps to anchor down to. Simple procedure, put your ice anchor through the hook on the strap and then simply adjust and ratchet down to what length you need. for the extra $40 for both of these things, it will make your life 1000000x easier. 

You have both of these things you can set a hut up by yourself in 60+ kmh winds...trust me i know from experience lol

 

Edit: Do you fish with a flasher Huzz? Not sure to what level your purchases have gone. 

Edit 2: I was just looking at photos of that hut, when you try to collapse it, really pay attention to the poles and their orientation. Those style tend to get flipped and make it a real pain in the you know what to collapse. My recommendation, read exactly how to fold the thing down and do it exactly how it says every time.

 

Edited February 5, 2019 by AKRISONER

[bigbuck]

I stay in during winter. I sharpen hooks and dream about fishing in the spring/summer/fall......

[porkpie]

I’m off Rayners right now.  Little to no water on top by now.  Wind is gusting to 40k and things have stiffened up a bit.  There are a couple of wet cracks to cross but they’re pretty safe with a few open holes.  Wear cleats. Ice will be great on Thursday.

[misfish]

Ya that wind is gusting. The flags here have not taken a break all morning.

[huzzsaba]

thanks for all your replies. I really appreciate it!

I actually have most of the stuff you guys mentioned ( bungee cord, ratchet straps etc) so will keep those with me.  Definitely not a fan of the guy cords that are supplied with any tent.  I will see how the supplied anchors do. They look to be of good quality, but time will tell.

I also got myself a little propane stove/heater so heating is taken care. Will make sure to open the vents when using the heater of course!

Last question, if the bite is slow for perch, do you guys just wait, or try deeper water?  I was out with luckys Sons on cooks, and literally only caught 8 dinky perch all day using live bait and spoons.  I asked to move to another hut which was deeper, so went from 11 feet to 15 feet and results were the same.  Any advice on that?

 

 

[AKRISONER]

I personally have started to realize that Ice fishing really is all about moving around and staying mobile. Unfortunately sometimes it difficult to leave the heat of the hut lol. Weve started to set out huts at a central location and then punch holes all around the hut. Fish until you get cold and then go in and warm up for a while.

Not sure if you are using a flasher or not, but seriously I dont fish without one anymore.

[misfish]

1 hour ago, AKRISONER said:

Not sure if you are using a flasher or not, but seriously I dont fish without one anymore.

Other then the flasher giving me a headache, please tell me the advantage over regular sonar ? I have the flasher on my unit. I play with it a bit, but sooner see that line coming in on my bait and hook up.

[Dutch01]

On 2/5/2019 at 7:09 AM, misfish said:

This is solid advice. Another would be if you have a cordless drill, get the anchor adapter. You will be thankful you did this.

I was losing my mind trying to start my anchors by hand last weekend, but my only drill is bolted to my clam plate. So I picked of a chuck for my impact gun and rigged this baby up!

 

[AKRISONER]

40 minutes ago, Dutch01 said:

I was losing my mind trying to start my anchors by hand last weekend, but my only drill is bolted to my clam plate. So I picked of a chuck for my impact gun and rigged this baby up!

 

seriously guys, the HT pegs from Canadian tire are the only anchor that isnt a total pain in the you know what to start. 

When i was using stock pegs, there were literally times you just couldnt start the pegs no matter how hard you tried. I dont doubt the cordless drill works flawlessly, especially for folks that run a cordless drill auger!

But for me its just yet another thing id have to carry out on the ice. Between the auger, rod case, hut, propane tank and heater, tip ups, chairs, bait etc its just another thing that id have to worry about losing out on the ice.

[AKRISONER]

3 hours ago, misfish said:

Other then the flasher giving me a headache, please tell me the advantage over regular sonar ? I have the flasher on my unit. I play with it a bit, but sooner see that line coming in on my bait and hook up.

oh the whole flasher vs graph debate is totally up to preference...i personally got the best of both worlds...Helix 7  

my point was flasher, sonar whatever...i dont fish blind is what i meant.

 

[Dutch01]

I swear I had those pegs and threw them out, they were way worse imo ?

I sometimes take too much stuff too but after last weekend I'm done with turning anchors by hand!

 

[porkpie]

7 hours ago, huzzsaba said:

Last question, if the bite is slow for perch, do you guys just wait, or try deeper water?  I was out with luckys Sons on cooks, and literally only caught 8 dinky perch all day using live bait and spoons.  I asked to move to another hut which was deeper, so went from 11 feet to 15 feet and results were the same.  Any advice on that?

 

 

Sometimes I move, depend on how bad the weather is.  If it’s reasonable wearer I might move a lot to find active fish.  I’ve used sonar of some sort ice fishing for about 20 years now.  Started with old greyscale units and then went to a flasher and now using a helix.  The sonar is a must in my opinion.  It shows you fish and their reaction to baits.  If finally got a camera this year.  The camera has kind of blown my mind.  I’ve literally watched perch hit a bait and not even move a spring bobber.  You wouldn’t have any idea it happened unless you saw it on camera.  It’s also kind of opened my eyes a bit to fish behaviours.  It will never replace sonar for me, and If I only had one choice it’s sonar every day.  Point is when they are negative they may actually hit your baits but you might not even know it.  I had believed this in the past, but now I know it for sure.  It’s also cool to watch fish go from negative and belly in the dirt, to active, and then almost frenzied as the day progresses and feeding windows start.  If you can swing a sonar in the budget, you’ll eliminate a lot of dead water.

[huzzsaba]

I do have a lowrance fishhunter wifi sonar which works pretty good. I can run split screen with half graph and half flasher.

I currently run it on an old LG phone.lasts for a good 4-5 hours on single charge.

Edited February 7, 2019 by huzzsaba

[Chuck Enwinde]

14 hours ago, huzzsaba said:

thanks for all your replies. I really appreciate it!

I actually have most of the stuff you guys mentioned ( bungee cord, ratchet straps etc) so will keep those with me.  Definitely not a fan of the guy cords that are supplied with any tent.  I will see how the supplied anchors do. They look to be of good quality, but time will tell.

I also got myself a little propane stove/heater so heating is taken care. Will make sure to open the vents when using the heater of course!

Last question, if the bite is slow for perch, do you guys just wait, or try deeper water?  I was out with luckys Sons on cooks, and literally only caught 8 dinky perch all day using live bait and spoons.  I asked to move to another hut which was deeper, so went from 11 feet to 15 feet and results were the same.  Any advice on that?

 

 

It depends, if quality fish are moving through the area, it can pay off to wait.  If there is no evidence of quality fish, then moving is definitely in order.  Sometimes it doesn't take much either.  

[PUMP KNOWS]

10 hours ago, huzzsaba said:

I do have a lowrance fishhunter wifi sonar which works pretty good. I can run split screen with half graph and half flasher.

I currently run it on an old LG phone.lasts for a good 4-5 hours on single charge.

That's sick

[misfish]

Eskimo makes the best anchors,hands down.

[Sinker]

Easy way to make an ice anchor adaptor is take a deep socket and a grinder. Grind out a slot in the deep socket to fit the ice anchors, and boom, your setting anchors in seconds. I find the eskimo anchors work the best. 

I run an otter lodge flip though, so I don't deal with any of that stuff much anymore. Pop ups do have a time and place though, i also have 2 of those when I need them. One is a 16x8 Eskimo that has been a great base camp when we have a large group, or kids with us, the other is an 8x8 that works great for hauling gear by hand for early ice before I can get the sled out to haul the otter. 

S.