Icer's addiction/who"s got new gear

mrphish42 · 11-01-2009, 08:11 PM

AS most die-hard icer's well know....this is a fishing dilemma....to invest time/money/and a whole lot of things in between......to just have the gear to go ice fishing.....ALL THIS EFFORT FOR A VERY SHORT SEASON (LESS THAN A WEEK) OR TO HAVE NO SEASON AT ALL ........THE SEASON COULD ONLY LAST 3 TO 5 WEEKS OR PERHAPS IN THE BEST OF SEASONS( UP TO 8 WEEKS) .......But one thing is for sure. Once bitten by the lure of fishing in a "HOLE CUT IN THE ICE".....A whole new world of ways of spending your hard earned money on "GEAR AND TACKLE" opens up. So sense today is NOV.1and last year, there was ice fishing in only a few short weeks from now. WHO'S BOUGHT NEW TOY'S (LARGE/OR SMALL).....SHANTY'S/ TO JIG'S .....SHARE with us those things that you parted with those$$$$$$$ to buy.......to be more"PRODUCTIVE" at pullin those fish out of that "HOLE IN THE ICE"........WISHIN EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU GUY'S THAT FIND THIS KIND OF FISHIN (ON YOUR DO LIST)........a safe/productive/and enjoyable season........jON sR.

papaperch · 11-01-2009, 08:40 PM

Couple of things the older guys used to tell me when I was young ( a long time ago )
The word B.O.A.T was actually an acronym for Break Out Another Thousand

So the words I.C.E F.I.S.H are actually an acronym for Intense Cash Eliminination For Insanely Seeking Hypothermia.

Personally I have bought all the toys. The only thing I need to do is tie up a few more small jigs.

PromiseKeeper · 11-01-2009, 09:01 PM

I've tried it on and off for years on a bucket. Saw a shanty on here for sale and the rest as they say is history! Waiting to try it out!!

Blue Pike · 11-02-2009, 03:49 AM

This thing should land on my door step by the end of the week.

http://www.shappell.com/shelters/ice...erieshubs.html

fishintechnician · 11-02-2009, 06:05 AM

Got a new lazer and some jigs from jamming jigs those things look awsome, also made up several spring bobbers. Got a list of jigs that I still need (want) to order and still need to get a shanty but will be ready when the time comes

wave warrior · 11-02-2009, 06:11 AM

well i'm HOPING to only need new line this year!! but we all know how that goes...start looking at new jigs and gadgets and the next thing ya know you have a few new combos and a smaller bank account!!! dance big daddy DANCE!!!!

peple of the perch · 11-02-2009, 07:27 AM

I spent a little to much last year. But the good thing is that i don't need to buy anything this year.

DaleM · 11-02-2009, 08:55 AM

My new Clam ice shanty, ice gloves and a few other items arrived Friday!
Only a few other items on my list to get before we start. Here's to "BRING ON THE ICE"

hardwaterfan · 11-03-2009, 09:38 AM

nothing new here....just this year's magazines, fresh line and a bait order late this month...nothing else i could lug out there anymore

ill start trapping creek chubs once snow starts falling. ill be doing some tinkering later this month.....i hate a mess in the shanty. the camera i got last year is cool but i hate the wires everywhere....got to be a better way. i keep kicking around the idea of somehow coating the shanty pole buttons with teflon somehow.....maybe replace the button spring thingamabobs...maybe they just need bent so the spring relaxes a bit. and of course studying lake maps and google earth! only 4 weeks left...so much to do...so little time! (just kidding)

powerstrokin73 · 11-04-2009, 12:53 PM

just ordered 2 st. croix rod a 28in med action for walleye and a 28 med light action some chubby darters to try and a few other jigs. got my parents chiping in on a vex FL18 for my Christmas! can't wait to get out there need to change line on the rods and start gettin everything organized, and put runners on the shanty and i should be good to go..

FISHIN 2 · 11-04-2009, 05:44 PM

powerstrokin, you'll love the fl-18, I sure do. Just can't wait. Gettin pretty bad when ya start checkin what it would cost to fly to N. dakota and back for the weekend.

Shew, , think I'll wait !!! Mike

peon · 11-04-2009, 06:30 PM

powerstrokin i see you still have that hot red head!! lol

powerstrokin73 · 11-05-2009, 07:56 AM

i won't give her up for nothin peon she's just startin to understand the whole huntin and fishin thing she's lettin me get out alot more i jus have to keep reassuring her i will keep coming back to her

mrphish42 · 11-05-2009, 09:32 AM

PS73.....I've got a wife that I also had to keep promising, that I'd be around for a long time..........this past june, we celebrated 50 years together. She's great and has excepted the fishin/huntin/outdoor thing. "BUT" on the other side of the coin......in those 50 years I've learned to clean house/cook/and keep her company (shoppin), guess it"s called.....give some/take some.....and it works for me. She even has spent time( over the years) in an ice shanty with me and hated to be out fished, plus she could hold her own in the catchin dept...."Evin"....since were friends, I've told you in the past, to enjoy the relationship you two have.......and time will take care of the rest. Biggest lessons to learn......"DO WHAT'S RIGHT" and "JUST THE CORRECT MOMENT TO SHUT YOUR MOUTH" before it escalates into more than you can handle well......Lookin forward to hookin up on the ice again this year........jON sR.

powerstrokin73 · 11-05-2009, 01:13 PM

Jon Sr,
yea i do tag along as a "shoppin buddy" and help her out studying or whatever, as long as she gives me some "me time" to hunt or go fishing. next thing i need to do is get her to not worrie about me as much but i don't know how much i am gonna be able to change that, i'll just have to text her or call her every 15 min

i wish she would come out in the shanty she came out a few times early in the relationshiop and said she liked it but then she stopped coming out, she doesn't want to wake up early and come out in the cold no matter how warm i promised i'd keep the shanty... I'm also lookin forward to turning some lakes into swiss cheese with ya Evin

McMish · 11-05-2009, 03:25 PM

Man i hit the jackpot this summer.

on my way down to my parents house i saw a sigh for "Manly Mens Garage Sale" ... suprisingly they let me in

.

An elderly gent passed away or was too old for sporting anymore or something, forget exactly what he said. his son was in charge of clearing out his "junk"

well his "junk" was an outdoors men's dream sale. he had anything you could think of for fishing, icefishing, bowhunting, duckhungitng, and all kinds of outwerwear.

i picked up a 4 man clam canvas shanty for $15, couple holes easy patching.
lanterns for $5, big igloo coolers for $5 6 pack igloo coolers for ¢25, jigs for a dime, spoons for 20 cent and crank baits for a quarter. all in great shape.

for 2 pairs of waders (no holes) for $5 each and 2 nice hearty icing bibs for $10...

his son seriously underestimated the value of what he had there. this was on saturday. on sunday i drove past at 10am and there was just a box of books marked "free"

i cant wait to use some of these new icing toys.

i missed the $30 vex!

foundationfisher · 11-05-2009, 07:17 PM

got all the toys. ain't got any money. all i need is ice. got spoiled up north last year. drive your truck to where you wanna fish. cook on the tail gate. it's a different world up north. fish from december to march. thats serious ice fishin. everyone should try it at least once.

texasfisherman · 11-06-2009, 01:05 PM

wait so the ice fishing season only lasts a few weeks? i thought it would last around 3 months?

hardwaterfan · 11-06-2009, 02:12 PM

theres about 3 months of POTENTIAL ice fishing. about 1/3 of the time we are all sitting on the sidelines due to unsafe or no ice. some years are better than others....winters around here "can" be bitterly cold but occasionally we get these warm-ups for a few days....where it can hit the 60's in the dead middle of winter....and when that happens usually it gets real windy, and rainy, so you have this real warm wind blowing across the ice and that really puts a hurtin on it...sometimes these warm weather fronts keep coming one after another where every day it seems like its in the 40's...and thats just not cold enough.

its always a wait and see type thing....but usually we can get a lot of ice fishing in....just like any other season....bass season, steelhead season, perch season....etc..

if i could put a positive spin on it, id say it like this....the fact that its not ever a certainty makes it a little bit more enjoyable to be actually out on some safe ice, ice fishing. if it comes, enjoy it. if it doesnt, theres nothing anyone can do about it.

mrphish42 · 11-06-2009, 04:27 PM

hardwaterfan.......great explanation of "TELL IT, LIKE IT IS"......some years it is/some years it ain't.....but mostly, it's still a crap shoot/and I totally enjoy what ever that might be..........jON sR.

PapawSmith · 11-06-2009, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrphish42

hardwaterfan.......great explanation of "TELL IT, LIKE IT IS"......some years it is/some years it ain't.....but mostly, it's still a crap shoot/and I totally enjoy what ever that might be..........jON sR.

Thats right, you never know. I remember a year in the mid 90s when I was pulling slab gills through 6" of ice on my pond before Christmas and then was standing on the bank casting spinners in open water in January.

Like foundationfisher, I always supplement my ice season with a few trips north to the state of really bad football and really good fishing. They make nice winter getaways to relax, fish, eat well, and occasionally get overserved. And it's quite cool driving a couple miles out onto 30" of ice and park right next to a 7'x14' heated shanty.
This year I finally bought a new FL-20 and will in the next few weeks pick up a Ice Gator. I'm freakin ready!!!

mrphish42 · 11-06-2009, 06:31 PM

Papawsmith........hope that you remember when we got out fishin last year and after meeting you...... I told you, that you were a "class act"......that still stands.....and I can't hardly wait to auger some holes through that layer of hardwater, when we can get hooked up this year. I know mark feels the same also..........stay safe........jON sR.

PapawSmith · 11-06-2009, 07:01 PM

Jon Sr., We definately will hit the ice together this year, that was a great time last year and it was a pleasure to finally meet you. Thanks again Mark for getting that outing together. The stinger jig you gave me was great, first time I've seen one like that. Perhaps we can once again take some ice newbies out somewhere to try the hard stuff. If we do we should encourage all that go bring a kid and let them experience the fun of ice fishing. The one little guy last year seemed to have a blast.
It will be happening now before we know it!

texasfisherman · 11-07-2009, 09:19 AM

i think im gonna suck it up and fish without a shanty. i dont see the need to blow $200 on a tent with no bottom. i was here last winter and it wasnt that cold so if its like that this year, all i will need is a wind breaker and thermos underneath.

capt j-rod · 11-08-2009, 09:58 AM

I would keep an eye on Craigslist. I buy everything at the end of the season for pennies, half off. The problem is waiting until next year to use it. A shanty will be easy to get for $100 or less. Pay for the "flip over" with the tub and the seats, they are worth every extra dime. A flasher is worth every last nickel! I don't care who made it either. I have fished under all of them, and bottom line is if you have one you will catch 3x more than if you don't. Don't be afraid to buy the higher end rods. I use a thorne bros power noodle on the panfish. Yes, it was $60. BUT... the difference in feel is huge! I look at it different than most. We only get a few good months. I have to make every trip count. Michigan is only a few hours away and they have awesome pan fishing as well as huge northerns. Lake erie gives up her biggest walleyes through the ice. If you don't have the gear then meet up with people who do. Buy the gas and the coffee and help drag the sled. You'll meet some great people along the way!

texasfisherman · 11-08-2009, 05:17 PM

are most shanties fold-able of some sort to be able to store them in the trunk of a car? if so, which brand/type would you recommend thats not too expensive?

fishintechnician · 11-10-2009, 02:26 PM

check out the thread shanty most are foldable and some are what they call colapsibale (sp) like the ones that come with the sled if it is foldable they usually come with a bag for storage it should tell you when you are looking at it

Bucket Mouth · 11-11-2009, 02:19 PM

I was told today that the Farmer's Almanac is calling for a super cold, dry winter. Can't tell by the November we're having though.

Last year, I was ice fishing on a little pond in NW Ohio on Dec. 8! I doubt I'll be that fortunate this year. Me, Hoosier Daddy, Phisherman, hit a big inland lake in Michigan north of Detroit on Dec. 12 or so and it already had 6 or 7 inches of good ice. What was weird is that a lake that was down the road about 3 miles was wide open.

Us Toledo trolls can hit Michigan whenever. I was icing into April last year, and only had to drive about 1.5 hours to make it to good ice.

fishnguy · 11-13-2009, 11:12 PM

If anyone is looking to purchase a used shanty i have a post in the "marketplace" section. I just received a new Shapell to try out this year.

Ted Dressel · 11-28-2009, 07:41 AM

I bought a jig box and some line,and a new Niles augar.This will be my 6th jig box it seems that I can't find 1 that all my jigs does'nt spill all over the place.I think I've have 1 of each (foam,clip,trayand dividers)you would think that finding a jig box would be the easiest thing to buy.