2009 September | Modern Ice Fishing Gear

How to use portable ice shelters to catch more fish

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Perhaps nothing has increased mobility and time on the ice like a portable ice fishing house has. The beauty of the portable ice shack is the versatility. Light enough to use on early ice and carry far distances, strong enough to be pulled behind an ATV or snowmobile when combined with a sled, and warm enough to survive a very cold evening on the ice the portable ice shack is truly an engineering marvel.

So how do we use them to our best advantage? I think there are two key strategies to employ when talking about a portable ice shanty:

Use your portable ice shelter as a base camp:

As alluded to in an earlier post "Gas Ice Augers - A Key To The Run and Gun Ice Fishing Philosophy", it can be very advantageous to punch a large number of holes on a piece of structure and move around as the fish bite waxes and wanes. You can use your portable shack as a place to warm up and/or to set up over the hot hole of the area. In addition a portable ice shelter is great for storing extra ice fishing rods and other ice fishing gear. This can lead to much greater time on the ice due to comfort and heat.

Use your portable ice shack as a means to fishing early ice for longer periods:

Often early ice is the best ice for catching fish. Unfortunately with early ice comes thinner ice which means more walking and less carrying around your heavy equipment. This is a key area that portable shelters shine. You can tow them behind you while you walk and allow for a comfortable place to fish for the early fish putting the feed bag on. They also help keep you warm when the weather is cold, but the ice isn't thick enough for a permanent shelter.

How To Wake A Dead Battery For Your Ice Fishing Flasher or Underwater Camera

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We have all run into dead batteries over time for our ice fishing electronics. Whether it is for that ice fishing flasher or underwater ice fishing camera, batteries that sit for prolonged periods tend to have troubles with holding a charge after a while. While it is good practice to have a back up battery available, a "dead" battery can often be restored into perfect working condition.

Here is the process, which can take up to a week, but usually only takes 3-4 days. Every morning set up your charger and attach it to the battery. Every night remove the charger from the battery and allow to sit over night. Repeat this every day until you get the battery to take a charge. If it won't take a charge after a week of trying this, then your battery is more than likely truly shot. More often than not this process will yield a battery that will take a charge and run your ice fishing electronics. There really isn't anything more important in your ice fishing gear than your flasher, so don't mess around with a bad battery!