Ice fishing sytems : Gear tranport.

[nightfighter]

What is a spud?

Please enlighten me on different reels/gear for different species...

How do you lnow what species are in a body of water/ice?

General guidelines for jigs or bait for particular species?

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by nightfighter

What is a spud?

Please enlighten me on different reels/gear for different species...

How do you lnow what species are in a body of water/ice?

General guidelines for jigs or bait for particular species?

I'm going to cover it all in a series of posts.. spud = ice chisel

[Stewie]

My spud is made up of two 30 inch pieces of gas pipe. One is 1 inch stuff and has a 2 1/2 inch wide chisel welded to the bottom. The top end is threaded and is attached to a piece of 1/2 inch gas pipe via an adapter. There is a cap screwed onto the very top and through a hole in it is attached a loop of nylon rope. The loop goes around your wrist so that you don't lose the spud through the hole in the ice. It is also used early and late in the season to check for safety. If I can't poke a hole all the way through the ice with a hard jab, it is thick enough to walk on. It weighs about 8 pounds, but comes apart in the middle so that it is easy to transport.

It is less work to chip a 6 inch hole through 6 inches of ice with the spud, than with my ice auger.

[niko]

great thread - ice fishing for dummies. gonna give it a try with the boy this winter.

[Sea Dangles]

Started last year and I really enjoy it.Got the auger right away and that takes a lot of sweat out of it.The first sled I got was an suv size sled that was great. Then I walked into Tom's for shiners one day and fell in love. They had pulled down a dust covered sled that has molded plastic areas for tip ups,a couple 5 gallon buckets, the ice auger, and finally a special molded area for shot glasses and bottle of choice. So now I have two ice sleds.

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

Started last year and I really enjoy it.Got the auger right away and that takes a lot of sweat out of it.The first sled I got was an suv size sled that was great. Then I walked into Tom's for shiners one day and fell in love. They had pulled down a dust covered sled that has molded plastic areas for tip ups,a couple 5 gallon buckets, the ice auger, and finally a special molded area for shot glasses and bottle of choice. So now I have two ice sleds.

I HAD one like that... my issue was, the molded area packed with snow.. making dragging it by hand akin to pulling a truck... i fitted it with a tow bar... it now only gets used when we use the snow machines ( which don't belong to me)..

I'll work on the pictures tonight .. IF. they restore power... my generator is only 3500 watts... just enough to keep the house warm, and the food cold and light a room...

[JackK]

I'm still pretty much an ice fishing noob, having only done it for two seasons. Previously I used a five gallon bucket to transport everything- tip-ups, a jigging pole, plano boxes, etc. I don't have an auger so it wasn't necessary to have a sled.

This season I'm shifting to a pack basket- Just got a large one from KTP, on sale for $30. I'll put a canvas liner in it at some point, and will sew pockets onto the inside. I'll be able to load species-specific plano boxes into the pockets, fill the rest of the pack up, then load up and go. Only thing I'll have to lug is a shiner bucket and a hand auger (once I get one).

[The Dad Fisherman]

Originally Posted by nightfighter

How do you lnow what species are in a body of water/ice?

This is a good place to start....

MassWildlife - Pond Maps

Also word of mouth helps a lot...I'm finding that Ice fisherman will give you a heads up on what species are in what pond...w/ the exception of Pike.....they seem to want to take those secrets to the grave.