Another in my series of ideas for getting around on the ice:
I wonder if you could build a hitch at the bottom of the motor frame and attach a rope to a sled?
I think I prefer either the hovercraft or the awesome tracked vehicle I have already reviewed, but this one is probably far cheaper and would burn more calories.
Somewhere in my Internet travels in the last few days, I came across the nugget of information that weather prognostication by animals (a la Punxsatawney Phil) is a tradition that came from Germany. And in Europe, they didn’t have groundhogs, so they used badgers. How they used them remains the compelling question.
Having seen the myriad of pictures of people holding up Phil the Groundhog, I shudder to think of what might happen if someone tried that with a badger. I think the Americans who chose groundhogs for Groundhog Day chose a slightly more affable animal.
Happy Groundhog Day!
Recent events such as the dead birds falling from the sky in various parts of the country, fish die-offs, etc. have some speculating that the cause is cold weather (although there are many other more entertaining theories). Mash up those events with the researchers working on wooly mammoth cloning (yes, they actually think they can produce an animal from an extinct species by using frozen DNA), and I think we’re getting ready for an ice age! Silly Al Gore–we’re not experiencing global warming. I’m putting my Vexilar jacket and bibs on and going ice fishing. I might have to stop at Fleet Farm and buy some auger extensions, though.
This year, my four-wheeler just isn’t able to get around very well on the ice. Snowmobiles, though they do a lot better with the snow that we have, are even having a little bit of trouble. An Arctic Cat Prowler with tracks would probably do pretty well. But a Russian company has developed something that I think would be just a bit more stylin’ on the ice:
I like the comment in the video that one of their prospective customers asked if it could be fitted with a trailer for ice fishing. I’m guessing a tackle tray for the Marmooskas and a vodka flask holder would also be popular accessories. And I thought the Suzuki Samurai on tracks I saw the other day was cool.
In anticipation of the boat shows popping up all over the country in January, I thought I would offer some advice for first-time (or even second or third-time) boat buyers.
Buying a first boat is often a matter of opportunity. Someone you know has a boat for sale, there’s a good deal down the street, or a relative maybe sells their rig. For me, it was actually an opportunity I created combined with luck. I looked at some catalogs, determined that I wanted to buy an Alumacraft Lunker Ltd. Mag 16′ tiller rig, and called a local dealer. In a strange twist of fate, I was told by the dealer that they indeed had that boat in stock, so I went to look at it. It was actually a boat that someone had won from a different dealer and traded in on an ATV. It was being sold as a used boat even though it was brand new. For $5500, I had my first boat out the door with zero hours on the Mercury 25 hp. Four years later when I traded the boat in on a bigger Lund with a 150, I received $7500 for it in trade. All in all, not a bad deal.
Most of us probably don’t get an opportunity like that, but either way we’re spending our hard-earned money each time we make a boat purchase. The following tips are based on my experience and should help you make some decisions and avoid some pitfalls:
1. Decide what configuration of boat you want.
For my first boat, I wanted something easy to trailer behind a number of different vehicles, and a tiller rig was simple to operate and good for the kind of fishing I would be doing (primarily walleye). I didn’t care too much about top speed, so a 25 horse on a 16′ boat was acceptable. I wasn’t planning on fishing big water, so the boat didn’t have to perform in big rollers or high wind.
When I stepped up to a bigger rig, though, I found out that lakes look a lot smaller when you have a boat with some speed. I ended up with a dual console rig with a 150, and a 25″ transom. The tall transom (requiring extra long shaft motors) combined with the excellent splashguards I chose from Whitecap gives me a real sense of security on bigger water. I also installed a Yamaha T-8 kicker motor (in tiller configuration) for trolling and also as a backup motor. (Note: if you can afford it, never trade your smaller boat in when you go bigger. I just ended up buying a smaller boat again later).
Dual consoles offer an open format for fishing
Another issue to think about is how high you want the sides to be, and, if you have a console steering boat, whether you want a full walk-through windshield or a single console or dual consoles. If you do a search on fishing forums, you will find a lot of opinions. My opinion is that walk-through windshields get in the way and catch wind. My thoughts are the same on the boats with very high sides such as the Lund Tyee Series. I like having a boat with adequate sides to handle bigger water, but without the extra height that catches the wind. With the extra tall transom on my Lund 1800 Explorer and its open layout, I think I have the best combination for me. Many folks buy the higher-sided boats with full windshields for the feeling of security, more protection from the wind when running, and because they are easier to install tops on for rain protection. I just pack a rainsuit.
Finally, consider other factors related to configuration such as whether you like to fish out of the bow, whether you want to do a lot of trolling, casting, downrigging, etc., and what kinds of rod storage and other storage you might need. A flip through the Lund or Alumacraft catalogs will show you that you have lots of choices.
2. Put a good trailer under it.
This is one of my pet peeves of the boat sales industry. Many dealers will come up with rather attractive package prices by cutting corners. I didn’t think much about it when I bought my Lund–the trailer was galvanized and I liked that, so I went with what they had the boat sitting on. Oops. I travel with my boat a lot, and the first trip I took from North Dakota to Oklahoma, I melted tires on the highway. The trailer was rated for 2400 lbs, and a trip to a scale later revealed that my boat with gas and gear was closer to 2800. Combine the weight with cheap tires, and disaster struck. A fairly cheap upgrade of tires and adding more rollers essentially brought my trailer up to the next model in the lineup, but it was a lesson learned, and the more I talk to people, the more I hear the same story. If you’re only using your trailer to put your boat into the lake at your cabin in the spring, and take it out in the fall, you can probably get away with too little trailer. But if you’re going to travel, do your homework.
3. Don’t underpower your boat.
My general recommendation for motors is to choose the max horsepower. Again, I have seen a lot of package deals offered that sound good initially, but will be disappointing on the water. Generally, I see a fair number of 17′ boats such as the Lund Fisherman series sold with 90s when they would probably work better with 115s, and 18′ boats sold with 115s when they would probably work better with 150s. Of course, whether the boat is a tiller rig, and the hull width and weight factor into this. My first boat with its 25hp (a 16 footer) would have been perfect with a 40hp. My second boat was purchased with its max HP of 150, and since I have the extra weight on the transom of a kicker motor, I have never regretted my choice.
4. Research two-stroke and four-stroke motor choices before making a decision.
Suzuki 2-stroke 150 with Yamaha 4 stroke T8 kicker
This choice seems really easy for a lot of people: a four-stroke smokes less, is easier on gas, and is more environmentally friendly. Or is it? Do your homework on two-strokes such as the Mercury Optimax and Evinrude E-Tec, and you will find that they offer a pretty good power-to-weight ratio, and are not as environmentally unfriendly as their older two-stroke counterparts. My personal choice here was partially driven by a good deal on a non-current motor package (another good tip–lots of dealers have non-current inventory), but I have been very happy with my two-stroke 150′s excellent bottom-end power.
5. Buy and install your own electronics, or insist on quality installations.
In my case, I took the fishfinder that was mounted on my Lund by the dealer (a lower-end Raymarine unit). I complained about it for several years before replacing it with a Lowrance X-135 sonar that was on sale at Cabelas. I can’t believe that I put up with the other fishfinder for that long. Another thing to ask the dealer is whether they install transducers on a mounting board, or directly to the boat transom. Ask for the mounting board…it means only two holes in your transom and then the accessories mount to the board, not through a swiss cheese of holes in your transom. Rig-Rite is one of the companies making transducer mounting boards, and they only cost a fraction of the price of your fishfinder.
Transducer Mounting Board
6. Aluminum or fiberglass?
This is largely a matter of personal preference. Many folks in my area have chosen aluminum in the past due to the price (which has gone way up in the last few years), but fiberglass boats have always held a share of the market and offer smoother-riding hull configurations. I was excited about the Tracker Tundra when it came out, as it was a hydroformed aluminum hull that looked very similar to a lot of fiberglass hulls, but the price was high and Tracker seems to have discontinued it. A choice within the aluminum market is to go with a riveted hull (such as Lund or Alumacraft) or an all-welded hull (such as Crestliner). I know people who are happy with both, and the manufacturers’ websites do a good job of selling their methods. I like the durability of aluminum, since I plan to keep my boat for a long while and feel more comfortable beaching it. I have never found a reason to avoid riveted boats. My daughter’s 60s Alumacraft is riveted and is perfectly dry at 50+ years old. I have an 80s 14′ Sea Nymph that is also 100% in the hull department at almost 30 years old.
Of course, there are a lot more factors that go into a boat-buying decision. We all have our idiosyncracies. I tend to buy white boats because I think they stand out better on the water from a safety standpoint. I always run two starting batteries so there is always a backup in case one battery goes dead. I recommend on-board chargers for all of your batteries so that you can plug in your boat at home or on the road and have the batteries in optimum condition. And I could go on and on, but I think I’ve covered the big issues.
Do a careful job of selecting your boat, and keep it for a good long time. They aren’t getting any cheaper, and if you and your family like your boat, you’ll go fishing more and therefore catch more fish!
The ball dropped a little bit early on us in southeastern North Dakota overnight. We’re cleaning up from Phase I. Phase II is coming this afternoon, bringing subzero weather and another 6-12″ of snow on top of what got dumped/drifted last night.
My leisurely 35 mph drive this morning on Highway 75 between Breckenridge, MN and Wolverton, MN. There were a few pillow drifts nearly the size of my pickup.
I came upon a truck that had slid from the roadway and was receiving assistance from a sheriff’s deputy:
This is what I got to do when I got home:
I know–New Year’s Eve should be a time of reflection and celebration and positivity. Maybe when the tons of snow are all moved and I’m inside with a hot toddy on New Year’s Day, I’ll make some resolutions and look ahead. Hey, it can only get better!
I always read about sightings of the Chupacabra with interest, since Mythology is one of the courses I teach. This latest story from Kentucky is particularly interesting, because the man who discovered the animal shot it. The comments following the news story have some debate about whether he should have shot the animal, but I generally feel he did the right thing. If it’s a dog or other feral animal that was incredibly sick (the last suspected Chupacabra was a coyote with a bad infection from parasites), I think I would want the threat removed from my neighborhood. And of course, if it’s a previously undocumented species (I vote for calling it chupacabra!), then a specimen is captured for analysis. We’ll have to see what the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources says.
This video, starring my brother-in-law Matt and made by his friend Erik, will answer that question! I wonder how they would do with an ice fishing video?
It’s good to bring a little levity to the same canyon in which Aron Ralston had to amputate his own arm to free himself from fallen boulders.
Smallmouth bass taken in the Boundary Waters with a 6 weight fly rod.
My favorite ways to catch smallmouth bass are diverse and involve both fly-casting and spin-fishing:
#1: Arbogast Fly Rod Hula-Popper, usually yellow in color and thrown on my 6 weight or 8 weight fly rod. The fish shown above was taken on a St. Croix 6 weight with a G. Loomis reel loaded with a 7 weight bass taper line and my homemade flourocarbon leader. Nothing beats topwater smallmouth bass action! I spent the morning of my birthday this year in the Boundary Waters having a riotous time on dead calm water while everyone else was sleeping.
#2: Dahlberg divers on the same rig described above, for when the fish seem to prefer a sub-surface fly.
#3: Switching over to spin-fishing, my favorite thing, but not always the best thing to use around wood, is the famous Mepps spinner in gold with a dressed treble. I use these when I’m just lazily drifting or trolling, as well as casting them. This is my go-to lure for drifting behind my kayak when I’m paddling.
#4: A plain lead-head jig with a 3″ root beer single-tail Yamamoto grub. I am really good at aiming these near sunken rocks. My oldest daughter is even better (probably the eyes) and learned to do this at a very young age.
#5: A slip-bobber rig with a real live leech. If you’re somewhere like many of my favorite fishing spots, this will also produce walleye, and it’s a great way to fish with kids.
Finally, I might have to add another lure to this list if Backwater Eddy’s modified Salmo Chubby Darter works as good as it looks!
My take on the TSA and the recent increase in body-invasive techniques is that we are giving up rights at a rate far faster than we are gaining national security.
The debate is getting interesting as several articles have been published lately that suggest profiling as a much more efficient method of preventing air disasters (which in my small amount of research appears to be why Israeli air travel remains so safe).
What surprises me is the number of people who are OK with the body scanners and pat-down procedures. In my small midwestern town a newspaper poll is leading 54-46 in the opinion that they are necessary for security.
In my mind, a logical parallel to the issue is our health care system. It was functioning better than any in the world, but we had to fix it. Why do we continue to spend huge amounts of federal dollars chasing broad solutions to non-existent problems when we should be perhaps doing some judicious tweaking?
Recently, I was interested in the capacity of the American public to revolt against the TSA measures, and I read an article that claims the national opt-out day was not quiet because of a lack of protesters, but because the TSA did a good job of stepping back from the procedures for the day so that there were no negative experiences for anyone to report. Interesting. I will continue to follow this issue, since if nothing else, there are some good articles about passengers in see-through bikinis.
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