ATV?

Thinking about buying an ATV for ice fishing, my question is what’s the best size and most trouble free maker?
Is 4×4 a must?

Im looking to do the same would love any help??? also wouldn’t mind just getting by for this season so I could just get a new one next year but wondering what is enough for a good wheeler

I like my 550. Much bigger they get mighty heavy. Sometimes the 550 is a little heavy. 4WD is a very big plus, in my book a must.

I have a smaller 350 Yamaha… and while it surely isn’t the beast some of them are, nor will it go through endless amounts of snow, it does everything I need. I got this one particularly because I can drive it into the back of my pickup, between the wheel wells. I can out a sled in the back with the tailgate down, and good to go, or without the sled, close the tailgate.

Point is, part of the decision may be determined by how you transport it.

4×4, I personally would not have anything else. I don’t go out of my way to find deep snow, but still, I wouldn’t “not” have it.

Some dealers still have non-current models at pretty good prices, but they have been drying up the last couple years.

Steve will your 550 fit between the wheel wells of my pickup?

Another follow up question. What’s the biggest size Atv will fit in my F150?
Any suggestions on most reliable makes?

Most reliable are Polaris, Arctic Cat, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Bombardier…etc etc etc… they are all pretty good these days. Any wheeler will fit in the box side to side(wheels go right over the wheel wells in 4×4) the question is, is it an 8′ box or not, that will dictate closing the endgate.

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My truck only has a 6ft. box, will 4×4 still fit with the tailgate up?

Absolutely love my Grizzly 700. Power steering I chain all 4’s and it goes thru most everything I ask even pulling a 6 x 10 trailer on the ice/snow.

riverbottoms wrote:

My truck only has a 6ft. box, will 4×4 still fit with the tailgate up

No, tailgate would have to be left down. These are quite popular up here if you do not want to be towing a trailer.

http://www.bergenindustries.com/images/Bergen%20Industries/ATV%20-%20Ramp%20Rack/ATV%20-%20Ramp-Rack/Picture%201628%20copy.jpg

I have a Polaris Sportsman 500HO. It DOES fit between the wheel wells of a full size pickup.

Don’t fall into the more-is-better CC trap. A 500 is plenty for ice fishing. I can pull a 400 pound food plot disc with mine for hours on end, so for just tooling around a lake, a 400 would be more than enough.

Yes, 4×4 IMO is a necessity for winter use. In 2WD mode it slips and slides on anything wet or slippery. In 4×4, if you get it stuck, it’s your own fault for going somewhere you should have known not to go in the first place. If you’re lucky the winch will bail you out.

IMO there are plenty of used machines out there in the burbs that are in perfect condition and are being sold because the owners are tired of them sitting in the garage for 51 weeks per year. I bought mine with 1200 miles on the clock and 5 years old for about half of the price of a new one.

EFI is nice if you can get it in your budget, but I used my carbed model all winter last year and never had the slightest problem. As long as the batter is good, it fired easily every time. It takes a little running on partial choke to get a fire in her belly, but all machines EFI or not should be allowed to come up to operating temp in the winter before going above idle.

Fall is the worst time to buy an ATV used. All the weekend warriors HAVE to have one for deer camp so prices go crazy from October 1 to December 1.

Grouse

Grouse – Good point on EFI. It could be the difference between getting off the lake or not. (personal experience with non EFI on LOW)

I bought a 2004 Grizzly 660 2 yrs ago primarily for ice fishing. It is overkill in size for what I need but the price was right (I wouldn’t go smaller than a 400 though and 4X4 is a must). Mine is not EFI and I haven’t had any issues to date. It does fit in the back of my F150 between the wheel wells with the tailgate up (6.5ft box)

Another thing is insurance costs. The bigger the ATV the higher the insurance is.

I would stay with any of the major brands listed above as long as it has a rope start backup. The batteries on ATV’s do not perform very well in my experience. I use a Honda Foreman with a 450 and I would not want to rope start anything much larger. I’d recommend trying to rope start anything larger before buying to be sure you can physically do it. We have 2 or 3 guys taking turns pulling a starter rope on a unit that wont start on a -20 deg. mornings. 6 or 7 hard pulls, then step aside for the next guy to try.

I agree with the above posts 400cc or up is plenty to get the job done I’ve owned 2 Suzuki eiger 400s carbed and loved them started in any temp! I owned a Suzuki king quad 700 efi and kawasaki brute force 750 efi both were terrible starting in cold weather would not recommend for ice fishing! I currently own a can am 800 outlander it starts awesome in cold weather I did a lot of research on specifically cold weather starting and if you get efi the machines that do best are Polaris can am arctic cat and Honda. I didn’t find good or bad about Yamaha cold starting I know they have a very solid line of machines though. But from what I read and found most of the jap machines struggle in cold weather starting if they have efi. Especially the two above I mentioned. My dad also runs a 2007 king quad 700 efi and on rifle opener in Nov he has trouble getting it started.

Don Miller wrote:

I would stay with any of the major brands listed above as long as it has a rope start backup. The batteries on ATV’s do not perform very well in my experience. I use a Honda Foreman with a 450 and I would not want to rope start anything much larger. I’d recommend trying to rope start anything larger before buying to be sure you can physically do it. We have 2 or 3 guys taking turns pulling a starter rope on a unit that wont start on a -20 deg. mornings. 6 or 7 hard pulls, then step aside for the next guy to try.

An old-fashioned cotton canvas tarpaulin big enough to “tent” over the machine and a Mr. Heater are necessities IMO on any winter trip that involves any equipment with a spark plug. ATVs, snow machines, airplanes, jet packs, whatever.

It’s amazing how much better something starts after 20 minutes under the covers with Mr. Heater. Obviously care needs to be exercised to avoid starting anything on fire, but the old hot potato method has been saving trips since the first winter after the gasoline engine was invented.

Grouse

Just to add some input. I use an old Honda 300 fourtrax for all my ice fishing needs. I’m not a small person, but this machine has been used in up to 8 inches of fresh snow and pulled me and all my gear pretty much where I wanted to go. Exceptions would be slush or brutal cold. In most cases it will ride over the top of lake snow as that gets compacted by the wind or sun. The great part to me is if I get stuck it’s light enough to just lift up one end or the other and free it. I would not consider anything but four wheel drive personally. My 2.

riverbottoms wrote:

Steve will your 550 fit between the wheel wells of my pickup?

I don’t know. My truck has a topper on it and I pull a two wheel trailer.

I bought a new Suzuki King Quad 400 EFI 4×4 last season. While it’s not the largest or most powerful, it’s perfect for me. It runs/drives smooth as silk, fires right up in below zero weather, and is still plenty fun to ride.

For me, its a tool for ice fishing and nothing more. I don’t trail ride, use it for transportation, just use it to haul my gear out and back from the landing to where I fish. It’s extremely fuel efficient, and don’t let the 400cc size fool you, it still has plenty of grunt to pull loads through heavy snow or mud.

I like the solid rear axle (I’m not rock crawling folks) because I hook the trailer on the back of it once I hit the lake. Sometimes there could be 2-3 other guys plus shacks and gear riding out on the trailer as well. The solid rear axle does not get squatted down and you still benefit from the rear suspension on bumpy rides.

It’s also more nimble and light than some of the giant machines today. It breaks through hard pack snow less often and tends to ride over the top. If it gets stuck, it’s pretty quick and easy to lift it out. It was also substantially more affordable than some of the bigger machines. In fact you could have two for what some of the loaded big bores cost.

At any rate, I love mine.

riverbottoms,

I have to agree with Grouse, Andy and some of the other guys. Don’t get sucked into the bigger the better. I switched to a Polaris Sportsman 570 SP touring model last winter… Way more power then what I need. I opted for the touring (2 Up) model so my kids or a friend (without a sled/atv) can ride along.

If you can fit the EFI into your budget, do it. We get some brutally cold & windy days here in SoDak. There were plenty of times last winter with temps at -10, -20 and no problem starting. It does take about a minute of warmup for the power steering light to drop off. But so do I at those temps.

They are correct on insurance rates for larger bore models. Also, the smaller cc / single-cylinder models are easier on gas.

But before you consider an ATV, you need to ask yourself what your regional conditions are like. Do you fish in northern Minnesota where a sled may work better or do you fish where you have less snowfall.

I have a 2012 f150 my 700 suzuki fits tailgate down, DK

I have a 2012 f150 my 700 suzuki fits tailgate down, DK