Just got back from my first long weekend on the ice in NE SD. I always appreciate the feedback I get on my questions from this group and want to reciprocate by sharing some feedback on items I used. Maybe it will help someone or at the very least generate conversation.
1. Rippin Raps: I’ve never caught a fish on these. My son used one in pink and it was the only thing the fish aggressively went after, outfished me 2 to 1 on day 2 with this lure. Guess I’ll keep trying 
2. Pinhead Minnow: One of my top lures for perch/walleye. Continues to consistently produce fish. May be a confidence bait but it has been good last year and so far this year.
3. TUCR Deadstick w/Ceymar Baitfeeder: For my deadstick in the shack this combo continues to work really well for me. Fish don’t feel the tension, audible clicker alerts me, rod tip shows the minnow working and gets to backbone quickly.
4. JT Gold Digger: My favorite ML walleye/perch stick now. Had it last year, thought it was a little stiff. Then when working baits with fish it seems to have the great sensitivity. One of those sticks that fishes better than it feels out of water, for me.
5. Thermal Shack: Coming form a guy whose been in a non-thermal Clam explorer for 10+ years I finally upgraded and bought a thermal Yukon XL. The heat retention and sliding chairs were awesome, and fitting in a normal truck bed under tonneau cover is great. Our temps were cold (!!) and windy (Feel like temps -20’s) and we ran a buddy heater on low all weekend.
6. Backpack Cooler for batteries: I bought a $25 backpack cooler that fits 2 drill batteries, 2 headlamps, a battery back (for lights, see #7), 2 marcum panners, marcum recon, & aqua view micro revolution. Put one of those handwarmer packs in it each day and everything stayed decently warm…and somewhat organized.
7. Hawg Outdoors USB Powered light bar kit: Plenty of light for my shack, love the USB part as I can run it off of many things for power. Used 20% of a 40,000mah power bank over the weekend.
8. Marcum Recon 5: Used this for over 10 hours on one charge. My Aqua view maybe lasts 3-4 hours on a charge…and it has been sent in and had a battery warranty replaced…no change.
9. Blackfish Arid Gloves: Warm for their size, good dexterity, didn’t put the “waterproof” to a great test but were handled what I did with them well.
10. Dorsal skin hooking minnows for deadstick: Jason Mitchell tip (where I saw it, not saying he created it), just pierce the skin on on side of dorsal and out the same side, kept minnows alive longer and they were active. Like the hook towards the head part of the tip as fish tend to attack the head area it seems.
11. Only negatives would be not having more time to fish, the consistent extreme cold/wind, and forgetting my tackle bag :(. Good thing I make sure my son has plenty of tackle :).
