To buy or not to buy, that is the question.

Last year I thought I would be smart and buy a four wheeler thinking I would use it a lot. Well long story short, with all this snow on the lakes in Midwest MN it has been useless for about two months. Now I’m considering buying a snowmobile and using the four wheeler as trade in. I do have a lot of trails to ride snowmobile and not four wheelers. I have never owned a snowmobile and maybe you guys can give me some advice on what snowmobile to buy for both fishing and trail riding. The only thing I know is that it should be a four stroke. Thanks for any advice.

I would keep the atv. Just remember when the temp is 40 to 90 degs. You will be looking at a snowmobile wishing that you had a 4-wheeler. Remember this has been a hard year for snow. I don’t think this will happen every year. At less you can work around it with a atv. Good luck!!!

I own 2 of each and if I could only choose one for fishing it would be a atv.

I prefer snowmobiles for fishing. Basically nothing stops them. But if you have to give more money to get a sled, you might want to look into tracks for your quad. They will help you with flotation across snow drifts.

I personally lean towards a snowmobile, get a relatively cheap one and keep the atv. It’s lighter than an atv and generally speaking cheaper plus as long as there is ice on the lake it is always good to go, the atv like you said will be useless if the snow/slush gets deep. For me I don’t have land to use an atv on in the off season anyway and even if I did that’s what the truck would be for. So for me its a no brainer if I have to pick just one. My 2 cents

Buy a set of tracks for your atv in the winter months.Virtually unstoppable.

Here is the answer! I’ve had these tracks in the garage for a couple years but never installed until last December. Glad I did, the ATV will go anyplace a snowmobile will, albeit a little slower, but I can plow a spot to fish when I get there!

Nice Quad Bob! I would hang onto your quad. You will get way more use out of it than a sled. If you buy a sled i bet it will hardly snow at all next year!

I too thought that I would get more use out of the atv, but I’m a city boy who has no land to enjoy the ride. As for the snow amount, it can snow quite a bit and stay around for many months in most of Minnesota. How much are tracks for an atv? I own a snowblower for all my snow removal needs. Keep up the good suggestions, Ray.

This question comes up every year. IMO a snowmobile is for icefishing. I don’t disagree that you can get more use out a ATV but this year has proven again you need a sled.
My relative sold his sleds this past fall for the same reason, you can use a ATV all year. I had suggested he keep one just for winter and he didn’t. Guess where his new ATV has sat most of the winter,in the garage, he’s pissed.

Like others have suggested either get tracks or buy a good used sled for icefishing and keep the wheeler.

Talk to ecnook. Turn your atv into a “squealer”. Best of both worlds.

You need both if you want to be able to ice fish all season. Snowmobiles need snow, driving them on ice without snow will melt the track slides. atv’s can go through snow, but this year was too much. A late 90’s two up long track machine is all you need.

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Here is the answer! I’ve had these tracks in the garage for a couple years but never installed until last December. Glad I did, the ATV will go anyplace a snowmobile will, albeit a little slower, but I can plow a spot to fish when I get there!

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I’ve gone much the same route but without the plow. There are conditions that will get it stuck, as I’ve found out, but they aren’t many and it’s very convenient having all of the carrying capacity. Gas mileage absolutely blows though.

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I’ve gone much the same route but without the plow. There are conditions that will get it stuck, as I’ve found out, but they aren’t many and it’s very convenient having all of the carrying capacity. Gas mileage absolutely blows though.

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Chris, what conditions get the tracked ATV stuck? How does it do in slush and deep powder?

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Last year I thought I would be smart and buy a four wheeler thinking I would use it a lot. Well long story short, with all this snow on the lakes in Midwest MN it has been useless for about two months. Now I’m considering buying a snowmobile and using the four wheeler as trade in. I do have a lot of trails to ride snowmobile and not four wheelers. I have never owned a snowmobile and maybe you guys can give me some advice on what snowmobile to buy for both fishing and trail riding. The only thing I know is that it should be a four stroke. Thanks for any advice.

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If you have the storage space, I would recommend you to pick up a cheap snowmobile and keep the ATV.

An ice fishing snowmobile can be bought for $1000.

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I’ve gone much the same route but without the plow. There are conditions that will get it stuck, as I’ve found out, but they aren’t many and it’s very convenient having all of the carrying capacity. Gas mileage absolutely blows though.

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Chris, what conditions get the tracked ATV stuck? How does it do in slush and deep powder?

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Deep slush and deep powder are the problem. Back in Dec, I planted it twice in the same day. 12″ – 15″ of slush and 12″ – 15″ of light powder, -10 actual temps and high winds. I was pushing slush and snow over top of the front box that day until it just bogged out. Thankfully I was able to self-extract both times but I turned around and headed back as I didn’t want to shut the bike off and risk it not starting with all that crude jammed into every nook and crany on the bike. Limped back to the access point at no more than 6 – 8 mph and even then the engine was straining. That day wasn’t so much fun.

Slush is a real killer stuck my rig (arctic cat 700 with tracks) 3 weeks ago in 15″ of slush. Was lucky that a hero appeared on the lake and between winch and his tow strap we got within 80 feet so he could pull me out. I like my tracks, but it is no subistitue for a sled; for long rides and real cold weather. Am going to whip up a bar that one can drop threw a drilled hole that can use as an anchor to winch out with.

Like others have said they are two different vehicles specializing in different terrains. Its luck of the draw how much snow we get and which machine works best or at all.

Flip a coin or have both. Personally I feel that if you can get around on a quad then you can use your 4×4 truck. Of course this doesn’t cover every scenario but I have quads and I have only used them ice fishing twice in 5 years.

Not to be the contrarian here but getting stuck in a foot and a little more of snow hardly would seem to solve the problem to me. This year I’ve been on a couple lakes with 2 feet plus of snow and many are not even possible to fish. Granted snowmobiles are not made for slush either I’ll give you that, but at least with a sled you should have no problem with a foot and up of snow/powder. Also I think something overlooked on this thread is how much lighter a sled is compared to a atv.

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Slush is a real killer stuck my rig (arctic cat 700 with tracks) 3 weeks ago in 15″ of slush. Was lucky that a hero appeared on the lake and between winch and his tow strap we got within 80 feet so he could pull me out. I like my tracks, but it is no subistitue for a sled; for long rides and real cold weather. Am going to whip up a bar that one can drop threw a drilled hole that can use as an anchor to winch out with.

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I already have a bar like that but it does little to no good if you can’t access your winch because it’s encased in 5″ of solid ice.

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Also I think something overlooked on this thread is how much lighter a sled is compared to a atv.

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Why do you think the weight is so important? Thin ice??

No not the thin ice. Mainly because this year our ramp we built for the back of the truck broke and we don’t have a trailer so with just an indy lite two guys can easily unload it. Whereas if you don’t have a trailer or nice truck ramp for an atv you are screwed. Plus if you get stuck with a snowmobile it’s easier to push and pull it around compared to a atv due to the extra weight.

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Not to be the contrarian here but getting stuck in a foot and a little more of snow hardly would seem to solve the problem to me. This year I’ve been on a couple lakes with 2 feet plus of snow and many are not even possible to fish. Granted snowmobiles are not made for slush either I’ll give you that, but at least with a sled you should have no problem with a foot and up of snow/powder. Also I think something overlooked on this thread is how much lighter a sled is compared to a atv.

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Just to be clear, it was powder on top of the slush when I got stuck. I haven’t yet got stuck in just snow as of yet. Currently we’re at 276″ for the season with 50″ on the ground.

That makes much more sense. I read it as 15 inches powder or slush. Got it.

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That makes much more sense. I read it as 15 inches powder or slush. Got it.

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Sorry, I wasn’t as clear as I should have been.

From what I’ve always read a atv with tracks will have less pounds per square inch on the surface it is touching than a snowmobile due to the overall amount of track that is touching. Given this an atv with tracks is able to perform better in really deep snow compared to a snowmobile, however you get a lot more snow in your face, colder ride, and can’t go nearly as fast. For ice fishing if you don’t need to go very far, a atv with tracks is the way to go in my opinion, however if you are fishing like LOTW and need to go 10-15 miles out a snowmobile is the way to go. A lot quicker and a lot better gas mileage. Just need to look at what you are going to use if for and go from there.

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No not the thin ice. Mainly because this year our ramp we built for the back of the truck broke and we don’t have a trailer so with just an indy lite two guys can easily unload it. Whereas if you don’t have a trailer or nice truck ramp for an atv you are screwed. Plus if you get stuck with a snowmobile it’s easier to push and pull it around compared to a atv due to the extra weight.

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Fair enough, everyone’s situation is differnt. I can’t imagine loading an ATV into a pickup without a ramp, but in almost all other situations I’d rather move around an ATV than a sled regardless of weight and if the the sled has reverse.

Realistically if you’re getting stuck with a snowmobile, using an ATV isn’t even in the picture.