New Ice Castle Owner

We just purchased our first Ice Castle, beyond excited to take possession of it in the next couple of weeks, primary use will be at our Lake Lot for the Spring, Summer and Fall months, though the growing passion we have with ice fishing, certainly looking forward to that season as well. I have heard some of the reports/debates about frustration people have with Wheel houses, even other wheel house owners, parking too close, not being respectful or courteous to other anglers on the ice. Just looking for recommendations about proper etiquette when taking the ice house out on the lake to insure that we have a great time while being respectful to others. Any feed back would be greatly appreciated.

Most of it is common sense. Don’t crowd people, don’t drive fast on the ice. Don’t blast your strobe lights all night long etc. If you are normally considerate of other people on a daily basis you will have no problem. Congratulations on your new purchase. You know ice fishing is getting closer there has been 3 new threads in this forum the past couple days!

We have had our ice castle for 3 years and love it. Nothing like the sunsets and sunrises actually on the lake the lake! My best advice, be prepared for anything. We take extra gas and oil for generator and an extra 20# propane tank, buddy heater and electric heater incase house heater fails. Extra fuses for the house. Some people have extra high limit switch for furnace. Tools to fix about anything in the house. A hair dryer, sometimes condensation on the door can cause the door lock to freeze shut, a couple minutes with the hair dryer melts it (spray internal parts with WD40 to prevent). Knock on wood we have never had any major failures yet. For the best fishing I’d suggest staying away from the crowds. We have had our best catches sitting alone on a piece of structure of the lake. Have fun!

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Thanks for the nice message Scott, greatly appreciate the suggestions and advice for additional things to bring in case of problems. That is a terrific picture you attached and just another reason of what my wife and I are looking forward to this season. Good luck this season!!

Scott nailed just about everything you will need. A good rubber mallet is always a good thing to have. If you have kids make sure you have spare socks and slippers, also snacks as well. Another thing that really made life easier with the wheelhouse was getting an Engel bait cooler. You can buy for the weekend and not worry to much as long as you add water as the weekend goes on.

Just remember to take your time and slow down when setting up and packing up. Go over your checklist item by item so you don’t forget anything. I learned the hard way that when you rush you end up having to buy a lot of things that you already had.

The other thing I had to learn was to relax and enjoy the time out there. It’s not always about catching a million fish, sometimes it’s about getting out with friends and family. Always be respectful and use common sense and you will be fine. Resort owners are usually ready to help as long as we understand that they usually have their own customers who come first.

Al’s suggestion with the bait cooler is right on. I took a 30 qt cooler I had around the house and put a fish tank aerator in, works great on the ice. We haven’t lost a minnow in the past two years!

Just a note about generators, if you haven’t already get an inverter generator. Our first year I used a cheap 3600 watt unit that was loud and used a lot of gas, 16-20 gallons per weekend. We picked up a Champion 2000 watt inverter unit. Super quiet, only 5 gallons per weekend (12 hours run time on 1 gallon gas on eco mode) and I’m not pissing off any neighbors with all the noise.

I’d suggest rigging your house to run off battery power all the time (except for a couple outlets and 110 lights)

It’s nice to run the generator for just charging batteries, and not 24/7.

I have my TV, DVD and soundbar rigged off an inverter and independent battery, the furnace and 12v lights are on a separate battery.

So nice running the generator only when needed.

B-man wrote:

I’d suggest rigging your house to run off battery power all the time (except for a couple outlets and 110 lights)

It’s nice to run the generator for just charging batteries, and not 24/7.

I have my TV, DVD and soundbar rigged off an inverter and independent battery, the furnace and 12v lights are on a separate battery.

So nice running the generator only when needed.

I have mine setup that the generator only comes with for emergencies, everything runs off of battery, it’s so nice, I can go 4-5 days without charging.

Most annoying part of winters on gull were the jackwagons who would leave their hard house strobes on all night… Don’t be that guy. Steady lights are better for snowmobiles to see anyway.

I only will use my lights if someone is coming out by me and even then I have yellow bulbs in mine so I stick out. Otherwise, the house has enough reflective material on them so as to be seen at night.
I agree with the battery as well. I normally don’t have a microwave or coffee maker so a battery with a Coleman solar charger handles all of our needs for the most part. If I have the kids I’ll bring my generator so I can run tv and dvd or video games.