Sled for hand pulling gear

I have an Otter cabin that I use for 90% of my ice fishing. I have been meaning to buy a pop up (either a quickfish 2 or 3) for a couple years now for three primary reasons; 1) BWCA lake trout fishing, 2) early ice and lake superior fishing, and 3) ice fishing a small private lake I have access to but can only walk out from. Essentially I want the quickfish for an ultra-light set up when bringing the otter cabin is not feasible. Right now when I am fishing the private lake I have to walk out from, I am just using a cheap tobagon sled and bringing just the essentials – an auger, a bucket, and a small rod case, because thats pretty much all that can fit. I’d like to have a sled that can fit a quickfish in addition to the auger and a couple other small gear items.

What do you guys use for pulling out your pop up shelters? Does anyone know what the smallest otter sled is that would fit a quickfish and an auger laying down?

This is my current set up for going into the BWCA. We ride snowmobiles to the BWCA border and then walk in from there. Thus why I have PVC pipe rigged up as tow bars to pull two tobagon sleds behind the snowmobile. I would need 2 of these tobagon sleds to fit the whole works (i.e. a popup, auger, heater, propane, rod bag, etc.) right now and I don’t really want to be pulling 2 of these sleds out although it might be a pretty light (least resistance) option.

A smitty sled is an option but I would still need a sled of some sort to be placed on top of the smitty platform. I’ve seen other manufacturers making something similar to the otter sled… anyone have any reviews or recommendations for sleds?

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I used an old tub from ice shack and lagged in two 2x10s and attached down hill skis to them so tub is above ice. Not much effort to pull supplies across ice. Would send a picture but not smart enough to do that.

Here’s my sled. I put cross country skis on the bottom and it helps a lot. If you have really deep and fluffy snow it kinda sucks pulling by hand though

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I use the same Jet Sled as coletrain27. Not as thick as an Otter, but lighter and actually “faster” on the snow and ice. Bungies over gear, I can bring everything you said plus more. 949i, auger, bucket, flashers, 2 chairs, rod bags, buddy heater…..

Otter sport sled. Light but will take abuse.

Pailofperch wrote:

I use the same Jet Sled as coletrain27. Not as thick as an Otter, but lighter and actually “faster” on the snow and ice. Bungies over gear, I can bring everything you said plus more. 949i, auger, bucket, flashers, 2 chairs, rod bags, buddy heater…..

Which model of the jet sled do you have? Is that the XL? the 1?

The picture is the jet sled 1. I can haul my clam refuge hub, buddy heater, Engel cooler, flasher in a 5 gallon bucket, auger and rod case. It’s definetly full then and I use bungies over the top. If I go without my hub shack then it’s plenty big. The hub is longer than the sled but I make it work

Order a sheet of eight inch uhmw plastic and cut and form a sled on your own. A simple jigsaw, drill, and river gun are all that’s needed. Otherwise if you’re handy weld up or frame with wood a goal post type upper rack for your sled. House on the rack over the top of your gear. I’ve done both but far prefer the uhmw route.

Mine looks like coletrains but with 2x10s on it.

I would get a small otter, jet sled, or similar and build a Smitty. Bungee the hub to the smitty crossmembers, and set the sled on the crossmembers next to the hub. Should be able to fit your other gear in the sled if the long and bulky hub isn’t in the sled. Maybe build a bracket or shelf on snowmobile to carry it all on the sled until you get to your walking destination. Smitty could be broken down and strapped to sled or hub while riding on the snowmobile.

I made a smitty sled extra wide to hold my Eskimo, medium otter and auger. This is a prototype but it worked pretty good. I may try a narrow version with a PVC rack to hold the hub above the otter. Not sure if narrower will pull better but this was not bad. That will be a summer project. Hope this helps with ideas.

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Have I got a treat for you. First hand experience!

I have run the EXACT same setup you’re talking about. Otter Cabin XT1200 for dragging with a wheeler or snowmobile, sometimes by hand on glare ice but rarely.

My lightweight early ice and late ice setup consists of the eskimo quickfish 3i and an otter medium sled. I believe jet sleds are slightly lighter, but my otter is in good shape. No hyfax on it, big rope to pull it with (long enough to wrap it across the front of my body and pull with my body instead of just with arms). In the sled goes my rod case, a bucket with a hunting type seat pad, jig case, portable buddy and two 1 lb propane canisters. Kdrill and milwaukee for drilling holes. tip ups/ rods chosen depending on what exactly I want to do that day. Eskimo sits right on top of everything while I’m dragging. Once the snow piles up I’ll put a bungee over the eskimo to hold it down.

Now if you’re pulling with a snowmobile you might want to put a cover over the sled before throwing the eskimo on top. I bought a jet sled cover for a fraction of the price of the otter cover and it fits perfectly.

Another option is looking into the Ice Runner brand of flipover shacks. it’s far and above the lightest flipover on the market. I leave one of these up at the cabin as an ultralight setup. it’s actually lighter than the setup I described above. I really like that shack despite not using it too often. I noticed they seem to have gone way up in price now. I bought an ice runner explorer last year at sportsman’s guide for $279 after a coupon and buyers club discount. Incredible value.

I will mention the ice runner sled has a much less durable tub (hence the big weight savings) which likely would need hyfax in the long term if you drag it with truck/ wheeler/ snowmobile.

I have a small Otter II sled (22.5″W x 51″L x 10″D). Not a lot of space but worked for a small popup, auger, 5ga bucket, rods, etc.

You can make pulling easier if you attach the pull bars to the sides of a waist belt for an old backpack. I use the same setup as you for draw bars- nylon rope strung through PVC with cheap carabiners on each end. For the snowmobile I clip both to the hitch, like you show, then when I pull I hook 1 side to each side of the waist belt. It allows you to face straight ahead and use ski poles, and makes it a lot easier. I have pulled sleds up in the mountains to overnight in a yurt, and it works fine.
A Smitty would make it easier to pull, you might even be able to make one that tracked in your tracks, which would help a lot. If not, make sure it is tall enough to keep the tub from plowing a snow trench, and make sure to wax your skis like you are racing in a downhill.

The narrower the sled is the easier it will pull. Are you sure what you have now won’t fit the full load? Every fish house style sled I’ve used pulls significantly harder than a long and narrow utility sled.

One of these sleds is similar but maybe bigger and should fit everything.

https://www.truevalue.com/pro-expedition-sled

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Emsco beast is what I use. Bigger than the expedition sled with a better front angle. I have used this sled for the bwca for years. If I really want to haul a lot of stuff I will pull two in a row.

I use the Jet Sled one…less expensive than an otter sled and works just as well in most circumstances. Cut a piece of PVC to slide the rope through while towing with the sled or wheeler. I’ve been happy with mine if I’m walking in with a quick fish hub and gear