Hey all,
I am looking for easier ways to pull my portable out on the lake other than just pulling the sled. I find that my sled/house plows tons of snow with it and makes it a huge burden to pull long distances. I also find that I dont explore as far from shore since I have to drag that boat anchor around.
If anyone has ideas about ways to make this easier, that would be awesome! And no, I do not have a 4-wheeler and that large of an investment is out of the question at this point.
Smitty sled bud just google it and thank me later 
Do a google search for “smitty sled”. A “smitty sled” is a very basic frame with a set of downhill skis mounted under it. The sled elevates your tub above the snow and this decreases the drag and makes the whole thing much easier to pull.
Looks like the Dave’s are all over it……
I have seen the smitty sleds, keep thinking about building one. I did go to fleet farm and get one of those deer dragger harnesses, which works great. It’s a big orange harness with a rope on the back that I just tied off to my sled rope, a lot more comfortable walking long distances hands free. When you get deep snow though this will still make it easier, but a smitty will have more of an impact, both a harness and the smitty would be ideal.
I have seen the smitty sleds, keep thinking about building one. I did go to fleet farm and get one of those deer dragger harnesses, which works great. It’s a big orange harness with a rope on the back that I just tied off to my sled rope, a lot more comfortable walking long distances hands free. When you get deep snow though this will still make it easier, but a smitty will have more of an impact, both a harness and the smitty would be ideal.
I cut the leg part off of one of those cheap saftey harnesses that comes with treestands, leaving just the upper part, and attatched the tether to the sled rope, I can leave that top part of the harness on and just hook it up to the sled when i want to go, leaving hands free and makes it a lot easier to walk out long distances with less fatigue
Until you save enough money to buy a atv, snowmobile or both, you are very limited with options. The “smitty sled” probably would be the best option.
The first thing I do with any sled or shelter is to ditch the stock tow rope. Install eye bolts in the sled, use a poly rope that won’t absorb water. My FX 100, 20′ section of rope with carabiner clips.
A smitty sled does help a lot I just built one for my xt1200 lodge but depending how fare your going out it is still a hard pull
with my smitty sled i can pull out over 150 lbs pretty easily. Of course we only have a few inches of snow on the ice so its not as tough as it would be with 6 inches. I built my smitty sled from re purposed lumber and some skis i found for free at a garage sale.
I’ve built two smittys. One is a basic platform and the other has a back built in the back on uprights tall enough and wide enough where I can fit a medium sized otter sled underneath. On that particular sled I’ll typically pull out around 200lbs of gear (auger, fishing equipment, hub shack, 20lb propane tanks, etc…it adds up when you break it down). My brother uses a jet sled without a smitty and is usually carting at most 50lbs of stuff. His set-up is much harder to pull than mine.
I would pack a whole lot different if I didn’t have a Smitty sled perminately attached to my sleds…
Common misconception… Smitty sled need to be 8″ tall.
Add skis and no more than 2″ clearance from floor to sled and your golden.
Any extra height makes it unstable and adds no valve in terms of pulling the sled easily.
I would pack a whole lot different if I didn’t have a Smitty sled perminately attached to my sleds…
Common misconception… Smitty sled need to be 8″ tall.
Add skis and no more than 2″ clearance from floor to sled and your golden.
Any extra height makes it unstable and adds no valve in terms of pulling the sled easily.
So if its 2″ or less does it have to be detachable from the sled? or can you fish with that and have the canvas reach down to the ice?
Sometimes it seems like portables are a generational thing. As if its necessary for the sport. Even when its warm enough out to fish outside.
Sometimes it seems like portables are a generational thing. As if its necessary for the sport. Even when its warm enough out to fish outside.
The IDO guys use electric augers at first ice, is that a generational thing, @ 62, I’m still drilling holes by hand & moving my FX 100 on foot.
Although I learned to fish at a very young age, and without the use of any type of fish house, I like my portable. This past weekend it was nice enough here that I didn’t even sit in my house. I will have to look at some different ideas of designs.
jerad – do you have any pictures of yours attached to your house? If so, would you mind sharing?
Thanks to everyone for the input
Duluth Pack with no portable house. No dragging at all.
Although I learned to fish at a very young age, and without the use of any type of fish house, I like my portable. This past weekend it was nice enough here that I didn’t even sit in my house. I will have to look at some different ideas of designs.
jerad – do you have any pictures of yours attached to your house? If so, would you mind sharing?
Thanks to everyone for the input
I am in the process of putting skis on my shack also. I’m just unsure on how high you need to go. All of the smitty sleds you see on the internet are raised a good 12″ at least. I personally don’t think you need to go that high. I am going to try to have 2″ between the shack and skis. Probably fab something up this week. Will post pics
I would greatly appreciate that. If I can make it as a permanent addition to my sled, I would consider it depending on how it operates.
I would greatly appreciate that. If I can make it as a permanent addition to my sled, I would consider it depending on how it operates.
That’s what I’m more interested in also. I already have enough gear to haul around. I don’t want a sled to add to the mess
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:</div>
I would pack a whole lot different if I didn’t have a Smitty sled perminately attached to my sleds…Common misconception… Smitty sled need to be 8″ tall.
Add skis and no more than 2″ clearance from floor to sled and your golden.
Any extra height makes it unstable and adds no valve in terms of pulling the sled easily.So if its 2″ or less does it have to be detachable from the sled? or can you fish with that and have the canvas reach down to the ice?
Any height will work on ice, anyone whom has pulled a 150-200 lb. load very far in a foot of snow will call BS to that statement.My experiance in fresh snow is u need at least 8-12 inches of clearance under the sled along with wide, long skis or u will plow snow. If it works for u run with it, does not work in the North where I fish.Fish safe
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:</div>
I would pack a whole lot different if I didn’t have a Smitty sled perminately attached to my sleds…Common misconception… Smitty sled need to be 8″ tall.
Add skis and no more than 2″ clearance from floor to sled and your golden.
Any extra height makes it unstable and adds no valve in terms of pulling the sled easily.So if its 2″ or less does it have to be detachable from the sled? or can you fish with that and have the canvas reach down to the ice?
Yes, fish with it on.
I added grommets and 6oz weights all around my skirt. No banking needed anymore either to keep the wind out.
Sometimes it seems like portables are a generational thing. As if its necessary for the sport. Even when its warm enough out to fish outside.
On that note, I’ve also screwed skis on a 3″ riser straight to one of my sleds for even lighter travel on warmer or less windy days. Pulling it with no more than an auger, flasher and tackle is like walking down the sidewalk; a year like this with low snow and I can(or could, I should say) walk for miles if I needed to.
Deer drag – http://www.heavyhauleroutdoorgear.com/products-page/archery/deer-drag-harness/
Smitty as stated above
Eliminate excess
Keep the weight at the rear of the sled so it can lift up and over rather than plowing through
sucker someone else to pull it for you
Common misconception… Smitty sled need to be 8″ tall.
Add skis and no more than 2″ clearance from floor to sled and your golden.
Any extra height makes it unstable and adds no valve in terms of pulling the sled easily.
I agree that they don’t need to be that tall but I disagree that the height plays as big of a role in them being unstable as their width does. One of mine is 8 inches tall and very stable when I use longer cross members. I have three sets of cross members (48″, 40″, and 24″ respectively). It’s a very different sled with the narrow ones on it compared to the long ones that widen the skis out. Why the different widths? It depends on what I’m using the sled for. I’ll typically use the 40″ cross members when ice fishing and that set up is very different in terms of stability than it is when I use the 24″ set.
So I ended up just screwing the old downhill skis directly to the bottom of the otter tub just to try it out. I had planned on raising it up an inch or two but to do it right I do not currently have the tools needed. The back of skis are flush with the rear of the sled and the fronts stick out flush with the front of the canvas.
Took it out the local lake. Otter house is 95 lbs and I put everything in the sled: Strikemaster auger, vexilar, marcum camera, tackle, rods, 20 lb propane tank and big buddy heater, plus a 5 yr old and a 3 yr old riding on the otter bench seat. The result was absolutely amazing, I cannot believe that I didn’t do this sooner. It pulled very easy.
does anyone have any pictures of how they fastened the cross members to the smitty sled? I could use some cross member support on mine but not sure how to make that work
These fellas look eager to help.
whistler_sled_dogs.jpg
does anyone have any pictures of how they fastened the cross members to the smitty sled? I could use some cross member support on mine but not sure how to make that work
Many ways of securing the cross members. Here is a little reading material on designs.
http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=103927.msg3476217#msg3476217
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
Sometimes it seems like portables are a generational thing. As if its necessary for the sport. Even when its warm enough out to fish outside.The IDO guys use electric augers at first ice, is that a generational thing, @ 62, I’m still drilling holes by hand & moving my FX 100 on foot.
Not sure if it’s a generational thing or more related to product development. What probably started as an idea to get out of the wind for those that didn’t have a permanent eventually took on a life of its own. I have no doubt there were many people that got into portables who started to look for ways to add creature comforts to make the fishing experience closer to a permanent. You start adding more space, better seats, etc. that translates to more weight. Now you start to think of ideas to combat the weight which translates to more gear, more this, more that…
I’ve gone to a small flip up and sit on a bucket.
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