Why don’t more ice fisherman use wagon’s instead of sleds – not scare fish?

Watching a video and the host said that some of the things that scare fish away the most are pulling a sled across the ice, drilling holes with augers, and some electronics (I’ve heard the Garmin Livescope scares fish sometimes) in that order with a sled being the worst. This makes sense especially when you are fishing 15′ foot of water or less and especially so if you’re fishing 8-10′ feet.

So, many times when guys are fishing this shallow it’s early season and historically in early season there isn’t tons of snow, just ice, so you could get away with pulling a wheeled wagon which would be much quieter than a sled and perhaps even easier to pull. You can also pull a wagon over some snow.

So, why don’t more people use wheeled wagons when ice fishing to keep the noise down to not scare fish?

usmarine0352 wrote:

So, why don’t more people use wheeled wagons when ice fishing to keep the noise down to not scare fish?

You have to use an auger to drill a hole and your livescope to find the fish so while they were not scared by pulling the wagon they will skedaddle when you fire those up anyway so what’s the point of not scaring them away sooner?

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>usmarine0352 wrote:</div>
So, why don’t more people use wheeled wagons when ice fishing to keep the noise down to not scare fish?

You have to use an auger to drill a hole and your livescope to find the fish so while they were not scared by pulling the wagon they will skedaddle when you fire those up anyway so what’s the point of not scaring them away sooner?

I was thinking the drill and electronics wouldn’t be as loud as the sled being pulled quite a distance. The drill would also be for only a quick second if the ice was thin.

The hole could be cut pretty quickly and other electronics like Vexilars appear to not scare fish as much.

My first thought is why assume a wagon won’t scare fish too?

IF I was worried about this, I’d be walking on my tip toes in tennis shoes carrying everything in a 5 gallon bucket!

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

My first thought is why assume a wagon won’t scare fish too?

IF I was worried about this, I’d be walking on my tip toes in tennis shoes carrying everything in a 5 gallon bucket!

-J.

Because a wagon with wheels would normally be fairly quiet since the wheels roll on top of the ice vs. scraped across it.

Jon Jordan wrote:

My first thought is why assume a wagon won’t scare fish too?

IF I was worried about this, I’d be walking on my tip toes in tennis shoes carrying everything in a 5 gallon bucket!

-J.

I think I am just going to start to sneak up on my fish at the grocery store. They dont seem to be spooked by anything.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jon Jordan wrote:</div>
My first thought is why assume a wagon won’t scare fish too?

IF I was worried about this, I’d be walking on my tip toes in tennis shoes carrying everything in a 5 gallon bucket!

-J.

I think I am just going to start to sneak up on my fish at the grocery store. They dont seem to be spooked by anything.

That’s really the only way to do it honestly.

You do what you can. You have to move to fish but you can mitigate noise. Especially once on spot. I still feel stealthy using my electric auger over the old gas ones.

I have a muffler in my Ion.

I want to watch some one pull a wagon through the snow. And then tell me they didn’t scare fish

I hope on that wagon they have a old jiffy 3.5 hp.

Sylvanboat wrote:

I have a muffler in my Ion.

I have a ferrule on my transducer cable to eliminate the risk of the sonar scaring fish.

Noise will scare fish. I don’t think it’s the initial noise that messes things up, it’s the longevity. If you spend 10 minutes making your noise and punching holes in an area, dragging gear, etc. the fish aren’t going to permanently evacuate and will likely return. Once you get settled in noise can be almost non-existent. Where noise becomes a major issue is when it is constant and effectively keeps fish from returning to the same spot they started in. Loud generators next to where you fish on the ice, constantly shoveling or chiseling ice, pounding more holes with an auger every 4 minutes in the same general area, people dragging gear right by your area all day, etc.

As far as electronics scaring fish…I’m not going to pretend to know the science of it or not. I would say that if sonar is sending skittish fish scattering, you had next to no chance of ever getting those fish to bite in the first place and are better off moving to find more aggressive fish anyways.

I don’t know anything about a wagon, but fish hear really well. Cant tell how many times early ice shallow water, the tip up is spinning and you walk up to it and stops.

My wagon is too small.

slipperybob wrote:

My wagon is too small.

If you hook your wagon to my wagon, would we be wagoneers?

usmarine0352 wrote:

Because a wagon with wheels would normally be fairly quiet since the wheels roll on top of the ice vs. scraped across it.

Yeah but the horse clomping around wouldn’t be…..

snicker

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Bearcat89 wrote:

If you hook your wagon to my wagon, would we be wagoneers?

If only I knew how. LOL.

Smitty Sleds are pretty quiet actually. Especially compared to dragging a tub across the ice. Throw the tub on a smitty sled and be more stealthy

i use a wagon!

I also use a wagon, mainly because I don’t want to drag my sled down the road.

Thinking about this today and a wagon is a very good idea for times like now with no snow in southern mn and pulling a sled across the ground is not a option. Unless you have a very short distance to the water

My heater, graph, 5 gallon pail
with rods, lures, scoop and extra propane goes in the wagon.

i tie a sled behind it for portable, chair
and auger.

Both fit side by side in the back of the Explorer and works pretty good

I learned a lot last year about fish reactins to top side stuff with the livescope. I would mark a small school of fish, leave the transducer facing them, go drill holes, check back and they would be gone. This was a small lake that doesn’t get much pressure. I am hoping swithcing to an electric auger spooks fish less. Moral of the story, use a forward sonar and experiment on what scares them and doesn’t

I just never want to be “on the wagon” when I’m ice fishing.

Used a wagon once to get to a lake with a 3/4 mile trail and no snow. Pretty sure fish hear the grinding of the ice and not the actual motor. I’ll do a bunch of holes and some kind of set line at the far end of the holes, have to choose a tippie or FFooler for crappies, would be nice to be able to use 3 in the winter. (file under duh, right)

Can’t imagine pulling a wagon through snow. Could see it working on practically bare ice. As for noise, I fish with a camera a lot and have been surprised at some observations over time, mostly on Miss River backwaters. Fish are often NOT annoyed by power augers, or augers in general… but they don’t like spuds- from often a very long distance, sometimes 100’s of yards. They do NOT like bare tub sleds, like most guys use, including me, dragging over noisy ice. Again, sometimes the fish will scatter from a basic tub sled 100’s of yards away! A smitty on ski’s seems to make a huge difference. Airboats: we humans hate the engine/fan noise, but I’m convinced the fish hate the ‘boat drag’ noise on the ice. Ice cleats: ya gotta have em, but fish don’t like em, especially on new/bare ice. Noise would/could probably be a thread of it’s own.
As to your point about noise…wagon wheels would likely be way more acceptable to fish than a drag behind sled.

i have a wagon. however i will be adding wheels onto my smitty sled next year to give me the option.