I just went through the same thing with a brand new solo. I read a lot about SM’s lines being junk, took it to d rock and they put better lines on and so far so good. At first I put a zip tie on for a temporary fix but even that as tight as I could get it didn’t hold for long.
Late ice last year I had one of JRs jalepenos (same shape but tungsten, it’s hard to go away from tungsten once you’ve gotten used to it) on and never had to take it off for gills, of course that’s late ice. So far this year chekais and toads have been my go-to’s for gills and pies.
I hear ya on that Munchy. I was interested when I saw the sahara for $40, but when I saw it’s on sale at Gander I tried to forget I even saw the deal.. Maybe have to price match it somewhere..
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Reeds website has a Universal Strikemaster/Clam extension 12 and 20 inch listed and don’t see anything saying out of stock.
Got mine yesterday, it’s packaged by clam but just what you need for a SM.
Just got a similar boat this summer and did #3 with the scotty/cabelas and don’t see any reason to change it. I know for the most part I will most always be fishing myself or 1 other, however, so the two off the back is all I need. I drilled holes right under the gunnels for a travel cover too and it wasn’t bad at all.
To me it looks like he’s talking transducers?
We just got a cabin and I was very nervous when it was time to put the canvas on. It fits alright but is way too tight to get one of the inside skirts to seal. We’re gonna take some pics like otter said and possibly get a new canvas but I’m even more nervous the new one will be worse. The new otters are awesome units aside from the problems but for cryin out loud is there not a procedure to at least get the canvas CLOSE to the same dimensions every time? It seems like some are just so far off from where they need to be.. And customer service recommending to cut the poles that they supposedly manufactured to fit makes me laugh at how absurd I think that is.
The problems have definitely been exposed, I just hope they make an attempt to fix them.
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However, if your visual survey is an accurate representation of the true population-then it sounds like you have a panfish population that is stunted or overly skewed towards the small side.
That’s the thing, all summer when I’ve been over (friends w/JC) you won’t catch many little guys, like 1+lb gills and 13″ crappies being abundant, but the biggest on camera when I was over was maybe 7″ and a couple nice crappie. The water clarity has gotta be over 15 feet, maybe the camera in such clear water is why the biggens aren’t showing themselves on camera?
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I have been lazy this year and neglectful on the eliptical. I am thinking snow on top of ice and a 150# fishhouse will be less than enjoyable.
Sounds like a good way to justify your neglect ha 
I’d be dragging the otter personally. My experience with wind and hubs = frustration. Any extra work always makes catching fish more satisfying 
I picked one up at the show (to hold, not to buy 
) and don’t remember any free spool
I haven’t been impressed with the 261s. Every time I’ve visited a store with them it seems like 2 out of 3 I pick up won’t free spool correctly. It’s like they just threw them all together and sent em away cause they clearly didn’t verify that they work correctly. At first I thought maybe one was just bad but nope, every location I’ve tried some there’s always some bad some good, it was surprising to me frabill put them out like that. If it’s the 261 you want I’d get the eagle claw instead.
Is this “smart wool” and “under armour smart wool” the same sock, or is “smart wool” a brand of its own?
I was there Friday and Saturday, next year I’ll only be going Friday or VIP on Saturday. Friday wasn’t too bad as far as the crowd goes.
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Get the Eagle Claw straight line reel, it has the free spool, no Lind stripping.
Even with the free spooling, is an ice jig heavy enough to take line off this reel?
You’d be surprised just how fast it spools the smallest ice jigs, tungsten or not.
Who gave the $575 deal?
I fished ~15 new lakes last winter and used lake finder for every one. From my experience the lakes with lower numbers of fish but a better size distribution were the best producers. The example you posted is exactly what I like to see, everytime I fished a lake with a similar pattern, I seemed to catch big fish consistently, I never noticed any difference as far as the year unless it was older than 2000 or so. On the other hand fishing lakes with a very high number of fish but not many bigger ones I mainly caught dinks. I like fishing lakes with lower numbers assuming that others just shrug these off when deciding where to fish (whether I’m right or not). But my goal is looking for signs of low fishing pressure like the low numbers of fish netted, unplowed roads or hard to access lakes, this factor is huge since more people today would rather take the ‘easy’ route 
.
Which knot are you guys using to add the fluoro?
x3, when you described what you were looking for you actually described this rod breaks the budget only by $10
Hands down the coolest logo out there, “fish hunt ice” sums up THE (GOOD) LIFE for most of us in the midwest 
As far as I know it’s almost fully open.
Alright so I read every post again and must have missed one earlier that said 6′ 180lbs L was just right. Anyway, L it is, I no longer need help deciding. That can only mean one thing…the wait to order is over
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Two of my oldest friends from back home with a couple 30.5″ fish, both in the 11lb range.
Nice!
I heard next year eagle claw will be coming out with multiple models of their inlines, not sure when they will be released or how many models, assuming they’ll have them at the ice show. I’m thinking/hoping one of the modifications will be to accommodate the pencil grip issue as I saw a lot of complaints on not being able to. But at $30, if they didn’t change a thing the reels they had this year were phenomenal at that price. Hearing of the multiple models really has me looking forward to what they bring next year, and how some of the competition responds to reels like the eagle claw/6061! Absolutely loved mine this year.
Last weekend was the last time on the ice this year for a friend and myself 
in south central MN. We kept these for a fish fry. All 7.5-9″ caught on plastics.
Big fan of IDO and have wanted a hoodie since I first saw them, so I made an account just to ask a question about it before I order ha (and also look forward to utilizing the forums, just may take some time to get used to it all 
). I’m 6′ 175lbs, and am leaning towards a L since I’m worried I’d be swimming in an XL, but I like my hoodies a little longer than the belt line. I usually always order a L but it’s almost sounding like an XL may do, for those who have got theirs any suggestions?
