My opinion is deadstick rods are good at one thing and one thing only, being a deadstick. Baitfeeder reels make a dedicated deadstick rod unnecessary in my opinion. I put my baitfeeders on rods that can pull double duty. I use a “deadstick” every time I am fishing for walleye, I toss a baitfeeder on it and a bell and I am rocking.

I think it could have been better if it was on a dedicated channel (this would never happen because each Chanel needs the views)and they released one episode out every day not 5 at the same time once a week.

Still the price is right to watch and I like the majority of the guys content. Good for them to put it together.

I love the idea of it. Fun way to kick off the ice fishing season. It’s nice to see that although they are battling one another they support each other. Seems to be a good community.

MHX Solid Carbon Ice Rod Kits

This is a ice rod kit from mudhole. Defiantly the easiest way to get into building a rod. If your boy wants something more specific I can give you a couple of choices of what I would build off of too.

Where are you located. I really like electric but I live in Alberta and fish Sask and Manitoba. Late season with an electric can suck.

If you cutting through 2ft or less electric is the way to go or if your only drilling a handful of holes in a trip.

I Swiss cheese the hell out of a lake when I fish. Late season I bring a gas.

Aboxy17 wrote:

I would go with the double-wide style because it is easier to deal with putting a floor down. Watch Clayton Schick he does a great job showing the setup he uses. I used my Otter Vortex lodge last year for ice camping with a square floor pattern and it works great for two cots me and a buddy.

Some things I would recommend you don’t see in videos. I put a tarp underneath my foam mats. This helps keep the mats dry and prevents ice from melting underneath and creating a puddle. Second instead of shoveling the snow off the ice pack it down onto the ice and make it level with a shovel. This helps like you wouldn’t believe it creates an insulating layer that prevents the bare ice from melting and creating puddles of water. Last tip would be bring one of those hard floor mats with a lip for your boots. This was a great idea and kept wet boots off of the floor. Doing these things was great and we were able to be in our socks the whole time comfy and dry. It also all helped a great deal keeping warm we had a thermostat and we never really dipped below a 60-degree temp in the shack the whole time we also never got a wet floor in 24 hours of being out there.

I like the idea of packing down the snow. I could imagine that would help a lot with insulation. I will be trying that this winter.

Good call on the noice. Will have to pay extra attention to it.

Don’t know prior the bottom composition but will be bringing my camera to check. From what I know about most the the rest of lake is majority sand.

Appreciate it. Will find out in a couple days. It makes sense in my head but we all know, when you think you got them figured out they throw a curveball your way.

In Alberta. We can use two.

Put a liteFlite on my husqvarna auger and she is sub 20lbs will a tank of gas. My first gen ion is 22lbs. When I ice camp I bring the gas or when I fish late season, when we get 3’ of ice. But sure is nice to press a trigger and all you here is ice shaving.

In Canada we have a time and place for both.

If these were Rocky Mountain whitefish I would limit out on them in an hour. Lol. Fly fishing our local streams is one of the most reliable fish. These lake whitefish are a different monster. Haha.

Great advice. Much appreciated. Look forward to putting some on the ice this weekend.

TOM wrote:

If they are lake whitefish, I would use panfish gear. 2 lb test high quality fluoro. and small tungsten jigs tipped with a single waxie, spikes, or any <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>panfish plastics. Is this a lake in MN?

It’s in Alberta. I had 5lb Fluor leader. Might drop that down to 4lb and finess the hell out of them. As long as they are there next week.

Great insight Brian, Much appreciated. Will try out the slender spoon and pink larvae this coming weekend.

Do you ever use a deadstick approach or a jaw jacker for them. I personally hate jaw jackers but could see them coming in handy for whites.

No tullibee in the lake.

Yeah, one of the first things I did was drop down the camera. They drive me nuts, they taste so good and can be a nightmare to catch. Haha.

I take a half inch barn stall mats and cut them 12”x12”, cut a line into the middle and drill a 1/4” hole. Put that over the hole with the your line running through the mat, it works really well.

I use these on all my tip ups and deadstick holes. Never have issues. It takes a long while for them to freeze.

Pretty cheap option and one stall mat will give you lots of hole covers. They also don’t take batteries. Haha

Great. Thanks Sheppy, I will reach out to him. About time I get Facebook I suppose. Haha

Rodwork wrote:

Here is something that might help you. Matt and I, along with a few others have been working on this for years. Matt is just nice enough to post his spread sheet where everyone can download it.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rpEtBQKRsHXvNJaAq3__Z2OE6T3limR9

Thanks Rodworks. I have checked out the spreadsheet a few times, great resource. I found it on Ice Shanty last year. been very helpful.

@Mahtofire

That blackfish hoodie. Is that the gale soft-shell pullover your talking about? How do they fit? True to size?

They look awesome.

Cheers

I might try out a similar test in the video as I have same brand fluoro main line and leader material. I was always under the assumption it is more abrasion resistant but would like to find out for myself.

I probably shouldn’t say regularly 25+lb pike, I usually catch 2-5 a year that reach that mark out of this lake. Also targeting these big fish and not catching many small pike.

Is anyone used BlackOvis merino as a base layer? I use merino alot when I am hunting but it is usually thin like a 150. Curious how the heavier merino like the 250 would be as a base layer. Merino is expensive but I know I can double duty this stuff with late season hunting.

Thanks for all the help guys.

I will give 20lb Seager a try and see how that works this year.

Thanks for advice lads.

I hear yea Mr. Beads. I spent the last 10 years pulling giant pike out of that lake. Want to switch it up this year and try my hand at eyes. The lake is catch and release for both walleye and pike so both can get huge.

I should have specified that all my fluoro leaders are leader material. No strait fluoro line.

do you guys know if a spare spool comes with the Ceymar BF? or do you have to order one?