I have fished Horsehsoe Lake for cats many times. This time of year I will usually walk due to the fact that I don’t have my four wheeler at school with me. I park along the road, HWY 22, and it’s kind of a long walk, but if there isn’t too much snow, its rather easy. I haven’t had the chance to go yet this season, but in years past, I prefer to use my panfish gear. Catching a cat on 2 or 3 lb test line is an absolute BLAST. My best jigs are black and red 4mm tungsten jigs tipped with red eurolarve. A guy can really get into a lot of fish this time of year, it would be well worth the drive.
As far as the “meth hole” goes, it sometimes is and isn’t open. In January, it is always frozen and has more than enough ice to fish on, I’ve had up to 18″ directly above the hole, but I would take extreme cautions regardless of what the temps have been.
Best of luck if you make it out there!

I recently purchased the Clam X2 Thermal and absolutely LOVE it. I was on Upper Red over the weekend and had my heater shut off most of the time due to the full thermal insulation. The light bar that came with it was a very nice bonus when night time rolled around and we were still pulling eyes through the ice! I’ve fished out of the Otters and never really cared for the seats a whole lot, I always felt that they were leaning foreword a little, maybe its just me. I like how comfortable the seats in the X2 are and the generous space inside. The light colored inside of the sled is rather nice as well, its much easier to locate all of the things I manage to lose inside of those big sleds. It is a rather heavy house though, I pulled mine with a wheeler and it did take 2 guys to put in the back of the truck. I personally wouldn’t attempt to pull it by hand, but then again, I’m not the biggest guy.
Regardless, whether you go with the Clam, Otter, or Frabil, you will be happy.

Last year I put my 898 Humminbird on a Genz box, and absolutely loved it! I can honestly say that I will never use a hand held GPS while ice fishing ever again. It is such a luxury to have large screen when on the wheeler and going over bumps. This year I scaled it down to the 788ciHD, but it is still a 5 inch screen. Plus, you can see your waypoints that you made in the summer, as opposed to a dedicated ice fishing GPS. I have the 788 on the Humminbird portable pack, and also have the handlebar mount for the wheeler when the ice gets thick enough.

I have had a 6.5 foot by 14 foot ice castle for four years now. At first I was extremely pleased with the overall quality, but as the years and miles were put on, I could honestly say that I will never buy another Ice Castle. The quality is rather poor and they use the absolute cheapest materials available. I bought this house to mainly use on LOTW and a little at home. I live in Alexandria and the 250 mile, one way trip, sure has taken its toll on the ice house. I have had to do 2 major axel repairs, both of which happened while on LOTW. One was only 2 miles off of Pine Island, and the other was 21 miles off Pine. I do not “off-road” or beat this thing up either, I go a maximum of 15 mph on the ice and below that in the rough areas of the ice road. The frame has bad rust damage, almost to the point where I will need to sandblast it and put on a layer of rust prevention paint.
I do like the layout of the inside however, it fishes 3 grown men very comfortably and works perfectly as a base camp for when we wanna get out and explore the ice a little. If I were you, I would really look at the Yeti and Lodge ice houses, they seem to be made with higher standards than Ice Castle.

For the past few years, I have been using 4 lb Fireline in the smoke color. Then I put on a #10 SPRO swivel then tie 8 lb Sunline Super FC Sniper Flourocarbon as the leader to a large sized Fast Snap. I use an 8 lb leader because it always scares me when there is a big walleye shaking its head at the bottom of the hole and I can hear the line skipping off the bottom of the ice. I’ve used this setup in super clear 14+ foot visibility and in less than 6 inches of visibility. I have never found the fishing being shy to this configuration and will continue to use it until it fails me.

1. 1/8 oz Northland Buckshot Spoon
2. 1/8 oz Lindy Rattlin Flyer
3. #3 Bay de Noc Swedish Pimple
4. Size #2 Northland Rippin Shad
5. 1/8 oz Lindy Frosty Spoon in the Perch front/gold back

These have been my “go to” lures for the past several seasons and have been responsible for most the of eyes that I put on top of the ice.

I also agree on the Clam Nanook. I have fished out of this house a number of times with my boss. It is very light weight but still holds up to seasons worth of abuse. We only pulled it by hand due to the fact that the ice was thin, or that there was too much snow to get out on the wheeler. It can get a little tight at times depending on the size of guy you are fishing with, but once you get settled in, it is very nice to fish out of.