Sk8man

Dinosaur that I am I've been slow to adapt to new ways on the ice Although I have had shelters of various types for many years, I still revert back to "old school" stuff in response to the weather conditions. During first ice I often just go with a sled, a bucket, and folding chair. When the snow gets deep I stick with the sled instead of my shelter and may include my old eskimo tent. When the weather gets brutal I take my Clam insulated Kenai. Here is some food for thought though...the use of shelters is great in many ways but there is often something missing from the ice fishing experience: socialization and comradery. The actual learning experience has also changed. Instead of being able to watch old timers using their "secret weapons" and hoping they might share some of the info, we resort to Youtube presentations at home with fishing conducted within heated sheds and fish ourselves with little to no interaction with others outside except maybe on a cell phone. It is a very different experience than in the old days. It was easier to socialize and learn as well back when you had direct visual access to other people out on the ice. I still remember one great experience that stands out out of the many had out there. I was fishing the Penn Yan end of Keuka sitting on a bucket back in the early seventies with my sled nearby with an insulated box in which I kept all my stuff including a bottle of Yukon Jack wiskey. A bunch of guys from Pennsylvania were fishing nearby and while setting up our tip ups we began to chat and I noticed they had a propane grill so I asked what they were going to cook and they said "everything", so I went a bit deeper in my questioning and they displayed venison, pheasant, duck, and some elk meat. I said "I have some pretty good perch if you want some to add to your feast". They said "sure, why don't you join us?" I went back to my sled and filleted some jumbos and grabbed the bottle of Yukon Jack and returned. We finished that bottle and cooked up the variety of food, chatted about fishing techniques, hunting etc. for what seemed like hours, and it was one of those "peak experiences" and some of the best tasting food in life.You can miss a lot of enjoyment hiding out in the warmth of your shelter....

I'm with Gambler....no such thing as OVER preparing....oh... thats right unless you're going through significant snow....that may be where I feel like chucking everything pikefreak....you have to be careful getting all that good stuff. It leaves no room for excuses when you come back in and things didn't go well

Just out of curiosity....what are those things in the clear bag? I have a TD but didn't get those things included with mine

May have said 'reacted"? Just means someone viewed the post

Last year new insulated Clam, last month new drill, this week new blades for auger. Equipment all ready for action

Matt - If you haven't already done so get yourself some #5 Hammerhead Spinners (cowbells) and Gambler Rigs. Folks have favorites but they all work. I'm pretty sure Steve has them at Roy's.

Just cut a few holes in the floor....and good to go

Are you sure they are mice and not VOLES? Big difference in behavior and feeding. A few years ago I trapped 68 of them around my house and lawn during the month of March. A couple got in the cellar and I got them on glue boards, but they don't respond to peanut butter and the usual stuff on traps. The ones I trapped outside (before they could get in) I discovered that they have poor eyesight so I carefully checked out every trail they were using and placed standard mousetraps strategically at all Y" s or junctions, near corners of the foundation etc. and I had several each day that bumbled their way into them (NO BAIT). They are much more destructive than mice and they also carry ticks and other "wonderful" things and if they die inside they smell to high heaven. Until I discovered what they were I was having little luck with the baited trap approach and that is why I'm mentioning this. Thye look a lot like mice but they have stubbier and thicker tails and smaller ears.

Do you have a good pic of your boat ....might help generate ideas if the exact situation is known.

Sounds similar to the problem often encountered with many hollowpoint handgun bullets when material plugs the hole they fail to expand. Doesn't seem to take much either paper, flannel etc.

I'm not defending Trump or the NRA or the positions of extreme gun advocates for that matter. I worked as a mental health professional for more than 30 years and am a Vietnam Era veteran. Being a veteran does not necessarily predispose someone to gun violence, but in some cases the things experienced by some vets may create mental instability, and it is well known that many of these problems are missed, and not properly followed up on or effectively dealt with in our society in general, or by the military in particular. The reporting process in this issue is unreliable, inconsistently applied or not forwarded to other relevant agencies, is sometimes non-existant, and definitely flawed and discontinuous in many cases. Our democratic society with Freedom of Speech, Second Ammendment Rights, and the heavy emphasis on Free Will and Freedom of Expression, and States Rights carries with it significant problems in the area of societal control as well as the many positives, and the consistent monitoring and intervention of various authorities is complicated and based on often solitary or questionable incomplete facts or acts. In other words, as soon as someone does something that others perceive to be problematic, perhaps bizarre, or even potentially dangerous the hands of many agencies are tied by existing Constitutional considerations, combined with inadequate processes and facilities, and/or budgets with which to deal with the problems. In New York State for example, the previous mental health facilities complete with monitoring and oversight functions regarding "patients" either on an inpatient or outpatient basis have been disbanded without replacement processes being in place over many years. There are many people out there without such necessary treatment, medications, follow-up or monitoring, and it is nearly impossible to get people into existing treatment situations or facilities; especially against their will. Much of this relates to previous abuses of power exerted against individual freedoms by bureaucracy, Constitutional issues are highly involved, and most of all budgetary and financial considerations. Some previous decisions by our government has put money before people in a short sighted way and we are left with the societal problems which now are more complicated by many things (opioid crisis only one recent example) as well as much more expensive to try to fix. At present we as a society don't seem to have any competent mechanism to cope with this mess; especially as long as the government puts building expensive bridges and naming them after their father instead of focusing on the real problems confronting us. Can you tell I've had 3 cups of coffee today?

Just make sure you are safely strapped in to a very solid tree in a real good stand. 40 mph winds are nothing to mess with.

It may be something propelled by social media Ben but make no mistake many perhaps well intentioned but greatly misguided. illogical, legislators having virtually no actual firearms knowledge are formulating restrictions based entirely on emotion;not educated informed knowledge of firearms per se. The idea of firearms control in this country in and of itself is illogical given the sheer number of guns out there already and the fact that the crimes involved committed by unstable and/or criminal elements of our society do not pay any attention to laws or social norms. The problems of violence and crimes in this country is much more complex than trying to control legitimate gun owners rights and the people formulating laws seem incapable of understanding the actual narure and complexity of the problem so they default to giving the appearance of "doing something" regardless of the fact that the things they come up with make no sense. Mental illness and criminal activity are at the actual roots of the problem but they seem much beyond the scope of the legislative process to deal with. Social media merely exascerbates the emotional argument from both sides. Cuomo seizees every opportunity to further his own political ambitions and this leads to further emotional turbulance on both sides of the isssue and further clouds any potential progress toward reasonable solutions.