2011 Thorne Brothers Portable Shack Modification Event

(Notice the RAM mounts for electronics)

In this installment, i will discuss some of the portable shack modifications which were at the TB event.  There were a lot of really good ideas and designs that day.  Some might not be feasible for certain fishing styles, but like anything you can take bits and pieces and make them a part of your own fishing style.


First off i have Thorne Brothers Pro Staffer Matt Johnson's shack.  It is a Jason Mitchell Pro Thermal 1 Man ice house with some nice modifications to it.  These shacks are new to the market this year and offer some really nice additions like led lights, a bait well, an included battery bracket, a full thermal shelter, among other options.  Matt added some RAM mounts to his shack which allow him to rotate and pivot his electronics in his shack.


The second shack is Juan Arellano's Fish Trap Pro TC one man ice house.  Juan placed some LED touch lights along with some rod storage in his one man shack.  Simplicity and organization are keys to having a good lay out of one's shack and Juan did a very nice job of accomplishing that.

The next modification i will touch on is that of "Mr Ice Fishing" himself Dave Genz.  It was a treat to have Dave at the gathering and being able to converse one-on-one with Dave about ice fishing for fifteen minutes was outstanding.  The experiences and stories Dave shares are always a joy to listen to and you can certainly gain a lot of information if you pay attention.

To the right is a picture of Dave's van that he uses when he goes ice fishing.  If you notice, they have added a tiered system which allows them to neatly store and haul four to five individual ice houses in the back of the van.  Everything is neatly stored and out of the elements while in transit from one location to the next.

The picture to the right is the seat of Dave's Fish Trap Trapper one man ice house.  Dave modified the seat by adding a plywood backrest which houses his Clam battery bracket.  He also attached a long aluminum pole to the chair which he then RAM mounted his Vexilar flasher to.  By doing so, he could pick up his chair and flasher with one hand and carry his fishing rod in the other hand.  Also by having the flasher spaced out in front of him, it gives him a little bit better line of sight when he is jigging.

The event didn't just feature ice houses, there were many other portable fishing set ups as well.  Included below are a few examples.  In the first example you will see a StrikeMaster Glide Lite sled with some modifications.  The gentleman added a rod holder system which allowed him to carry his fly reels which were too large to fit into the standard holes of the sled.  He also added pro mount attachments for his flasher, underwater camera, and other electronics.  The nice thing about pro mounts is the ease of moving your equipment.

(Close up of the Pro Mount)

To the left is an adaptation of the Sonic Ice Hopper fishing system.  While it wasn't as "clean" as the Sonic Ice Hopper system, you could build it for a fraction of the cost.  The premise of this portable system is the ability to carry your flasher and/or camera and bucket in one hand and fishing rod in the other.  This allows the user to hole hop more efficiently.  The battery is located in the seat and you can see the power cable coming out of the right hand side.

I've included the remainder of the pictures i took below.  There were some really creative ideas and i highlighted some of the modifications of each.

(Elevated, pivotal flasher mount made of aluminum and copper)

(Aqua Vu MAV camera)

(Controls for Aqua Vu MAV, battery, bluetooth reciever, speakers, etc)

(Marine carpet, reflectix, rod holder, auger carrier, heater mount, rod and tackle storage)

(Close up of rod, tackle, and heater storage)

(Close up of rod holder and tackle storage)

(Close up of plywood decking and storage compartment

(Rod Storage)