With the season winding down and countless trips on the ice, it's time to look back and reflect on some of the "new" products I used on the ice this season. The "newness" has worn off, the price tag is no longer hanging on the item, and it's broken in; let's see how everything stacked up.
The Good
Kahtoola Microspikes: I've been a Yak Trax man for the past four or five years and they have treated me pretty well. They work exceptionally well on glare ice, however, once they become packed with snow, they aren't as useful or effective.
At about twice the price of the Yak Traxs, the Kahtoolas are a little pricey, but well worth the extra money. During a winter with little snow cover here in Iowa, the Kahtoolas did everything I asked of them. One could literally run on the ice with these traction devices and not lose grip. I was very impressed and am a firm believer in these spikes.
Cold Snap Reel Wrap: Worked as advertised and did an exceptional job securing the rod to the reel. Never slipped, even when wet. Very impressed!
Cold Snap Blade Protector: Worked great! Made the trip from Des Moines to Okoboji, secured to the blades, while riding on my four wheelers auger rack and it never budged an inch. Great product, quick on/off, and did what I expected from it. Another home run from Cold Snap.
Sunline Super FC Sniper Fluorocarbon: (2#, 3# Test) Did a very nice job, a little stretch but not too much, excellent abrasion resistance, supple in cold weather, all around pleased with the line. A little pricey, but on par with other 100% Fluorocarbon lines.
Digger Anchor Auger Carrier: Sadly, with the ice conditions here in the southern two thirds of Iowa we never really formed enough ice to take quads out. I was able to get my quad out a handful of times in northern Iowa and the auger rack did an excellent job. It securely held my StrikeMaster Strike Lite II auger in the correct position while on the ice and while on the quad to and from the lake. Very impressed with this auger carrier.
Vexilar Fish Scout 2000DT: The camera did a nice job of showing fish and structure. I'm not a big fan of fishing with the camera, so my main purpose of it's use was to locate structure and see what fish were present. The direction on the camera is a very nice feature which helps you discern which way you are looking. It had a nice, clear picture and I was able to record some good footage, which I included in another post. As with any underwater camera, you need to have good clarity for it to work well. Initially, I had an issue with the screen, but Vexilar promptly took care of it for me. Excellent customer service!
Ice Armor Extreme Suits: VERY warm, lots of pockets, and padded knees/seat. It's more bulky than my Arctic Armor suit, but it's warmer and has a better "layout" in my opinion. With the lack of snow this year, I really appreciated the padded knees the suit has. It was a welcomed relief when kneeling on the ice.
Mickey Boots (Black): I had to go back and take a look at which day I was fishing (Clear Lake 12-30-11), but I remember the conditions like it was yesterday. There was an 1" of water sitting on top of the ice from the rains the night before/early morning and my PAC boots were absolutely saturated by the end of the day. I literally poured water out of them before I got into my truck. Enough was enough after that, so I bought a pair of army surplus Mickey Mouse Boots that week.
They are very warm, completely waterproof, and a little heavy but no worse then my PAC boots. Only downfall is that they don't breathe, so your feet will get sweaty but not cold. The price was right, too!
Sportsman's Direct Tungsten Jigs: Any more, when panfishing, I almost exclusively use tungsten jigs. These jigs are on par with the more popular Fiskas Wolfram jigs, but at a reduced price. The epoxy, heavy metal, and crystal jigs all produced fish for me this winter. Great hooks and great paint = great jigs at a great price!
StrikeMaster Strike Lite II Auger: I decided to upgrade to this auger and I was very pleased with that decision. Prior to using this four stroke auger, all my past experiences had been with two stroke augers. I really enjoyed not having to mix oil/gas, smelling like exhaust, having some unburned oil/fuel coming out of the muffler and getting on my clothes, and getting a few more holes out of a tank of gas. I thought having to be certain that the auger was resting in the correct position was going to be an issue, but it really never was. She may not be the fastest auger on the market, but she's quick, quiet, and well worth the money; great investment!
Ice Armor Glomitts/Gloves: I prefer to wear gloves when I'm fishing, but I like to have my fingers free to unhook fish, tie knots, etc. For many years I used the wool gloves with the fingers removed but had the mitt sewn on too. My biggest issue with these wool gloves is that the velcro would normally weaken and the mitt would routinely get in the way. I was VERY pleased to use the Ice Armor Glomitts this season. They secure the mitt portion with magnets and they stay put! They also have a zippered pocket on the top of each glove where you can either put a hand warmer or I would place my bag of plastics in it. The Ice Armor gloves also did an excellent job of keeping my hands warm and dry. Both are high quality products and do what's important...keep your hands warm while fishing.
Fish Trap TC: I used this one man shelter for the majority of the winter, so it got a lot of "miles" on it. It's well built and the thermal cap did a great job of retaining heat in the shelter and reducing condensation build up. I personally don't think that the seating system in it is nearly as comfortable as what's in my Fish Trap Pro. The ratchet system seat allows the shack to lay flatter, which is nice, but it could use a little more cushion. I would recommend this shack to anyone and I certainly like the shack; I just wish that the seat had more cushion. If it had the same seat as the Pro TC, I would give it an A+ grade. Instead, I give it a B+ grade. It's good, but not quite great.
Clam Rod Locker: I used the rod locker for the first time this winter and was pretty happy with it. I was able to comfortably fit 4-6 rod and reel combos in the locker. Last year, I used the Otter rod locker. The nice thing about that locker was it was hard-sided and able to fit a couple more combos in it, but the added length made it impossible to fit into my one man shacks. The Clam rod locker fits perfectly in the Fish Trap Pro and Scout TC and did a good job of protecting my rods.
The Bad
Berkley Nanofil: (2# Test) I'm just not a big fan of this line for ice fishing. I tried it quite a bit throughout the season and had more bad experiences with it than good. I will be the first to admit that I'm not the best at the Double Palomar knot and that was a source of some of my frustrations with the line. When I did get a good knot tied, I found that the ice would start nicking the line and cause numerous break offs. I will try it some more next year, but for the price tag and my previous experiences, I don't have much confidence in the line.
Northland Bionic Ice Mono: (2#, 4# Test) Out of the box, the line felt "twisted" and not smooth like mono or fluoro lines should. I wasn't too impressed with the durability of the line either. Maybe it was a bad batch, but two boxes and two different pound tests has me questioning that assumption.
The Indifferent
Ice Tech Razer Reel: I liked how quickly the line was picked up during the retrieve and I liked how light weight the reel was. I don't think the drag system is quite as smooth as the other fly reels I own, and the footprint of the reel is quite large and can be a little awkward to hold with the pistol grip. At $90 a piece it is pretty expensive too. I'm going to need more time getting used to the reel, but I can't say that I "love it" at this time.
Pop-It Flash: The light is quite bright, but it's heavy and doesn't hold a charge for very long if it's cold. I had issues with the button not always working either. It did do a nice job of illuminating the lure, but it didn't always work. Maybe I had a bad switch on mine?
Conclusion: Need more testing on my end before a final determination can be made.
Gamma ESP Ice Line: (2#, 3# Test) Didn't love it, didn't hate; certainly isn't a "go to" line for me, though. I thought the line had a little more stretch than what I cared for. Also, I found that the break strength seemed to be a little on the lighter side compared to similar pound test lines. One very nice attribute about the line is that it has a slightly smaller diameter then similar pound test lines.
Trending Up
Northland Impulse Mayfly Plastic: I need more time with this plastic as I've only been using them for the past few weeks. It worked exceptionally well up on the gin clear waters of West Okoboji, but I have had spotty success at the lakes around central Iowa with this plastic. I find this to be a more subtle plastic than those with more action like a Little Atom Nuggie or Noodle. They are a little more expensive than other plastics, but some of the retailers had them on sale this winter and they were more reasonable. Overall, I have been pretty impressed and it certainly has put a lot of gills on the ice; I just need more time to form a complete judgement of the product.
J&S Custom Plastics: I didn't get much chance to test out these plastics this winter, but the times I was able to use them, they did a nice job. I mainly used the Ice Mite and the GoJo for bluegill and crappie fishing and both caught fish. They need more time in the water for me to make a final judgement, but so far I like them!
Conclusions
So, what can we gather from all of this information? This list isn't the "Bible", so don't take it as such. There are things about certain products which work well for me that might not for you.
Fishing line is always a point of contention with fishermen. There are some lines which you may absolutely hate, that others swear by. Sometimes you can get a bad run of fishing line too. So see what line works best for you and your style of fishing and don't depend on what someone tells you is the best.
Don't judge a book by it's cover and don't cast your judgement right away. Actually try the product and use it more then a handful of times. If you would have asked me what I thought of the Ice Tech Razer Reel right away, I would have told you I didn't care for it. After getting used to the reel and using it, I have found that is a tool which can benefit the angler in certain angling situations.
