2016 F+W Ice Guide

Be sure to check your local bookstore, grocery store, or outdoor store to pick up the new F+W Ice Guide.  I picked up this copy at my local Mills Fleet Farm over the weekend.

F+W Ice Guide always has a collection of well written articles and tips and is a must get for the die hard ice fisherman.

Jason Mitchell on the cover with a beautiful northern pike

Hot off the presses

Just a friendly reminder to check with your local supermarket, book store, or super store for the 2017 In Fisherman Ice Guide.  I picked up this copy at the local Walmart today.

The ice guide always helps me get into the mood for ice fishing and it shares some new gear and tips for the up coming season.

Be sure to grab yours today!

***New for 2016*** Clam Kenai Pro Thermal Stealth ice house

Spec sheet of Kenai Pro Thermal Stealth

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to get a close look at the new Clam Kenai Pro Thermal Stealth one-man ice house; I thought I would share my thoughts.

Clam Kenai Pro Thermal Stealth

I have been pretty excited about this ice house since I heard about it a couple of months ago; it is designed and built specifically with sight fishing conditions in mind.  I am fortunate enough to live three and a half hours away from one of the best sight fishing lakes in the Midwest, West Okoboji Lake, located in northwest Iowa.  So a one man shack tailored to sight fishing has always been on my bucket list.

For those who have never sight fished before, it is vital to make the inside of your shack as dark as possible in order to have the best viewing through your ice hole.  Many of the current ice houses on the market have a lighter colored canvas, pin holes, stitch holes, or wearing away of the inside black coating; those conditions lend to light into your shack and make it more difficult to see through the ice or can even spook fish.

So with those requirements in mind, the new one man Clam Kenai Pro Stealth and the larger two man Clam Voyager X Stealth shacks were born.  They both have a 900 total denier fabric which is fully thermal.  What that means, is that the fabric for the shack is very strong, retains heat on the top and sides, and limits condensation build up.  The heavier fabric also helps limit the amount of flapping the tent experiences in windy conditions.  Clam employed a new way of joining the inner and outer material of the tent with an adhesive.  Previously the two layers were either sonically welded or stitched together with thread.  By using an adhesive, it allows there to be minimal stitching on the tent, which allows less ways for light to enter into the shack.  I spent some time trying to pull apart the two layers of the tent either between my fingers or with both hands and was unable to do so.  Clam also made flaps to cover the zippers and windows on the inside of the shack, so when you "button up" it truly is dark inside.

For those who are concerned that it may be too dark inside or when night fishing, Clam includes it's mini light tube and battery bracket as part of the house.  The LED tube does an excellent job of lighting up the inside of the shack and all you need in an extra 12 volt battery to keep it bright all night long.

The Kenai Stealth also has plenty of storage via a full length hammock under the seat and an overhead mesh storage area.

Coming in at 48 pounds, the shack is about the perfect weight for a one man shack though I would advise putting some runners on the bottom of your tubs if you plan on hauling the shack over concrete, rocks, or behind a snowmobile or all terrain vehicle.  I would also advise adding the Deluxe Seat Cover as the seat that comes standard with the Kenai Pro Thermal Stealth shack has padding and may cause you to have a sore back by the end of a long day of fishing.

MSRP for the one man Kenai Pro Thermal Stealth is $399 and for the two man Voyager X Thermal Stealth is $799.  I would also advise getting the deluxe seat cover if you decide to purchase the Kenai pro thermal stealth and the MSRP for that is $35.

I fully expect these shacks to be great sellers for Clam, so be sure to check them out at your nearest retailer.

Inside picture

Close up including hammock and battery bracket

Inside of shack with led light bar on

Reflections 2015-2016

First fish of the season

With the end of the 2015-2016 ice fishing season, I look back and reflect on the highs and lows of the previous ice season.

For starters, if I never hear nor experience a "Strong El Nino weather pattern" again, I will be a happy man.  The strong El Nino weather complex brought warmer than average temps almost all winter and it created major issues for ice formation and safety throughout the entire ice belt.  There are not too many winters, in the state of Iowa, in which you cannot find at least some safe ice during the month of December; but it just so happens that this was one of those years.  The ice also made an early exit this year with the majority of safe ice leaving northern Iowa by the second weekend of March.  The effects of El Nino were not limited to Iowa either, as most of the Ice Belt experienced a shortened ice season as well.

I was able to log 28 trips on the ice to 15 different bodies of water; 5 of which were new to me this winter.  I had a couple less trips than last year; but when there is no safe ice within six hours of home during most of December, it is certainly a detriment to how many trips you can take during the winter.  My travels this season found me again spending most of my time in Iowa; but I was also able to fit in a trip to NE South Dakota right after Christmas, as it was the closest safe ice with quality fishing opportunities to Des Moines.  It had been three years since I last fished that area and made for a nice first ice trip. 

My tournament partner, Todd Reed, and myself fished a few tournaments this winter.  We competed in the Team Extreme tournaments at Big Creek and Brushy Creek as well as the Iowa State Fishing Club tournament at Hickory Grove Lake this winter.  We finished in the top five in each of the tournaments we fished, but only cashed a check at the Team Extreme Big Creek tournament this winter.  It was not quite the results we were hoping for this winter, but a learning experience and motivation to do better next year.

2016 Team Extreme Big Creek Tournament (3rd Place)

2016 Team Extreme Brushy Creek Tournament (5th Place)

Not all of my time this winter was slotted for tournaments and I was able to get out and do some "fun fishing".  I again found myself in search of larger quarry than panfish this winter and walleyes and channel catfish filled that requirement.

20.5" (Top) and 18" (Bottom) Walleye

18 3/8" Walleye

18.5" Walleye

17" Walleye

17.5" Walleye

Gills and eyes

26" 8.8 pound Channel Catfish

I was also able to catch a personal best through the ice this winter.  During our trip to northeast South Dakota, I was able to get into a school of white bass while fishing the Waubay Refuge.  While they do not fight quite as hard as during the warm summer months, they still put a good bend into your rod and are a challenging fight.  The schools of white bass would take up eight to ten feet on your flasher when they came through and were more than willing to bite.  Most of the white bass I caught were between 15-17" long, but the "shoulders" on them were what really set them apart from the white bass in central Iowa.  They obviously take full advantage of the abundant fresh water shrimp which are prevalent in the lakes in that area.

Waubay Refuge White Bass

I would like to take a moment to thank my sponsors Clam Outdoors and Sportsmen's Direct for their continued support this winter.  It is a pleasure and honor to be a part of each of each of their respective teams and endorse their products.

With that said, that puts a wrap to another fun season.  See you on the ice next winter!

Clam Drill Plate Review

With the ice season complete here in Iowa, I always like to take a minute and think about some of the new equipment I used over the past season and what my impressions were of that equipment.  Obviously when you commit to buying a product and it looks so nice and shiny in the box when you first purchase it that you are going to like that product because you chose it.  But the real testament is how the product holds up over the course of the season and what your impressions are at the end of the year. 

One product I put through the paces and tested the past two winters was the Clam Drill Plate.  I had used a cordless drill/ice auger combo the previous four years ice fishing but once the ice would reach six to eight inches thick, I would switch over to using my gas auger for the remainder of the season.  I knew that running a cordless drill/ice auger combo all season long would require a quality drill, batteries with enough power to run all day long, and the Clam Drill Plate which would reduce the amount of wear on my drill and provide a more ergonomic way to hold the auger combo.  With those requirements in mind, I settled on the Dewalt DCD995 brushless hammer drill with two 5 amp hour Dewalt XR batteries to compliment the 4 amp hour battery I had previously.  I also purchased the Clam Drill Plate but not the Clam Conversion Kit Combo as I already owned a 6" hand auger, so I was all set.

Assembly was quite easy; minus getting the chucks off the drill, but once I took it to a local Dewalt Repair Center they had the chucks off in no time and I was all set.  With the newest model of the Clam Drill Plate; you no longer have to remove the chuck from your cordless drill, which is an added bonus.

I knew that cold weather was a detriment to battery performance, so I took a small soft sided cooler I had and used that to haul my spare batteries.  I would also throw a few of the charcoal hand warmers into the cooler and it did a pretty good job of keeping the batteries warm while out on the ice.  Another option of keeping your batteries warm would be to carry them in a coat pocket, but I felt carrying three batteries on me at all times was a bit much and opted for the soft sided cooler.

I'm not going to attempt to tell you exactly how many holes or inches of ice I would get per battery, because frankly I did not keep that close of a count.  What I can say is that in two years, I have never ran through all three batteries except for prefishing for a few tournaments when I was down to the last battery.  Conservatively guessing, I would say I cut between 140-160 holes each of those days through 12-14" of hard ice with the 6" auger.

I also ran a 7" Lazer auger on my other Clam Drill Plate and I am happy to report that it worked flawlessly (as I had expected).  You certainly will not get as many holes per battery with the larger diameter auger, but I didn't expect to considering a 7" hole has a 27% larger area than a 6" hole.  The times I opted for the 7" auger was when I was in search of larger quarry and wanted the larger to hole land those fish.

True to my word, I used my Clam Drill Plate every time out in the last two years minus the tournament day of the 2015 Team Extreme West Okoboji tournament.  That day, I wanted to sight fish those gin clear waters out of an 8" hole and opted for my gas auger. 

Below I gave a short break down of the requirements I feel you need in order to use a cordless drill all season long.  It should be noted, that most of the winter I was only cutting through 10-16" of ice.  I do not have a lot of experience using this set up with thicker ice, but reports from friends who have used this set up in thicker ice has been very encouraging.

Requistes for successfully using the Clam Drill Plate

Quality Drill: You really need to use a quality 18-20 volt drill to make this system work to it's full potential.  Lesser quality drills will not cut nearly as many holes or will quit working all together.  I opted for the Dewalt DCD995 hammer drill as it has the internal components to handle this kind of work, plenty of torque, utilizes lithium batteries which really cut down on weight, and accepts larger 5 amp hour batteries.  There are plenty of other good options out there besides Dewalt, just make sure that they have a good amount of torque.

Quality Batteries: If you plan on cutting more than 10-15 holes per day, I would suggest getting a good set of batteries for your drill.  If you have old batteries or ones without much capacity, you will get frustrated at the lack of performance your set up has.  Also remember to keep your batteries warm, a cold battery will not last nearly as long as a warm battery.

Sharp Blades:  No different than a gas or standard hand auger; if you have dull blades, it will not cut as well.

So why use a set up like the Clam Drill Plate over your standard gas auger?  For me, it came down to three things.
-No messing with gasoline and no issues with cold starts.
-Weight reduction.  The clam drill plate is about 10 pound lighter than my StrikeMaster four stroke gas auger.  You're looking at around 15 pounds with a 6" auger including the Clam 16" extension.
-Speed.  The 6" setup I used is much faster than many of the gas augers I have encountered.

In my opinion this system is really a no-brainer for guys who are looking to shed some weight on what they carry out on the ice, no longer want to deal with gasoline powered augers, and who might only drill through two feet of ice at most in a season.  So if you're in the market for a new auger; you might want to check out the Clam Drill Plate, I certainly has served me well the past two seasons.

One last piece of advice if you decide to run this kind of set up.  Do yourself and your back a favor and get the 16" Clam extension.  Without the extension, the set up is pretty short and you will be bending over when drilling holes.  The extension is much more ergonomic and a real back saver.

7" auger (left) and 6" auger (right)

Maxcatch Tackle Box Review

I thought I would share a quick review of a tackle box I used this past ice season and was very pleased with the results.  I wanted to get a full season of use before giving my review; as some products I have purchased in the past, have had great initial impressions but never lived up to those impressions.  Thankfully, the Maxcatch box both met and exceeded my expectations.

I had been looking for a container which would hold all of my jigging spoons for quite a while now, but had yet to find one which fit my needs.  After seeing a couple of anglers post about this box in the fall, I decided to order one in hopes that it lived up to it's billing.  I purchased the Maxcatch Box (model SDS-B) from Amazon for $30 and it came with free shipping.  I am sure that there are local retailers who may carry this box, but I wasn't able to locate any in the Des Moines metroplex.

After patiently waiting for the box to arrive, I was very pleased when I opened the package and inspected the box.  My first impressions were that the box had quality components (Stainless Steel pins, ABS plastic, and double clasps) and was constructed well.  What I really liked about the design of the box is that the SDS-B model is entirely foam on the inside of the container and more importantly, it had full length slits that hold your hooks.  Instead of having slits only in certain locations; by it having full length vertical slits, this allowed for infinite hook placement.  That might not seem like a big deal, but when you have spoons of different sizes and lengths, it allows for them to be placed more uniform and is more accommodating to the various sized spoons.

The double clasp on each side of the container was a nice added level of security and the rubber gasket provides a waterproof barrier to keep your tackle from rusting.  I am pleased to report that the box never accidentally opened when dropped, nor did I have an issue with rust forming on my tackle this season.

Sounds like a great product, right?  Well it still did need some modification to fit my intended use for the box.  One of my biggest complaints with spoon boxes is that the spoons either all end up in a tangled mess, or they bang into each other and ruin the paint job.  I addressed this issue by adding strips of heavy density PVC closed-cell vinyl weather stripping.  I opted for the 3/4" x 3/8" weather stripping and applied a double layer to firmly secure the spoons.  I purchased this weather stripping, which comes in ten foot rolls, from my local Menards and two rolls was enough to do both sides of the box with a double layer of weather stripping.  The weather stripping is very durable and has an robust adhesive which easily handled the cold and wet conditions and never once peeled.

Maxcatch Box

Maxcatch Box

PVC Weather Stripping

Weather Stripping applied to case

Finished Product

As viewed in the pictures above, the Maxcatch box was able to hold 146 spoons with room for more.  I was able to consolidate five Vexilar tackle boxes into this one box.  Not only did it save on room; but it allowed for all of my spoons to be in one location, which took the guesswork out of where a certain spoon I was looking for was located.

If the Maxcatch box has any downfalls, it would be that it is somewhat large in size.  The size of the box is roughly that of a a piece of paper and is a couple of inches thick.  That may deter some anglers who don't want to carry that large of a box or prefer to have their ice fishing lures on their person while hole hopping.  I personally never found that to be an issue this past winter, but other's may disagree.

The box isn't just for jigging spoons either, it will hold any of your lead or tungsten jigs as well as it's intended use for holding larger flies.

So if you're in the market for a new quality constructed spoon/jig box, be sure to take a look at the Maxcatch box.  You will not be disappointed!