11 replies to this topic

[dravenb4u]

With the ice fishing season now upon us in some areas with more to follow in the upcoming weeks, I thought it would be a good time to open up with some ideas and a place where you can show off your goods.

Does anyone have any home made ice fishing equipment they would like to show off? I am in the process of a few things and will be posting shortly, but while I am at it, I thought this would be a good place to get some more ideas.

It could be anything, a tipup, a lure, an ice hut, sled, rod holder, bite indicator.... Let's try and keep it open and see what we come up with.....

To start, I just picked up a Dollar store magnetic light.. (led light that when the magnetic link breaks, the light goes on)... I am modifying it to mount on a tipup by mounting the light on the base itself with the magnetic latch attached to a string. The string is tied to the flag so when it goes up, the string pulls the magnet off and turns the light on. Can be modified to put a buzzer on, but that's too annoying...   To take it one step further, I might purchase one of the wireless doorbells and do the same magnetic idea, and bring the bell itself into the ice hut...

Keep the ideas coming boys...

[Pope]

dravenb4u, on Dec 29 2009, 02:50 PM, said:

With the ice fishing season now upon us in some areas with more to follow in the upcoming weeks, I thought it would be a good time to open up with some ideas and a place where you can show off your goods.

Does anyone have any home made ice fishing equipment they would like to show off? I am in the process of a few things and will be posting shortly, but while I am at it, I thought this would be a good place to get some more ideas.

It could be anything, a tipup, a lure, an ice hut, sled, rod holder, bite indicator.... Let's try and keep it open and see what we come up with.....

To start, I just picked up a Dollar store magnetic light.. (led light that when the magnetic link breaks, the light goes on)... I am modifying it to mount on a tipup by mounting the light on the base itself with the magnetic latch attached to a string. The string is tied to the flag so when it goes up, the string pulls the magnet off and turns the light on. Can be modified to put a buzzer on, but that's too annoying...   To take it one step further, I might purchase one of the wireless doorbells and do the same magnetic idea, and bring the bell itself into the ice hut...

Keep the ideas coming boys...

Is the light just to indicate a fish or to illuminate at night? If it is just for a fish it may be a little redundant on a tip up.

[dravenb4u]

Yes for night fishing when you may not see the flag very well... Great for if you are in a hut...  

Pope, on Dec 29 2009, 03:41 PM, said:

Is the light just to indicate a fish or to illuminate at night? If it is just for a fish it may be a little redundant on a tip up.

[Pope]

Here's a couple of mine.

I made this auto jigger last year.  The rod and motor holder I fabbed at work.

The motor is from a $4.99 air compressor that had a broken air hose.  I removed the piston and took off the o-ring that created the compression so it would run free. I then added a dart shaft to the top of the piston so I could place my line in it. The piston  has a stroke of a little less than an inch.

For power I bought a dollar store flashlight that was made of rubber so as not get wet. I drilled a hole where the bulb would go and ran my wiring through it. The flashlight serves as both a battery holder and an on/off switch. It holds two AAA's but I sometimes only run one. The motor was made for twelve volts, so 3 or 1.5 volts really slows it down perfectly.

I was surprised at how great it worked. I was sick of lugging live bait yet I wanted to use two rods effectively so I thought this and some salties would go well together. It doesn't lift the minnow much but it gives it a steady twitch which makes me feel better about the effectiveness of my second line. My first time using it last year I met a guy with a vexilar and was able to watch my minnow twitching and a bunch of Erie perch take the bait  

[Pope]

My new shelter that I just finished tonight. It may need a bit of tweaking but I'm quite happy with it so far.





I started with tent poles from my old but trustworthy tent and used some other poles I had around to make the frame.



There is eleven poles which may turn out to be a pain in the A$$ but we'll see. I'm thinking about running some elastic cord though them so will stay together but pull apart with a little force but for now I'm just going to use tape to make sure it is sturdy.

Two 6 x 8 tarps along with 1 4x6 were joined to make one continuous tarp. The roof is a separate 4x6 tarp. These are what I use to hold the tarp on.



I used a scaled down version of this last year (one 6x8 tarp and just the back poles) and they worked absolutely perfectly.

Holding the poles steady was a problem I had to deal with. The front pole is held like this.



And the rear one I had to do a little fabricating. My old sled needed a new bumper anyway so I made this.



The little rig comes free from the bumper after removing one bolt.

Notice my red snowmobile sleigh behind the sled in the first pic. The tarp also wraps around this and it does 4 things. It blocks the wind from back ( I will park the sled with the wind to my back) way better than just the tarp. Also it will make the tent larger, it will keep the tarp from blowing into my back and it gives me a little storage area for helmets, gloves etc.

The part that goes over the sled hood was/is a little awkward but I think ugly as it is it will work fine. I'm definitely going to have the most comfy Ice shelter seat this year!!!!

[dravenb4u]

Pretty sweet rig.... Like th auto jigger.. I have been looking for a motor that turns slow enough to do a good jig

Pope, on Dec 29 2009, 11:18 PM, said:

Here's a couple of mine.

I made this auto jigger last year.  The rod and motor holder I fabbed at work.

The motor is from a $4.99 air compressor that had a broken air hose.  I removed the piston and took off the o-ring that created the compression so it would run free. I then added a dart shaft to the top of the piston so I could place my line in it. The piston  has a stroke of a little less than an inch.

For power I bought a dollar store flashlight that was made of rubber so as not get wet. I drilled a hole where the bulb would go and ran my wiring through it. The flashlight serves as both a battery holder and an on/off switch. It holds two AAA's but I sometimes only run one. The motor was made for twelve volts, so 3 or 1.5 volts really slows it down perfectly.

I was surprised at how great it worked. I was sick of lugging live bait yet I wanted to use two rods effectively so I thought this and some salties would go well together. It doesn't lift the minnow much but it gives it a steady twitch which makes me feel better about the effectiveness of my second line. My first time using it last year I met a guy with a vexilar and was able to watch my minnow twitching and a bunch of Erie perch take the bait  

[Pope]

Here's my sled/Caboose for ice fishing. Someone posted a link to homemade sleds in another thread and mine is very close to the last one shown there.

Bare bones



Rod and tent pole holder inserted



Better shot of same



Rod holder closed and poles in



Storage compartment inserted



Storage compartment closed



Done deal!!!



Both compartments just pull out so I can drag the little ones or bigger things around if I ever want to. It weighs 25 pounds empty but pulls easy enough that if I don't have my snowmobile I can pull it by hand if need be.

[spiro]

In the process of making a small fold over one person hut.  I will post some pics when I am done, I have made some tip ups and a couple of rods on the lathe.  Love the jigging rod idea, gets my mind a whirlin'  I have used the top half of a broken rod glued into a hole in the end of a hockey stick and made an ice reel from an foam hockey puck with a hole in the center screwed with a wingnut to the stick, with 2 CD's superglued to the top and bottom to hold the line.  That one took a couple of cold ones to come up with....

[bigugli]

That is the best thing about icefishing, it can still be simple enough that we can be as creative as we want and nobody is going to sneer at your homemade pieces of genius. Try that during a big bass tournament.
  We have a couple of different types of rod stand. Our own version of a strike indicator. We bodge and fabricate our own handmade rods from bits and scraps and broken rods,  and, most important, they all work pretty darn good.
Smerchly has an ice hut that holds up far better than many of the expensive Chinese made huts.

[Erik.T.]

Nice ideas! I hate that fibreglass board though my hands itched for a couple of days the last time I handled it but it is very durable. My dad made a trailer with the frame made of metal but the rest of it was fibre-board and to date the fibre board lasted longer than the metal.

[phiphntek]

http://www.niagarafi...3_106_48613.jpg[/img]


picked it up from an oldtimer in the spring....updated the paint a little....................

[bigugli]

Here are some bite sensors that folks have been asking me to make. Great on the light bite when the fish are just mouthing a bait.