Author Topic: Worst purchase this season (Read 23484 times)

motocross269 · « **Reply #30 on:** Jan 18, 2015, 08:19 AM »

I am fairly new to ice fishing and I bought a hub shelter....Wish I would have bought a 2 man flip over.....

That's OK...I will keep it and maybe buy a flip over if I can find one on sale and use the Hub when my family goes out on the ice..

ADK11 · « **Reply #31 on:** Jan 19, 2015, 05:46 PM »

Gander Mountain is trying to get rid of their ice fishing stuff right now. 10% off the entire store when i last went there..Maybe you could find a good deal.

Quote from: motocross269 on Jan 18, 2015, 08:19 AM

I am fairly new to ice fishing and I bought a hub shelter....Wish I would have bought a 2 man flip over.....

That's OK...I will keep it and maybe buy a flip over if I can find one on sale and use the Hub when my family goes out on the ice..

Stand By · « **Reply #32 on:** Feb 23, 2015, 09:14 PM »

Frabil 5 gallon minnow bucket with padded seat. >:(The foam bucket liner is complete crap. The foam is porus and water weeps through quickly. As the water permeates it, the liner then rises to the top of the water left in the bucket and soon you'll have little water left in it for the minnows. If they would find foam that is waterproof like a real minnow bucket or cooler, they would be onto something. Then it would be handy to keep the other bait on the of the liner lid, yet still inside the bucket for storage and transport.

Chawk190 · « **Reply #33 on:** Feb 23, 2015, 11:42 PM »

Yep that Frabill 5 gal insulated bait pail is n/g. Mine leaked the same except the foam insert froze into the pail and the lid froze to both. Had to bust the lid to get bait. Worthless.
Nice snap lid though...

kc_ · « **Reply #34 on:** Feb 24, 2015, 08:49 AM »

black betty reel. It is not half the reel the eagle claw is.

after-4 · « **Reply #35 on:** Feb 24, 2015, 08:54 AM »

Eagle claw reel. Drag is terrible .

kc_ · « **Reply #36 on:** Feb 24, 2015, 02:43 PM »

I would rather have a reel with a bad drag, than one that won't un spool a small jig.

bucktownboy · « **Reply #37 on:** Feb 26, 2015, 06:18 PM »

Quote from: after-4 on Feb 24, 2015, 08:54 AM

Eagle claw reel. Drag is terrible .

All drag or no drag .... $:-\$ I'm going to take mine apart this spring and try a couple of things . What ? Don't know yet . I'll post if I figure out something good .

Bucktownboy

BlackDogAlpha · « **Reply #38 on:** Feb 27, 2015, 12:32 PM »

That eagle claw has kicked my butt so far, drag sucks, if it freespools too fast you will have the snarl of a lifetime, and the tips are very fragile. Post your drag fix, its a good looking setup just needs to have a real fisherman give them some guidance. Do they not field test this stuff? I have a 5 dollar bargain store rod and zebco that is way less hassle.

Velcro · « **Reply #39 on:** Mar 19, 2015, 02:57 PM »

Quote from: ADK11 on Jan 19, 2015, 05:46 PM

Gander Mountain is trying to get rid of their ice fishing stuff right now. 10% off the entire store when i last went there..Maybe you could find a good deal.

My entire purchase from Gander Mountain :-/ Ordered a sled from them and turned out the dimensions on the site were off... by 20 freaking inches

. Emailed customer service but no reply. I hate calling people but looks like I'm gonna have to because I can't fit a 5 gallon bucket and my 4.5" Nils in the stupid thing without the Nils falling off. I miss my old sled... And my 5 gallon bucket.
Afraid to use the lip gripper tool I ordered from Gander Mountain because I only have a 8" hand span, think I need a 12" hand span if I want to use it one-handed. So much for holding my pole and grabbing a toothy fish by the lips.

sunup · « **Reply #40 on:** Mar 19, 2015, 08:07 PM »

A Celsius m/h rod that snapped when I put the reel on and checked the drag. Never had a chance to try it on a fish.

Elrik · « **Reply #41 on:** Mar 22, 2015, 07:11 PM »

Quote from: BlackDogAlpha on Feb 27, 2015, 12:32 PM

That eagle claw has kicked my butt so far, drag sucks, if it freespools too fast you will have the snarl of a lifetime, and the tips are very fragile. Post your drag fix, its a good looking setup just needs to have a real fisherman give them some guidance. Do they not field test this stuff? I have a 5 dollar bargain store rod and zebco that is way less hassle.

I followed the advice of someone else on this site and added a split washer between the drag wheel and the reel handle. When you tighten the reel handle back on do not crank it down tight, you wat the ssplit washer to be giving resistance but not fully closed. This will give you room to tighten and loosen the drag and the two will no longer lock up on each other changing your drag when you don't want it to. It is a 1-2c fix, i don't understand why they didn't add one to start.

panfishman13 · « **Reply #42 on:** Nov 03, 2015, 05:06 PM »

i bought 3 Shakespeare Crusader reels. bought them in february, and by august they had all broken. and that's with me not even fishing during the month of july.

TeamTwoSticks · « **Reply #43 on:** Nov 04, 2015, 08:42 AM »

Quote from: Chawk190 on Feb 23, 2015, 11:42 PM

Yep that Frabill 5 gal insulated bait pail is n/g. Mine leaked the same except the foam insert froze into the pail and the lid froze to both. Had to bust the lid to get bait. Worthless.
Nice snap lid though...

I just sprayed the outside of the foam insert with flex seal black, seems to fix the problem so far. Thinking about doing the inside with the clear.

bean counter · « **Reply #44 on:** Nov 04, 2015, 01:06 PM »

how about 80% of my jigs - they looked like they'd catch fish in the store... 20% of the lures catch 80% of the fish.

chilly-willy · « **Reply #45 on:** Nov 05, 2015, 07:31 PM »

5 inch laser when I should have gotten a 6 inch laser?

NDiceMan72 · « **Reply #46 on:** Nov 12, 2015, 01:50 PM »

Eagle Claw inline reels that I bought last season. Worst purchase I have ever made!

Bout-Time · « **Reply #47 on:** Nov 12, 2015, 03:37 PM »

Last year it was the Do-Jigger spoon by Bay De Noc. Its silver with a glow stripe on one edge, with a red flipper. (cant find one this color online, discontinued already?)

Havent caught a thing on it yet in 11 months. Looks cool though....

Duke M · « **Reply #48 on:** Nov 12, 2015, 06:54 PM »

My Marcum LX-6 has been a purchase I've regretted. Even though I got it for $479.00 new, I almost never use it. I fish shallow water the majority of the time and it does not read the first 32" under the transducer. I hear they are going to offer a fix in January 2016. Well I've owned t since 2014. It sits on the shelf while my rock solid H-Bird Ice-35 goes fishing.

Loudenback · « **Reply #49 on:** Nov 12, 2015, 06:57 PM »

An HT ice skimmer that is about 6 1/2" in diameter. I use a 6" nils... looks like I'll still be raiding the kitchen again this year.

Bout-Time · « **Reply #50 on:** Nov 12, 2015, 10:32 PM »

Quote from: Loudenback on Nov 12, 2015, 06:57 PM

An HT ice skimmer that is about 6 1/2" in diameter. I use a 6" nils... looks like I'll still be raiding the kitchen again this year.

LOL

If its plastic, grind some off on the grinder!

Mr.Seaguar · « **Reply #51 on:** Nov 12, 2015, 10:56 PM »

Quote from: Loudenback on Nov 12, 2015, 06:57 PM

An HT ice skimmer that is about 6 1/2" in diameter. I use a 6" nils... looks like I'll still be raiding the kitchen again this year.

Order half a dozen orange plastic ones. That's all I use. I have lost so many or broken or dropped down the hole so I order a bunch every single often.

Loudenback · « **Reply #52 on:** Nov 13, 2015, 01:41 PM »

It's steel. I work with metal for a living so wouldn't be a problem to cut it down. Was still funny to see that.

BobR549 · « **Reply #53 on:** Nov 28, 2015, 11:14 AM »

Quote from: chilly-willy on Nov 05, 2015, 07:31 PM

5 inch laser when I should have gotten a 6 inch laser?

That sounds like my fly boxes. Carry three of them with hundreds of flies, some of them have never felt the water. I use maybe six patterns. An old wise fly fisherman told me "you will catch most of your fish with the one fly you have the most confidence in." He's right.

Lobes · « **Reply #54 on:** Nov 28, 2015, 11:48 AM »

Wedding cake.
Need I say more???

Lobes

bradh86 · « **Reply #55 on:** Dec 08, 2015, 01:29 PM »

Quote from: Lobes on Nov 28, 2015, 11:48 AM

Wedding cake.
Need I say more???
LOL I like that one you win

Lobes

panfishman13 · « **Reply #56 on:** Dec 08, 2015, 05:18 PM »

bought an HT ice rigger, gotta say i've been eyeing them for a while now. i thought it would be a fantastic way to do dead rods inside the shelter.

unfortunately, when i tested them on the local trout pond a couple of product-breaking problems made themselves apparent.

first, the tension on the flag release mechanism is not adjustable, and it is tight enough that only the most aggressive fish will trip the flag and even those fish sometimes don't.

second, the clip holding the line does not release the line quickly or easily. of the 5 fish i managed to hook on this thing, 3 of them got off because i was struggling to get the line out of the clip.

and lastly, the flag was poorly made and poorly attached. i actually had to glue it back onto the flag arm halfway through the day, and the stiff plastic the flag was made of caused it to stay in the rolled-up position it had while in the packaging.

i can replace the flag, but i am sincerely disappointed in this product. it's supposed to trip the flag when a fish bites, and allow you to smoothly and efficiently hook and land the fish. it does neither of these things.

here are the numbers to compare for that particular day:

HT Ice Rigger, rigged with a jigging spoon tipped with a small chunk of nightcrawler: 8 flags, 5 hookups, 2 landed fish

tipup, rigged with two #4 circle hooks tipped with small chunks of nightcrawler: 16 flags, 7 hookups, 6 landed fish

rod in rodholder, rigged with a jigging spoon tipped with a sall chunk of nightcrawler: 12 bites noticed, 11 hookups, 11 landed fish

jigging rod, rigged with various small jigs tipped with a variety of glow or green plastics: 27 hookups, 24 landed fish

Idahogator · « **Reply #57 on:** Dec 08, 2015, 05:31 PM »

Panfishman13, good report.

Lobes, there ain't no job that can't be done by hand.

ICEHOLE · « **Reply #58 on:** Dec 08, 2015, 05:58 PM »

for me last year was yak trax, year before it was rocky boots. yak trax didn't last one season on the ice, and the rocky boots didn't make it two seasons

fishinfiend · « **Reply #59 on:** Dec 08, 2015, 06:06 PM »

Nothing!! 60 degree temps coming my way............ Good thing my boat is still ready to go

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Author Topic: Worst purchase this season (Read 23484 times)