Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! > General Tips
Fast Depth/fish checking with torch (Ice Trolling)
Garrett:
Hi All-
Here is my tips contribution.
I use charcoal heated tipup boxes so I keep a handheld click start torch with me on the ice for that.
Since I had the torch, I can kick the snow off the ice with my boot, hit the ice with the torch for a few seconds to create a puddle on the top of the ice, set the vex ducer on the puddle and it shoots through the ice!
I can check depths, see if fish are under me, structures etc all without drilling extra holes. If I am setting up tipups on a 10-20ft drop off, I will use the torch to Premark my tipup locations at the depths I want to target without having to drill lots of holes to find those depths on a gradual drop. Its pretty slick. Using my DIY track sled, I don't actually have to get out of the sled or shut it off to find my spots or the fish. Only when I find them is when the auger comes out.
appleye:
Great tip!
stinkyfingers:
Slick idea. I've been lugging around a little thermos to wet the ice for my Marcum LX-i , the little flashlight looking job. Kind of a pain. Is there one brand of those butane lighters that stands above the rest?
Edited five minutes later: may have to re-think. I usually ice fish at 10,500' elevation and butane sometimes is hard to light with that little oxygen mixed in.. The little kitchen mini-torches that many of you guys use to caramelize your crème brulee would also work for that application.
esox_xtm:
I've carried a small dish detergent bottle with heavily salted water. Before anyone lights me up more salt drips offa vehicles or runs of the road than I introduce with a couple squirts. Doesn't solve the rough ice issue but a torch would :thumbsup:
Garrett:
I have learned through trying to be cheap that torches are not equal in the cold. propane doesn't like to vaporize in the cold and lower btu torches don't cut it! I started using a cheap $20 click start torch but it froze up constantly and just really didn't work during the cold.
Now I use a Bernzomatic TS4000.This has been the most reliable for me in cold weather. Its twice the cost ~$38 on amazon. I also run box tip-ups at times (bite me box style) and I started carrying the torch for starting the charcoal, and started playing the the torching the surface to find the depth the last 2 years and it works great.
https://www.amazon.com/Bernzomatic-TS4000-Trigger-Start-Torch/dp/B00008ZA09/ref=sr_1_18?keywords=propane+torch&qid=1570461698&sr=8-18
I run a home built track sled with a storage box that I keep the propane torch and the vex in to quick grab and check depths when I pull up on a spot. works slick.
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