Your best and your worst ice fishing investment

[kasilofchrisn]

Best= Snowmobile. It's like a boat in the summer.
Certainly helps me get around better in the snow and find the fish.

Worst= The gimmicky gear such as the jigup tipup and the buzzstix.

[WNY D]

Best - Marcum flasher & Nils hand auger

Worst - 1st generation Tickle Stick

[Nodakjohns]

My worst would have to be a suitcase style icehouse. Didn't like it at all. Had some ice cleats that I got at a big box store that wasn't worth even trying to use. 

[panfishman13]

best investment so far has been my vexilar. any sonar is better than no sonar, and it shows whenever i'm out fishing with my dad or brother, and i'm piling fish on the ice using one rod, while their spread of 5 rods yields a fish maybe every 10 to 15 minutes.

worst investment? cheap ultralight reels. spending 10 bucks a reel is not worth the subsequent frustration of a reel breaking in the middle of a day of fishing.

[Homewrecker]

worst...the fuel to drive to the lake when you get no fish.
best ...the fuel when you get a fish

[DaveSS1]

Best:
1.  Shappell Jet Sled to hold all my gear.  Have to say I have it with me almost every trip and has seen a lot of ice!
2.  HT ice blue rods - have used the same one for 20+ years.  Sensitive rods, and helped me how to properly tight line years ago.
3.  Marmish palm rod with various strike indicators.  Been using these for 7 years now and opened a new world for small lines/jigs
4.  Flasher - will make fishing easier, but will not necessary make you a better fisherman.
5.  Schooley reels.  Cant beat them for shallow water.  Pair with an ice blue and you have a wonderful combo.

Worst:
1.  Eagle claw inline reels. Fine in the shanty but cannot withstand getting wet or cold.
2.  Celcius brand ice gear - price is low, but so is quality.
3.  HT ice cleats.  They fit the larger boots, but do a poor job of keeping you from slipping.  Kahtoola microspikes are now my replacement.
4.  Plastic/Teflon coated tip-up line.  Stick with the traditional black braid like Mason.
5.  8" hand auger.  Upgraded to a 6" NILS and never looked back.

Good luck and have fun!

[FishGut]

Best investments for ice fishing? Warm boots, cleats, gore-tex

Anything purchased from a local shop at full retail price vs saving a buck by ordering on line. 

If you've ever paid $6 for a beer at a bar that you could have at home for $1, don't grouse about a ten dollar price difference on $500 worth of gear your shop has in stock versus what you can buy elsewhere maybe

Money thrown away? Getting suckered into the Lure of the Year (I'm looking at you, Salmo Chubby Darter).

[Trump]

Money thrown away? Getting suckered into the Lure of the Year (I'm looking at you, Salmo Chubby Darter).
[/quote]

haha you too! I have a dozen for sale if you know anyone

[tomertim]

Best has been to spend the $$ on quality clothing.  Whenever I tell anyone how excited I am for winter and ice fishing they inevitable give me that look.  Then when I tell them how toasty it is at 0 degrees when you invest in the right clothing they kind of just give the head nod and go about their way.

Worst would be just too much stuff.  I love new gear, lures, extra poles, bbq, beer, ect. ect.  But looking around on my living room floor the night before looks like I just cleaned out a storage unit.  It's like backpacking, sure all of this and that would be great, but to just to go out and enjoy the time requires a little gear discipline.

[Coangshirt]

When I was young and first started to ice fish, I purchased a cheap HT hand auger.  Worst piece of outdoor equipment ever!  Bought a 6" NILS and always end up showing others how fast it is.  They never believe me.

[32footsteps]

My worst was when I was about 5 years old.  I bought a simple jig pole because I wanted to ice fish.  It was the worst purchase because it led to me spending thousands upon thousands of dollars over the years on other stuff. 

[sangell]

Welcome to this great sport and what a great post and interesting thread. Here's mine from Central Mass....

1. Stryker Hard Water, floating, bibs and jacket. By far the best investment I made and it makes almost all the weather irrelevant it is that good. Tons of pockets, they thought of everything. I go out in some pretty nasty stuff without a worry.
2. Clam cordless drill adapter - There's a trend building here on making gas powered augers illegal, but more importantly, moving and hole hoping is not a big deal at all. I keep a spare battery in my inside pocket of coat and that is plenty for 50+ holes. Last year we had 22-24" of ice too
3. I know the tip ups can be a 'hot' topic but my HT Polar Therms are my favorites. They keep things simple, blowing snow out to the hole and really do a great job of preventing hole ice overs.
4. Last one - Clam 1660 Six Pack Shelter. It's fun to have company, and now they come out

Worst

1. Cheap rod and real combos. Two out of three broke last year, and upgraded to ugly sticks this year
2. I got suckered (by myself) in buying jig kits of multiple jigs. I probably won't use 3/4's of them so the fishing lure caught the fisherman, again.... I'd throw out there to keep it simple, talk to the local guys and see what they recommend here on whatever your target species is.
3. I did try another HT Polar Therm product thinking I'd save a couple of bucks. The flags were junk.....
4. Although not an investment I did try to make an old pair of boats work..... I fixed that this year.... Cold wet feet are not fun

[sledneck22]

best:
1. flasher (marcum LX-5)
2. warm boots and suit
3. a good auger (I own a 6" nils and 8" eskimo mako)
worst:
1. by far a frabil suitcase shelter. Sooo many poles and pieces and braces. Everything froze together, and had to be heated up to break down. I'm glad the mice found that in storage. Maybe it was the peanut butter I put inside so i'd but a new shack.
2. cold boots.
3. wet gloves

[lostbrit]

Best: FL20, ION and DH rods with Pflueger reels
Worst: Cheap (ebay) pop up, strikemaster lazer pro auger

[Nutsicles]

Best: Spud bar, Nils hand auger, shanty, heater, fish finder/flasher

Worst: , cheap auger, cheap ice cleats, cheap tip ups, cheap ice scoops, cheap minnow buckets, basically anything low priced/gimmicky.

I know from personal experience, it's tough starting out with nothing. I didn't know anyone who ice fished. So I started with a mora auger, bucket, few ugly sticks, scoop, and a few jigs, just to see if I'd enjoy it. Then I was hooked, and slowly started adding gear.

Best advice I can give is to spend the extra few dollars on quality gear the first time. You'll save money in the long run, not having to buy stuff 2-3 times.

 

[BLUJBURD]

BEST: A spud, proper attire head to toe, a flasher, an auger, all of my shanties, assorted rods/reels, a few jigs and spoons.

WORST: any thing cotton- socks, base layer, Cheap ultralight reels.  Clam nitinol spring bobbers,  all the other jigs and lures.

[SlavetodaBOX]

Worst was an Eagle graph. Best was getting an iceshanty.com account.  No lie, it has been great

I have to agree on the iceshanty.com account!!!!!

[perch_slayer]

best purchases for me would be ht ice riggers, fire line ice braid, ht polarlites perch rod, and of course my eskimo quickfish 3.

[Green Mountain Boy]

Best - Striker Climate Suit, Kahoola Micro Spikes, Buddy Heater, Nils Auger and Engle Bait Cooler.

Worst - Cheap Bait Bucket which spilled dumping all my live bait in the bottom of my Otter Flip Shelter Sled discovered only after I dragged everything out and ready to set up to fish!

[perch_slayer]

One of my best rod is a Shakespeare Cajun Ice rod in UL.  Perfect power noodle for me and cost me $6.

The worst stuff I've ever bought was the mini baitcasting reel from HT and the Shakespeare Cajun mini baitcasting copy cat.  Stupid slow, and super small spool arbor made for the worst line coils ever.  It came with that Cajun red line.  LOL had fun catching perch with it.  When the line coil began to move, the perch were biting.  Worst $9 spent on total junk.

I'm not touching the Walleye Marshall look alike or Uncle Buck's.
(Image removed from quote.)
Stay away from this junk.

LOL, don't get me started with lures...just look at my avatar...

loved my Cajun ice rod. It fell off a shelf tho and snapped so that was that

[T-Hawker]

Come on guys...tell me what you really think :0)

Ton of awesome feedback and information - thanks.  A few guys have been ice fishing in Central Wisconsin...coworker showed me a 28.5" / 9# walleye he caught yesterday - one of 25 flags he had.

Predicting 10-12" of snow which is going to make already iffy ice conditions that much worst.  Still hoping to get out soon for the first time...I like ice fishing but going out on thin ice isn't worth the risk for me.

Thanks again for the wealth of awesome info!

[slipperybob]

Worst conditions: rain and slushy snow.  Every hole drilled is a funnel for water to drain into.  Some caught fish found their way down them holes...

Best conditions: not much snow and not glare ice.  Daytime temps right there at freezing, but lines don't freeze.

LOL.  All in a day's trip...the full tank of gas investment

[Stinkybaits]

Best was switching to custom built ice rods. Striker Climate and Hardwater suits that also float. Worst was a power auger. I had a propane was nice just bulky. They have their place and if I had ATV and lived in an area that had 3 foot ice as common but I live in Northern Indiana so the Milwaukee Fuel Series drill with a nils cordless auger setup works great and lightens my load.

[merkleyb]

To help a newbie decide what to buy and what not to buy... what is your one best ice fishing equipment investment and what was / is your worst?

Merry Christmas...got some snow last night so it'll be a white Christmas in North Central Wisconsin.

Mickey Mouse boots are by far the best ice fishing investment I have ever made

[rgfixit]

I've made too many good investments for ice fishing. The stuff I take every time....no matter what.  My Yad Ice Rods, my Trans Alaska boots, Frabill Grey suit, Rocky Thermal unders, 4.5" Fin Bore III. Great stuff!

The worst.....easy......Ja son Mitchell Meatstick. Tip snapped on the second bluegill. When I took it to the ice show and told the rep about it, he said "Yeah, that happens" . So much for those schmucks.

Rg

[JaysFishin]

Best investments:
Frabill Snosuit...got a new one for $225.
This Christmas.... BaitRunner Walleye Stinger series rod from DH Custom Rods, since it was the first one ever ordered, he added two others!!
Quality electronics!
Quality Boots!

[sangell]

Boots was one of this year's biggies here. I have not worn them out yet, but I used this community for the research and ended up going with Baffin, Sno Sport. I needed a light boot due to a cranky knee, and my pac boots, although decent, were too heavy. They came as advertised, and wow, are they comfortable, as well as light. I like the toggle tie. I just need ice now here in New England. Very weird weather, but getting cold. I was going to buy direct with the favorable exchange rate what it is and Baffin up in Canada, but ended up buying from onlineshoes.com for under $100 delivered. Elsewhere it ranged from $135-159.

I did see another worst investment and that was the rubber coated line. Great concept so I rigged up three tip ups last year, but it was a pain to work with. A very high memory characteristic. I was back to braid with in a few weeks.

[Seedtree]

Agree with most of the advice so far.

IMHO, the best investment is in quality gear.  Don't waste your money and time on cheap junk. 

[kb]

Long list for both.

Best
Good comfortable waterproof boots
Wind proof outer shell/insulated clothing
Quality reels with quality line for jigging
A good flasher
Good auger with Swedish blades - lazer, fin bore, Nils if you have the need to waste extra money
Waterproof gloves
My tip ups are 40+ years old - never felt the need to buy brand name stuff as long as it's quality.   As long as the reels work smoothly and the flags work, your good.


Bad (IMHO)
I have a camera I never use
Big buddy heater I never use
Pop up tent (if I bring it, the wife comes, so I never use it. HAHAHAHA)
Eskimo ice chisel hammer thing that's heavy and useless
Foam bait buckets. My galvanized bucket is 40+ years old

DONT buy stuff to keep up with everyone else. Wasted $$$.   Go out with the basics, and determine what you NEED from there.

Just a few suggestions off the top of my head. Go out with someone if you can, or visit someone on the ice to look at their equipment. For the most part, we are social and love to talk fishing!!!!

[OldSailor]

This year I think my worst investment is my ice fishing gear!!!  Looking out my window, the only white I see is dandelion tops!!