Author Topic: What's the worst ice fishing item you ever bought and the best and why? (Read 11392 times)

Mrpike1973 · « **on:** Oct 03, 2018, 07:45 PM »

The worst:
I will be brutally honest I never fished in my life until I was 26 years old saw some people ice fishing and thought I should try that. I knew nothing

I bought a clam house the type you threw the tarp over the plastic base and connected it to the bottom what a pain it blew away several times and finally ripped to shreds boy those pop ups are sure nice now.

The second item would be a Honda lazer auger that thing never ran good and a lot of money. Worked overtime for a month to get it what a let down. it was in the shop more than I used it finally got rid of it.

The best:
The first time I bought a Vexilar Fl8, type and brand does not matter. I dropped my lure down saw it, saw a line come up and wham had a crappie changed my ice fishing life for ever.

Anyway thought it would be fun to see what others have had bad/good luck with while we wait for ice

CrappieJigger29 · « **Reply #1 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 07:48 PM »

Best vexlar 8 hands down allowed me to put more fish top side of the ice.

Worst thing I ever got was the aquaview that piece of junk hardly worked n when it did couldn't tell what direction and couldn't see much on the screen

Ice_Fly_Guy · « **Reply #2 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 07:56 PM »

Once again, a Vexilar FL8 was my best purchase. Can't imagine fishing without one now.

Worst has to be the Frabill 371. Spent more time with tangles than I fished. No thank you.

SKIFFLAKEJIMMY · « **Reply #3 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 08:02 PM »

The worst. I had my cousin build me a spud out of a piece of a truck leaf spring, and a weight lifting bar. The best. I had my cousin build me a spud out of a piece of a truck leaf spring, and a weight lifting bar.

Ice Scratcher · « **Reply #4 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 08:09 PM »

<°)))>{

Mrpike1973 · « **Reply #5 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 08:19 PM »

That was funny Ice Scratcher, Engagement ring

there is a reason they call it a suffer ring.

Iceassin · « **Reply #6 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 08:25 PM »

Best...for a 4th time...Vexilar 8 SLT. Had the extended "arm" to hold the transducer and the unit came on a round base that fit perfectly into a 5 gal. bucket.

Worst...it's a tie...the Side Finder Fishing Buddy and the amount of money I spent on jigs that I never used or use.

Agronomist_at_IA · « **Reply #7 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 08:35 PM »

Worst item......when I started I bought a huge shack

It was an old green Eskimo lodge suit case tent. It sucked balls putting up. I sold it for $100 and went to my clam flip over voyager.

Best Item was my vexilar flasher.

Peccavi18 · « **Reply #8 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 08:42 PM »

Best: Marcum Showdown 5.6, I used to be out all day to catch 1 or 2 fish before the Showdown now I know if it's even worth spending time in an area. And Im constantly catching.

Worst: Clam fan light combo, Used it once, I forgot to take it down and it fell when putting my fx200 down and shattered. Barely worked before it broke anyways

Sandcountrylivin · « **Reply #9 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 08:45 PM »

Best was my old vex fl8 mounted to a blue genz

Worst would have to be buying a 10" Eskimo for my first auger, thinking I needed to be able to pull a Buick through the hole even if I was pan fishing.

IceAddict87 · « **Reply #10 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 09:20 PM »

Worst: Eskimo gas auger, it worked fine but I wish I had gone with a clam plate drill setup instead of a gas auger.

Best is my fl8 Genz. I recently got an flx 28 and swapped it over to the genz because I missed using it so much.

Seamonkey84 · « **Reply #11 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 09:32 PM »

Worst item, I’d prob have to the underwater camera. Though I got a great deal on it, it hardly ever comes out of the bag. IF the water was clear enough, it takes time and and a lot of effort to set up to use for fishing, then you have to use it inside or somehow shade all the glare from it.
Best item... tough one. It’s a toss up between my dril/plate/auger combo and my lowrance ice kit (upgraded to panoptix this year

). Without either I wouldn’t be able to fish the way I like, run and gun jigging.

lostbrit · « **Reply #12 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 09:52 PM »

Worst for me was strikemaster gas auger, man that thing would take for ever to start then corkscrew down the hole

Best I'm going to say vex fl20

32footsteps · « **Reply #13 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 09:55 PM »

Worst was an FLX28. Maybe I got a lemon but that thing caused nothing but headaches. Froze up regularly, wouldn’t work on soft bottoms regardless of what was recommended and tried. Just a royal pain. Happy, happy day when I dumped that thing.

Best was a few years ago when Shopko was having a Black Friday sale on kitty litter. I snagged 15 pails of it. Square buckets allow you to more efficiently use space in your sled.

Doug SD · « **Reply #14 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 10:08 PM »

Worst - showdown troller. Turns out I am more willing to put up with the bulkiness of the lx9 from hole to hole for the bigger screen and multiple options.

Best - 8" k drill. Although my pawn shop Eskimo 9" mako runs and starts like new, the speed and weight difference is unreal.

splaker · « **Reply #15 on:** Oct 03, 2018, 10:14 PM »

The worst was all the cheap hand augers when I first started fishing.
The best has to be my early 1990's strikemaster cobra auger with Tecumseh engine. Still going strong with many thousands of holes drilled and only a recoil,couple plugs and blades to keep it running all the years.
A close second best is my LX 7.

mushroom_capd_1 · « **Reply #16 on:** Oct 04, 2018, 01:09 AM »

Worst-that that battery powered jigging rod where you pressed a button and it was supposed to jig for you, what a piece of junk!!!

Best-my first flasher

Fishwacker1 · « **Reply #17 on:** Oct 04, 2018, 01:11 AM »

Best- buying an Arctic Armour suit when it was introduced. Knowing the last personal line of defense breaking through with a float suit has put me a little more at ease on the ice. Still without caution.
Worst is the same suit would not breath and felt clammy cold after a walk dragging gear. Thankful Striker came along with a comfortable suit that replaced it.

quackpot · « **Reply #18 on:** Oct 04, 2018, 02:37 AM »

32 I think you just got a bad one. The best is my FLX28 it's also the worst at times. One of the places I fish it shows the fish laying down in the mud bottom. Knowing they are there I spent a lot of time getting them to follow my jig to watch them follow it up and slowly go back down into the mud. I bought a extra one this year.

lefty2053 · « **Reply #19 on:** Oct 04, 2018, 06:58 AM »

Worst would be the underwater camera.

Best by far is the Ridgid with the Nero auger.

Light liner · « **Reply #20 on:** Oct 04, 2018, 07:16 AM »

Best, was my first flasher ice 45. Changed everything.
Worst, was years ago I bought a cabelas shanty that you needed to add the floor to.
It worked well but I over built it and it was heavy. I dragged that thing around for probably 5 years.
Then The flip overs came out.

Hoserman · « **Reply #21 on:** Oct 04, 2018, 08:07 AM »

Worst was my Clam Classic. Kind of hard to drag through deep snow, and if the wind was blowing 15-25 mph an Octopus on speed would have a tough time getting it set up. Best was my three microlite rods I bought. Even without a spring bobber you can see the action from a wiggler.

Buckshots · « **Reply #22 on:** Oct 04, 2018, 08:44 AM »

Best would have to be my first flasher. It was an Ice-35 but any first flasher will do.

Worst would be that stupid clam light/fan combo piece of junk.

ActiveTrapChecker · « **Reply #23 on:** Oct 04, 2018, 08:52 AM »

Best - Clam plate. Makes the morning go so much easier

Worst - the 10 or so cheap skimmers that i have broken over the years trying to widen a 6" hole to get a big pike through. Or, maybe it was buying the 6" auger, which has been benched for an 8"...

Lukaszu · « **Reply #24 on:** Oct 04, 2018, 08:55 AM »

Those hollow ice screws.. The cheap brand. They went into trash after first use.

Best would be my deeper pro+
Sonar/flasher.

muskyon46 · « **Reply #25 on:** Oct 04, 2018, 09:04 AM »

Best- Tied between my LX-7 and milwaukee/nils auger set-up

Worst- The advanced anglers camera cabelas sold a while back, POS! good thing I bought the warranty on it as they couldnt fix it the 3rd time I took it in so I got my money back

XN · « **Reply #26 on:** Oct 04, 2018, 09:06 AM »

Worst - Aqua-vu micro was complete garbage

Best - Nils convertible auger

FG Steve · « **Reply #27 on:** Oct 04, 2018, 09:24 AM »

Best:
-Frabill Ice Scoop
-Strikemaster Lazer Mag with old Tecumseh power head
-Snowmobile
-Underwater camera

Worst:
-Mora hand auger. Don't get me wrong it was so much better than nothing, but I'm not going back.

https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=348255.msg3709121#msg3709121

milehighfishing · « **Reply #28 on:** Oct 04, 2018, 09:38 AM »

Best : nils convertible auger. so fast and light

worst : clam ice anchor install tool, thing snapped second time I used it.

eiderz · « **Reply #29 on:** Oct 04, 2018, 09:43 AM »

Best: Electronics-Navionics and LX-7, makes finding structure and fish easy. Transportation- Wilcraft, extends the season two weeks or more in my area. Unless it snows.

Gear-Tipup lights for night fishing, a flashy light really gets the heart pumping!

Worst: Electronics-underwater camera, actually a best buy for a couple of weeks to study how the fish behave, then it's a closet queen. Gear- Jigs, jigs and more jigs. Thousands, of which I only ever use 4-5. But I do get exercise carrying a 30 pound bag of jigs around "just in case".

News:

Author Topic: What's the worst ice fishing item you ever bought and the best and why? (Read 11392 times)