Well Ladies and gentlemen ice is pretty much gone for now here on the ponds in northern Indiana. And what ice is on the lakes is not safe. But it's not cold enough to form more good ice right now to walk on, but cold enough to freeze the guides in your pole and make open water fishing miserable.

What's a guy to do? How about screwing the iceshanty to the end of the 70 ft pier with the ice hole slots just over the side? Did it today and I'm ready to go. Used deck screws and washers to keep the wind from ripping the screws through the floor. I'm so happy to be able to fish out of the wind with the ice gear, I think I'll drive some more posts once the ice freezes good again and built a permanent dual ice shanty/storage shed this summer on the end of the pier complete with gas stove etc. etc. ! What do ya think? It's really not as flimsy as it looks as the part that is off the pier is not stood on anyway. I also have it sucured with a rope on the back so it can't go anywhere even if the screws got ripped out. I made sure it can't tear loose in the wind as going to the bottom in a ziplock bag sounds kinds of houdinis to me.

Solid.

Now that is creative!!!!

Leave it to Cecil to come up with a non-ice, Ice fishing shack!!!

Time to go market this invention!! Almost as good as instant water -------> where you just have to add water!

Put that thing up on stilts and it can triple as a deer stand.

CB1 :

That looks great. Will you fish from it when the pond is iced over but before you put up the other unit ? If so don't try to walk past it to the pier end and slip off the side . Ice or not it would still be verrrry cold.

A couple of 1 x 2 fir strips screwed accross the bottom where you have the existing screws would hold it down better without polking more holes in the bottom and with less chance of tearing loose.

Cabin fever must really be bad at the Baird's this winter.

Global warming?

With the mention of global warming do we have the Pirates around yet another pond this year??????

Nice idea Cecil. Who needs ice for ice fishing.

In reference to your second picture, what is the "T" post for??

I thought about that Ewest but I was afraid I'd trip over them or they would be in the way when the dogs wants to lay on the floor while I fish. Believe it or not the washers along with the heavy duty floor and carpet really keep the screws in.

Going out to fish all day (even though I have tons of taxidermy work to do and bills to pay) after I make a run to the post office for the wife. Hopefully I'll be back with fish pics. I do have to get some fish for customers so I do have an excuse.

Ok Bruce... I do see a connection between this thread and your "farewell" thread. In the third picture above it appears as though a very heavy pirate stepped hard on the dock runway. Either that or it was hit by a large cannibal YP.

Just went out and had three bites right off the bat while I was trying to bait the other pole. Then got a small perch of about 10 and half inches.

Came back in to bring the dog in as she's not crazy about the set up. She gave me a look like you want me to get into that thing? When she saw the water through the floor she was not a happy camper but did end up laying down. I think the set up makes here uneasy so I brought her in. Aparently the dog has more sense than I do!

It's breezy out there and I've got a good ripple coming under the pier. Should loosen the bolts a little on the posts and bring the pier closer to the water line.

Oh here's my four legged fishing buddy!

ARF! ARF!

What's that Lassie? Cecil's in trouble?

ARF! ARF! ARF!

He was carrying a 10 pound perch in from the iceless shanty and fell through the broken board in the dock?

ARF! ARF!

You already dialed 911? Let's go throw him a life saver, girl.

ARF! ARF! ARF! ARF!

He made you save the fish first? Typical. :rolleyes:

Well Theo, you certainly are full of it!


Full of the good stuff, I mean. That one is a classic.

Dont you just love Cecil's and Bruces's subliminals about the size of their fish?
A small 10 1/2 perch. Why dont you just say a tiny baitfish?

Beautiful dog.

Everyone from this forum better not gather at one spot all at the same time. There would be way too much fun.

Theo :

That was great and you almost used the max # of graemlins . You should go back and edit it to add a line and 2 graemlins . :p

Arf Arf Arf

Lassie you ate the fish for lunch.

Dr. Doolittle - I'm out

I skewer poachers on it Russ.

Actually when I was using a buglite I would hang the buglite from it, and the nails are supposed to keep predator birds like kingfishers from roosting on it.

A first, I thought it was a tackle trap. A deck board with a strategically placed "whoops" in it causes fishing guests to stumble and lose their balance. Guests end up in the drink while the tackle is snared, keeping it high and dry.

Update on the shack-on-a-track:

Well apparently the fact that I am not sitting over any weeds with the ice shanty mounted to the pier has made that particular spot unproductive for large fish. Other than an occasional bass I'm only getting small fish. For those of you that don't ice fish, sitting on top of a spot that has everything to hold fish i.e. food, cover in weeds etc. is critical. Good icefisherman keep moving to find the fish but unfortunately in my situation, with no ice, that is hard to do on the shack=on-a-track.Therefore I changed to plan B. Plan B involves staying in the Shack-on-a-track to stay warm but now I'm casting out of open end facing the end of the pier. I rigged up two spinning rods with slip bobbers, and commenced to casting to different places on the pond, I have taken good size fish before on the ice. Caught and released 6 perch and 2 bass but no bluegills. (Of course I need a big bluegill for a customer! ) One pole was rigged with waxworms the other with fatheads. I think the problem is bluegills are notorisously light biters in this cold of water. Trying to detect these light bites in choppy water over 30 feet away is hard to do. Bluegills have been observed in cold water inhaling and exhaling bait without even twitching the line.

Ice oh ice where did you go? Please come back!

I don't think you'll see it for a while, Cecil. We've got highs in the 40's predicted for the next week/10 days here & I bet your outlook is pretty similar.

Maybe you need to be proactive and set up a Potemkin (or is that Kopecky?) Village of structure for the fish out at the end of the pier before next Winter.

Theo,

I think you're right! I saw in a NOAA discussion section the other day this is blamed on an anomolgous weather pattern in the Pacific near the Phillipines! However this can't hold -- it's got to change. However I can't help believing if it's this easy to be this mild in January it's just as easy to have a late spring. I would rather have a good strong winter followed by a nice spring.

Oh well you know what Mark Twain said about the weather: "Everybody complains about the weather but no one does a damn thing about it!

Cecil,

'Ole Mark was pretty sharp dude. He also said
"The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin."

I can understand his opinion of the tax collector but not sure why he was not too fond of taxidermists.

Dan

Yep ol' Mark Twain was quite a writer wasn't he? I understand they still haven't read all of his writing he left behind as it is so prolific.

Even if he didn't like taxidermists I woudn't hold it against him. If I had half his wit I would be honored.

My newspaper editor, when I did a local outdoor column, told me that Samuel did have a problem with drinking though, and when he got drunk got into repeated trouble groping women and other lecherous behavior. LOL

"First, God made idiots. This was for practice.
Then, He made school boards."

-Mark Twain