First ice for us

[WayneChristie]

We decided to check out a certain perch pond, sorry I cant tell you its Enchant, its a secret. The ice was maybe 4 inches where we were, and the top third is crusty white ice, so you are probably pushing the limits. I tried to walk out a bit further but the ice cracked when I stepped so I decided to wait. The fish were elsewhere mostly, but between the 2 of us we managed about 20 perch and one rainbow. The new tent was great, a lot of room. I am going to add more velcro to the window flaps, and maybe insulate the top plus build an insulated floor for it. Its going to be a lot of fun this winter. Play cards and fish all night for burbs sounds good.
Scope. I have no idea how thick the ice is, but there was none at all last weekend.

http://inlinethumb35.webshots.com/5858/2058123230106727962S600x600Q85.jpg (http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2058123230106727962aldhlp)

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Enchant

http://inlinethumb19.webshots.com/46098/2452904950106727962S600x600Q85.jpg (http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2452904950106727962TiLcrV)

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[Guitarplayingfish]

That Awesome man, a few of you have braved the thin ice so far. Glad to see no one has fallen through, and fish are being caught. Ive been deciding whether or not to go out and try to do some close to shore fishing the last little while... I think Ill go out this upcoming week and try to hook into some fish. If you make it to scope let me know the ice conditions please!!

Also, Nice pictures. Keep 'em comin

[FOTW]

Since you have the tent, How many guys do you say could comfortably sit in there? Also, Besides the color are there any other differences between your Costco tent and the Clam tent of the same size?

[WayneChristie]

http://inlinethumb61.webshots.com/44476/2004006920106727962S600x600Q85.jpg (http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2004006920106727962ZfgrIn)

my 5 foot floor for the 2 man.

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Happy fisherman, my first fish through the ice this season.

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Not a lot of ice, for me anyways.

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my 5 by 5 floor

http://inlinethumb31.webshots.com/26078/2529000360106727962S600x600Q85.jpg (http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2529000360106727962lGvJoy)

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[WayneChristie]

FOTW if you sit the right way there is enough space for 4 people to fish comfortably. Ive never seen the clam .
I am pretty sure if I screwed in the ice anchors all the way today I would have been through the ice. When you walked there would be ripples coming along ahead of you. The roads are terrible too, there was a car a pickup and a semi in the ditch just east of town, its sheer ice. They did sand highway 36 tho, but it still sucks. It was an AWESOME day!!!

[go-big-or-go-home]

Thumbs up for the awsome day man. Good season openers are the best. Awsome looking tent aslo, trump tower style

[kostianych]

congratulations on the season opening :)))

PUMPKIN - not a bad name for Cosco tents...I like it :)))

[hockey1099]

Wayne how was the tent in regards to warmth and wind?

I left my costco tent at home and took out my four man eskimo as there were only two of us and i wanted to save weight in the sled and on the ice.

[Walleyes]

Looks good Wayne,, glad to see you made it out...

[mooseknuckle]

Wayne!! Sweet buddy new tent looks nice! Let the ice season begin. Hope to ya out there!

[WayneChristie]

Hockey actually there was no wind today, we only put 2 anchors in just in case. I had the sunflower going and it was pretty warm, but I will be a lot warmer with a full floor in it. I was also kind of worried since it was melting the white ice layer on top and that didnt leave a lot below . Im happy with it. the tote bag is too small to fit it easily, especially if there was any wind I imagine. You will need 2 people to set it up if there is any wind, its a huge surface area to catch the wind. I am just over 6 feet tall and I had plenty of headroom everywhere in it too. Lots of condensation inside but it was a pretty cold day.
Walleyes I am thinking of trying Scope or maybe Cowoki next weekend and see if I can catch my first white through the ice. Then go for a big pike.

[hockey1099]

Hockey actually there was no wind today, we only put 2 anchors in just in case. I had the sunflower going and it was pretty warm, but I will be a lot warmer with a full floor in it. I was also kind of worried since it was melting the white ice layer on top and that didnt leave a lot below . Im happy with it. the tote bag is too small to fit it easily, especially if there was any wind I imagine. You will need 2 people to set it up if there is any wind, its a huge surface area to catch the wind. I am just over 6 feet tall and I had plenty of headroom everywhere in it too. Lots of condensation inside but it was a pretty cold day.
Walleyes I am thinking of trying Scope or maybe Cowoki next weekend and see if I can catch my first white through the ice. Then go for a big pike.

That bag is horrible. I had a tough time putting the tent back in after i set it up in my garage in +10 degree weather. Im not looking forward to doing it when my hands are frozen and the wind is blowing

[WayneChristie]

That bag is horrible. I had a tough time putting the tent back in after i set it up in my garage in +10 degree weather. Im not looking forward to doing it when my hands are frozen and the wind is blowing

Mine is starting to rip a bit on a seam, but I dont think I will be using it anyways. The window flaps let in too much light and the vents are huge and need a bit of a deflector but thats an easy modification. I am happy with it so far. Even for one person you could have your 2 lines seperated by almost 12 feet and still be inside. that will be great on a steep drop off, you can cover 2 depths and stay warm inside out of the wind.

[FOTW]

Nice tent, I assume it retained the heat from your heater well? How do you think she would do in -20 - -25 ? Would you have to be bundled up or could you just rock a sweater?

[WayneChristie]

There was no wind, but it was in the minus 20s today, without the heater it got cold pretty quick, with only a small floor, but with the heater it was quite comfortable, maybe even down to a sweater. If you put a sunflower at each end I think it would get almost too warm unless there was a good wind. Mine will definitely see wind, so I will find out how it holds up. The material seems to be quite strong.

[npauls]

Good to see you got out wayne. Did you try any of your homemade hooks?

I ended up heading out for a few hours yesterday afternoon looking for a monster gator with no luck. We had 3 tip ups down and my buddy was jigging in the 4th hole. Hopefully next weekend I will haul something up through the ice.


nate

[WayneChristie]

I am thinking I want to lay out the floor so that we can have 2 double holes at each end, and each of us would have a rod at each end so everything should be even, then she cant complain about me catching all the fish. That would leave about 10 feet of room in between the holes for you and your gear plus a table, maybe a stove or even a couple of cots for burb fishing.

[Braun]

nice going wayne! tent looks good. i have made the decision that i will be heading out next weekend with my broken leg. just wrap the cast in a plastic bag and ill be good to go. i can walk on it. just cant do a big hike. we will have to hook up for a day on the ice before i leave for houston on the holidays.

you too nate, seeing as we never got out again before ice.

[WayneChristie]

Nate I tried a few different ones I made, and caught fish on all of them. With and without bait. We were in the one bad spot in the whole pond but I didnt want to go further out. But they do seem to like them. Braun for sure when the big lakes are thick enough there are some big fish waiting to be caught.

[Geezle]

Great pics as always Wayne, and glad to see you were able to get out on the ice and get a few fish :) Glad to see the giant new tent seems to be working out well so far for you as well, and it sounds like you have some good plans for what do with it!

After yesterday's trial run I headed out for the day and tried out my new little Clam tent and the sunflower heater, and wow do I love that setup! Oh yeah, caught a whole whack of brookies too! :cool:

[Christofficer]

That's awesome, big tent lots of room and a nice heater. My kind of ice fishing. I only ever been ice fishing once before and it was brutal cold without a tent. Nice pics too.

Question, how much did that tent cost?

[FOTW]

That's awesome, big tent lots of room and a nice heater. My kind of ice fishing. I only ever been ice fishing once before and it was brutal cold without a tent. Nice pics too.

Question, how much did that tent cost?

$299 from Costco

[horsetrader]

THats a great pumpkin charlie brown nice pics



H

[slingshotz]

Looking good Wayne, you sure have come a long way from your first season where you almost gassed yourself silly with that first "heater".

Any issues with the big sunflower heater with air, ie carbon monoxide problems? I'm a bit wary of putting a big 20lb tank inside an enclosed space.

[flygirrl]

Ha ha Wayne, let me know when the ice is 3 feet thick LOL

[Kim473]

Wow that is a fair amount of snow there. About how far from Calgary or other big town is that? I tried the dollor store stick on velcro and it did not stick to the tent, for closing the windows better. But maybe thats why its in the dollor store LOL. You get what you pay for. Next stop army & navy see what they got, and maybe a type of rubberized glue or tent patch glue. My 3 man fits fairly easy in the carry bag, a little tight but not bad. Maybe your not folding it up in the correct sequence as to minnimize bulkyness?

[WayneChristie]

Will it seems ok with the 2 big vents in the tent, only thing I was worried about was melting through the thin ice :sHa_sarcasticlol: I usually use a 10 pound tank but I want to get my 20 emptied so I can refill it. Next weekend I will probably try big water, should have enough ice by then and I want something a little bigger fishwise :) Kim the river there is about 40 minutes from Brooks, the pond is west of here 40 miles.

[WayneChristie]

The washrooms in the campground right by the pond are open, and warm, and if you do fall through there is a shower in there to thaw you out :) The ice should be much better by the weekend. The roads around Enchant suck tho so drive carefully if you do go

[npauls]

Hey wayne,

Depending on what my buddies have to say for the weekend plans I may be making a trip to sherburn for one of the days. If you are interested in meeting me out there send me a pm and maybe we can arrange to meet up in taber.

Nate

[latenite]

looks great wayne, nice pics. thats shack is huge!

[WayneChristie]

Im just over 6 feet tall, and even on the 1 1/2 thick floor my head was no where near the roof anywhere