Ice Fishing Craze Finally Over?

[Xplorer]

Wheel house manufacturers cannot seem to pump them out fast enough for the demand, and home builds are more popular than ever. The sheet numbers of wheel houses on the ice these days will change lake management on some bodies of water (already did on Red Lake, MN last year) as these folks will "chase the hot bite" wherever that is.

[hawg]

All those people that got the cheap portables for Christmas and the complained about permanent houses being on all the best spots (even when they had no clue where they were) found out they were cold,damp, dark, not good for dad and the 2 kids, and just not much fun.

[Baseline]

There has been no slow down in northern MN. Red Lake, Lake of the Woods and all the lakes around my area are very well populated with fisherman. Judging by all the $20k plus Ice Castles parked on the lakes I'd say the craze may be intensifying.

[97roughneck]

Originally Posted by Baseline

There has been no slow down in northern MN. Red Lake, Lake of the Woods and all the lakes around my area are very well populated with fisherman. Judging by all the $20k plus Ice Castles parked on the lakes I'd say the craze may be intensifying.

Also, judging by the number of Ice Castles for sale on Facebook right now, there may be several guys that bought and never got a chance to even get on the ice this year and decided to cut their losses. It'd be tough for me to be making that $500/mo. payment on something I never got a chance to use.

[Baseline]

Originally Posted by 97roughneck

Also, judging by the number of Ice Castles for sale on Facebook right now, there may be several guys that bought and never got a chance to even get on the ice this year and decided to cut their losses. It'd be tough for me to be making that $500/mo. payment on something I never got a chance to use.

There are lots of RV's, motorcycles and guns for sale too. Doesn't mean there has been a slowdown for the enthusiasm for that kind of recreation has slowed down. Those $20K plus Ice Castles are manufactured for year round use. Ever noticed the AC units on the roof.

[AllenW]

Originally Posted by Baseline

There has been no slow down in northern MN. Red Lake, Lake of the Woods and all the lakes around my area are very well populated with fisherman. Judging by all the $20k plus Ice Castles parked on the lakes I'd say the craze may be intensifying.

Might be one of the reasons them big rigs are way up north is the lousy ice closer to the metro?
I have a buddy who has one of them rigs and only got out 4 times, all either at milacs or red.

Been a lousy year to take up ice fishing again, our last pan fish tourney is the 20th of march and the joke is, bring a boat if you come.
It was canceled btw.

I think many of the metro lakes are open water now, supposedly the 20th will be a fun day on waconia now that the tourney was canceled, I don't remember open water this early in a long time.

Al

[Jfraze10]

In my location I'd say easily 5x if not more people ice fish as do open water. It seems more affordable not everyone can afford a boat and you can get on the ice and catch fish with little money involved. I started with one ul rod combo a few jigs and some spykes. (that doesn't stop some of us from spending nearly as much as we do with our open water gear however.) New shanty's float suits electronics rods lures and ice machines every year! I don't see any slowing down right now.