P700 Ice fishing preparation

[VTbarn1]

Today I put in the trailer hitch and dug out my 2 person flip over ice fishing shelter. I attached the tow bar and put it up to make sure that the mice hadn't made swiss cheese of the cover since last year. All looked good except I couldn't find the cover for it to prevent snow from filling it up while it's being towed. So I did a slow lap around the yard to make sure everything was working ok. It was so I put everything away and only then saw the cover sitting on a high shelf in the garage. After dumping out all the nuts the mice had stashed in it, I put it on the shelter and officially called it ready to go. Now we just need thicker ice!

Barn

 

[Julyfour4]

Great set up! The ice should be setting up nicely with these cold temps in both VT and NH. Looking forward to getting out myself.

 

[VTbarn1]

Great set up! The ice should be setting up nicely with these cold temps in both VT and NH. Looking forward to getting out myself.

I'm headed out today for a trial run. We finally have enough ice on Champlain to get it out. It's currently -11 degrees F. We'll see how it does.

 

[Julyfour4]

Good luck...I'd be interested to hear what type of fish you're targeting on Champlain. Lake trout? My SXS was having a difficult time starting up last week even before the negative temps...I hope yours does better. Stay warm.

 

[VTbarn1]

We fish for bass and pike with tip ups and panfish jigging.
My 700 did great yesterday even with the extreme cold. We didn't catch much but I am very pleased with how much easier the machine made things. And now I can bring more creature comforts to make the experience more pleasant. The fish pictures below are from last week.
I got a bunch of GoPro footage yesterday that I'll post process later today and post to YouTube.