Holes Freezing

Hey All,

with the cooler temps coming in - wondering if you had acquired any hacks over the  years (legal) that keep your holes from freezing, as to not have to skim every 10 minutes or so in the really cold temps.. without having to pay $120 for the new boxes and what not that are out there... it seems that at the really cold temps, not even hole covers help much.. just curious as to what methods are out there i'm not thinking of... Thanks!

edit: talking fishing with Tip-Ups not not jigging, of course. 

Picked up 2 of the Finicky Fish hole covers last spring and have been using them a lot this year. They work great.

Paint those pails flat black. It’ll draw heat? UV rays? Whatever. I paint my Beaver Dams.   CARPIO 

I used to use heated boxes.  They work but a PIA.  Now i use beaver dam tipups with foam seats from menards.  They are 5 buck normal price but go on sale for 2.50.  I cut a slot in them for the tip up...unlike the store ones...no one inch hole.  Set the tip up. Pack the sides so it stays in place.  Really cold nights put a little snow on them.  I have been out -15 no problems

That's the whole idea of these threads is to get a bunch of ideas out there, both good and bad. Bending a piece of copper pipe and crimping one end to stick in the coals; scoop a little water from the hole into the end and heat it up. Who'd a thunk? Thanks to P. Swede for the earlier post.

check out water spiter got me thinking 

ive used canned sardines in oil for chum noticed holes dont freeze as fast

I've seen pails with the bottom cut out for sight fishing  but not for tipups. 

That sounds like a really good idea. You could probably insulate the inside of it which would help too. Hurry up and make a few...good opportunity to check out how well they work coming up! 

A thought I had last night was along the lines of the coffee can trick mentioned previously, but just nailing a some type of can to a board or something so the bottom of the can is in the water and sticking some charcoal in there. Would imagine that should keep it pretty ice free. And I'm sure you can find smaller cans as necessary. The size of the hole will likely determine what you can use.

Has anyone cut the bottom couple inches off five gallon buckets to set tipups on.  Drempt it up and was curious if I'm way late on that one.   

I like hand warmer ideal to but I though they need air to work

Yeah another thing in the hole and another thing hanging down walking between holes would be my biggest complaint. Eventually you'd need a 10" hole to fit everything and a separate sled to pull the unit

I agree, I don't think I spend enough time in one hole to make it work. Very seldom do you get to camp over fish, usually it's a few minutes before no marks or you have taken the active fish and you need to move on.

Also the last thing I need is something else hanging in the hole for a fish to tangle on. LOL

I was just up at Winnibigoshish this past week on a spur of the moment type trip. Temps were below zero with wind chills pushing 30-40 below. The one nice day we had(5 above 0) I went bombing around to try to find some walleyes. I ran into a guy using this very thing. I chatted with him about it and watched how it worked. It was doing what it's intended to do.It seems kind of gimmicky to me as well, but to each their own. He was over one hole so that worked at keeping that one open. I drill and move so much that I honestly don't think that would help me. By the time I get to the last hole I drilled I usually have to heel kick it open. Then if I don't see a fish in a couple minutes I move on, so I don't think that would be of much use to my style.

Seems to be more designed for hole hopping. Would attach right to the flasher battery. The lithium shuttle proves that you can't put a price on convenience and if it works good, $100 to avoid the hole skimming over is worth it to some people. Not to mention there is nothing else like it on the market, so you really can't claim that it is over-priced except for maybe a personal budget.

New for 2019, not applicable for tip-up fishing but for hole hopping.

Cold Nation Outdoors Ice-Defense

At first glance it seemed stupid to me, kind of like the gill-o-tines. Over priced and not needed. But thinking back to hole-hopping this past weekend in single digit temps and negative wind-chill, I might give it some thought. I don't use skimmers or wear gloves so my hands take a beating in those cold temps. If this works as good as they claim, I could see it being worthwhile. The only thing more annoying than eyelets freezing up is your line getting caught in skim ice that forms so you can't sense those up-bites or light taps...