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Thanks for the comments Dusty! I’ve seen the Eze drill model in stores and it’s definitely interesting, especially when they go on sale. I will have to keep an eye out for one next season.

@@stringtheoryangling I bought the Jiffy torch 10 inch for drilling holes in a hardwall shack. We catch alot of big walleye so the ten inch hole is a must to get big fish. You can usually get a milwaukee fuel hammer drill 1400inch pound drill on sale on the Jungle site for around 150 and a 6 amp battery which you can also get for around 150 on sale. The torch really works the drill hard i can only get about 12 holes in 30 inches of ice on one charge because the chipper blades are so aggressive. The woods eze drill uses shaver blades similar to a hand auger which are really easy on drills and you can quadruple the amount of holes you get on one charge. If i was to do it over i think I would order the ion alpha 10 inch composite flyte and put it on a milwaukee drill. In my opinion the a drill is an advantage over a dedicated electric auger because they are cheaper to replace batteries are cheaper and they are lighter and drill slightly faster. Sorry for the rant take care👍

The blades are new on both and sharp as can be. It’s as fair a fight as I could do for ya!

That Eskimo looks like a Fantastic Auger. I like the Variable speed trigger idea.👍

@@dusty1498 the variable trigger could be useful in a shack or reopening old holes but I really didn’t utilize it this season. WOT all the way! The auger is fantastic though, by far the smoothest auger I’ve ever used. Thanks for the comment Dusty!

Thanks! The E40 is pretty fast!

@stringtheoryangling yeah I got the strike master light flyt this year in 8" and what a difference from the gas 10"

Depends on the day! In this video I’m on the Old Town Sportsman 120 paddle. My other kayak (the battleship) is the Bigwater PDL.

Thanks for the great comment! Quite honestly, the trout bite is so slow this time of year I usually fish for something else! There are good days to be had though. I usually fish a little deeper, targeting 12-15 ft and next to deep water with my bait suspended about two feet off the bottom. Star lake has some of the most skittish trout I have ever seen. You're lucky to even see one! To have luck there I would put a suspended bait at least 20 feet away from you on a jawjacker and try to be as quiet as possible. Hopefully they come around and bite. Good luck out there!

I think both the Marcum and AquaVu cameras suffer from what you described. I agree, the Aqua Vu camera does seem slightly more robust due to the water intrusion in the Marcum and I do like the adjustable camera angle on the AV. And yes, picture quality is comparable.

Also the cable is well protected by the camera angle position device. The cable doesn’t kink at right angles and therefore the sheathing should not crack at camera intrusion

There's plenty of trout lakes to dip your kayak in up here! I'd love to spend more time down south slingin bugs in those gorgeous creeks though! It would be hard to want to do anything else living so close to the mountains and the Bow.

Thanks for the comment!

Thanks!

So far so good! I have been pulling it by hand so not much experience towing it behind anything. The sled plastic is surprisingly durable and hasn’t shown any signs of cracks or pulling through the plastic. If I was doing some serious towing behind a sled or atv I would add backing plates for security but I’m not sure it’s really needed. I have a track sled this season that I would like to take out if we get any snow! It’s a brown Christmas here in Alberta!

@@stringtheoryangling Well I hope you enjoy your season! We are still waiting on ice in northern Pennsylvania, also no snow but plenty of RAIN is our new December pattern LOL. I think im about ready to scoot further north, if its gonna be COLD I need some snow and ice a little longer than we've been seeing around here!

Come on North! There’s plenty of ice up here, 10” on most lakes around here now plus no snow! Great for playing hockey on the lake.

Thanks for the comment! I always used to target the very edge of the weeds thinking that’s where the traffic would be. Eventually I figured out that during early season the big trout were over top or even rooting through the weeds in pretty shallow water. Of course this is early season only. Now that we’ve had ice for a few weeks those weeds have already started to die and the trout have moved deeper. I’ve been using inexpensive fibreglass rods for my jawjacker. I have a couple fish eagle combos from cabelas that work well. I also have some fenwick hmg rods that are carbon moderate action that have held up as well!

Glad it was helpful! I was out this past weekend and the weeds were already starting to turn brown. Almost time to move deep for trout. We should definitely meet up sometime!

@@stringtheoryangling oh wow that’s fast! I’m heading out tomorrow and planning on having a massive sight fishing hole- here’s to hoping they are still in shallow 🤞🏻. Let’s do a vid!

Thanks! Hope you found it helpful!

Good luck to you too! I hope there was enough info that you could get on em!

I’ve noticed that it slows down too, especially as the season goes on. But now there’s Prussian carp so we can go nuts catching those instead of perch!

Appreciate it, bud!

Thanks a lot! You think you might build one?

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks 👍

Thanks 👍

That distance is pushing it for active target but I think you could expect pretty good performance with down imaging. Using 800khz down imaging cone angle in 150 feet of water you should be viewing 125’ of ground below your boat. If you switch to a lower frequency, like 455khz, you will get even greater coverage (230 feet) of bottom but at less detail. Since you are looking for something that big, 455 kHz will get you close, then you can switch to 800 kHz for better detail on your second pass. Thanks for the comment!

There’s nothing like big pike!

Sounds like we should get out there again before the ice sets in!

Appreciate it!

You offer some good advice. I could have sped up the fight but I had already lost two fish that morning from trying to horse them in, I was being cautious. It's definitely recommended that you reduce the amount of handling time and keep the fish in the water until you are ready for your photo or measurement. Thanks for the comment.

It sure is! They fight well and eat readily as well. One of my favourite fish to catch these days.

One of a few features I think! I can shut off my sidescan transducer and the interference goes away but then I’m not mapping the bottom anymore!

@@stringtheoryangling with garmin I can still map without interference

You could always join our group and then you will for sure bump into us! Group link here: facebook.com/groups/498620751727526/?ref=share_group_link

Thanks! So far it’s been good! I was out last week and use it for about 5 hours and the battery meter only dropped 4%. I can’t remember the voltage off hand but I will pay attention next time.

Thanks bud! I really wanted to spring for the active target 2 but it’s hard to argue with a good sale.

Good question. I fully extended the pole to the stop indicators and it measures about 42” from the top of the pole to the transducer mounting hole. I think that should be long enough for boat use. It does feel a little flimsy at that length, I don’t think I would keep it in the water while trolling though.

@@stringtheoryangling thanks for the info.

There’s always fall trout fishing!

Thanks 👍. Lucky we have such quality lakes around us!

Thanks! Will do!

Here it is! Thanks for asking. facebook.com/groups/498620751727526/?ref=share_group_link

Sorry I missed your comment! I’ve been using the Aqua Vu revolution for the last two seasons and I really enjoy it. It’s still not HD but the pocket-ability is really nice. For a larger screen it’s hard to beat the Aqua Vu lineup with the accessories they offer, such as the trolling fin for open water. The bigger Aqua Vu camera also has more options for viewing angles on the fin. Marcum’s manta ray camera only offers horizontal or vertical for viewing angles.

Thanks!

I am currently working on a hardware kit if there’s interest.

Yes there is interest in a kit. It's concerning that you took 9 months to answer

Sorry, Jim. I’m learning that not all comments get notifications and sometimes they just get lost. Keep an eye on the website for kits, I’m working on integrating a shop function but it’s not easy for someone new to programming!

I have a retired guy in Plymouth MN. That does metal fab.

@@lanningjw That’s great!

Yeah, I regret going so heavy on the music! It was one of my first videos! I’ll do an update of the collapsible smitty sled this season and go through it in more detail.

Check out the article on the collapsible smitty sled that’s on my website, it has all the info you are looking for. Thanks for the comment!

Thanks for the comment! Sometimes they just don’t want to hang around lol

I sometimes have to chip away larger chunks with my ice scoop but there’s enough clearance in the tubes that ice will break away when you collapse them. It was only a problem once when I sprayed the legs with water from drilling holes to close to the shelter!

Unfortunately due to the variability of each sled and ski combination it would be very difficult to put together a kit to sell. I don't have anything available for sale right now but maybe in the future!

I am looking into putting a hardware kit together for sale. Check back on the website soon!

The screen fogging up is a tough one to deal with. I do have a couple of tips that seem to help. What I do is I bring my camera inside the house to warm up and dry out after every trip. Once it’s dry I send it back into the garage to acclimatize to the cold again. I find going from hot to cold a bunch of times causes moisture to build up in the screen. Also when in the shack if the heat is up too high the screen will fog up too so I keep it on the ice surface where it’s a bit cooler. I have the same issue with camera lenses too. It’s not the screens fault, just the cold and moisture in the air.

@@stringtheoryangling awesome, thanks for the tips! Makes sense, going from warm to cold and back.

I dragged my 2600 maybe 50' before deciding to put some skis on it! They are way too heavy to haul without it.

Hi, I bought mine from Grainger Supply, which is a Canadian distributor of industrial supplies. If you are in the US, you could also order from McMaster Carr. There are links to both on my website, which is linked here: www.stringtheoryangling.ca/the-collapsible-smitty-sled/

I think in an outdoor use scenario, especially with water quality, you are probably right but, thanks to smartphones and tablets, we are conditioned to much higher resolution screens (at least I am). The future will all be HD screens, AquaVu even reduced its SD lineup for this season.

Thanks for checking out the video! I'm starting to lean towards less music too. As I create more video content, I am starting to develop my style. In the future I think I'll ease off the music and see where it takes us!

Nice! When you do, send me a picture! Love to see other anglers setups.