QFIII, the Berry and the Auger Sharpener...

[N.E.T.O.]

Cousin and I went to the Berry today.

The QuickFish III is AWESOME! A lot more room than the QFII, easy up, easy down, and doesn't weigh a lot more. With my Mr. Heater, it was very nice inside, even when it was -20 outside!

The StrikeMaster Lazer Ice Auger Blade Sharpener (See photo attached) worked awesome! My Mako now works like new. I still would have had new blades, but for the $6.99 at FishTech and since no blades are available, I'm happy about the investment. I'll probably touch up the blades after every trip from now on. Quick, easy, inexpensive and it worked! I highly recomend this to anyone. Note: The angle of the sharpener is not right, make sure you really are sharpening the EDGE of the blade...(my only complaint). We drilled more than 16 holes today (moved around a bit and had 3 others with us that were too lazy to use their own manual auger...) and it worked like new.

The fishing: Well, the Ladders has slowed waaaaaay down. From daylight till noon we had ONE fish on the ice. Then we moved around a while and decided to set up the shelter and fish till we recovered from our hike (from moving around) and then go home. Glad we made that decision, as around 1:30 the fishing was on fire! We caught 13 more fish in one hour (So thats a total of 14 for the day) and then the fishing shut down and we went home. One over the slot, one under, all the rest in the slot. No Rainbows.

How far is that island from the Ladders parking lot? We fished in 22 feet of water, about 50 yards from that island. Saw a lot of evidence of a "recent" fishing party there. We didn't have sleds or wheelers...all we had was our feet. It is a loooooong walk out there. Even though it was still below zero when we left, by the time we got to the parking lot we were sweating like we were in a sauna! Our sled is not light!

Randy
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[Old_Coot]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 2][#002850]NETO, Thanks for the report. Nothing like a bit of “field R&D”. In looking at a map, that island looks to be about 1.25-1.5 miles from the road depending on where you went.

Good to see you got some fish for all your very hard work. I am getting the impression that you are quite the die-hard fisherman.[/#002850][/font][/size]
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[Kent]

Randy, I have hiked to that island several times, including once already this year, and it is almost exactly 1 mile one way. That hike can be a challenge when there is snow on the ice that one has to pull the sled through.
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[Kent]

Randy, with all of that extra room in the Quick Fish 3, have you already scheduled your next overnighter at The Berry?
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[CROSSINEYES]

its a mile giver take a step or 1000. lol thats a fun walk.
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[N.E.T.O.]

Kent,
That's a big negatory on the overnighter plans! Although we did figure out a way to make it POSSIBLE to do an overnighter, it is definitely big enough. Instead of lawn chairs, LOUNGE chairs, one on each side. I might consider a very early morning-er, rather than an overnighter!
Randy
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[Flycasting]

I walked over to the island when I fished the ladders this year too.... It wasn't too tough when I was there, but there was no snow on the ice and I didn't have cleats at the time. That made it interesting. []
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]It is quite a walk out there, but for me, I think it's the walk back that would be the loooong one. [/size][/black]
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[size 3]Good review on the sharpener. That could save a buck or two.[/size]
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[Troll]

Thanks for the info on the sharpener NETO. As I looked at the pictures on the web and viewed a simular sharpener for knives at Cabelas I thought that matching the blade angle could be the weakness. It was good to hear that the sharpener worked though. I will get one for myself.

I think using it often is a good idea, I replace my blades every other year but a way to keep the edge dressed would be nice.
I'm also experimenting with an adapter to use my battery drill to power my auger and I think sharp like new blades will be important.
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[polokid]

[font "Arial"][red][size 3]A party of us fished the ladders facing side of the island on Sunday. It was slow slow slow there, so we headed over to Renegade. I used the qfIII this weekend and love how roomy they are. My only complaint is how alot of the fiberglass rods are starting to crack due to the stress and cold. I am thinking about seeing how much the Tent Man here in SLC will charge to convert them to aluminum.[/size][/red][/font]
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