Hagigun

I have had the Base Camp for 3 years. To answer some of your questions. 1) We do pop the top first, but at times it can be difficult to get leverage (Especially if you are short like you mentioned). You can do the sides, but it may end up breaking a pole. I did have 1 pole break just from ordinary use year 1. Clam customer service was AWESOME. They sent a new pole free of charge and were very helpful. It was a pain to get it back in, but we got it done. So if you do want to pop the sides first, just know that worst case a broken pole isn't the end of the world. 2) The Ice anchors are pretty garbage. My buddy has the Eskimo 6 person pop up and his anchors work way better. If you have issues screwing them into the ice, pour a bit of water on the ice. That helps me get it to start screwing in. You can pack snow on the skirt...if you do this be careful if the snow is slushy ice from recently drilled homes. It can freeze up and stick the shack to the ice for prolonged exposure. Before you take the shack down, be sure to go around your skirt and break up any ice. We pulled it without doing this and ripped part of the skirt. As for the ropes, yeah they are not that easy to deal with or designed all that well. Just do your best to tie it off. I usually take my other sled style shack it is real windy, so snow pack is usually all I use to keep it down. Anchors occasionally. I also set my auger on the skirt just for some extra weight to keep it down. 3) The bag! Oh don;t get me started. The bag gets cold, the shack is icy and wet when you try and pack it up. The zipper sticks...Horrible design. Like I said, my buddy has the Eskimo 6 man hub. His bag had a drawstring type top. I bought that bag off the Eskimo site...best decision ever. It goes in so much easier. The shack is way bigger when you try and put it away due to the cold and rigidity of the material. This Eskimo bag is the ticket. Works like a charm. $25 maybe I paid. Hope that helps.

Last year I went there with my girlfriend to meet up with some of her friends in an Ice fishing tourney. I had hardly ever ice fished and wasnt all that into it. This year, different story! I have all the gear now, auger, vex, shack, 3 poles, jigs, lures, etc. It's my new winter hobby. Anyways, we are going back and will probably fish Lake of the Pines again or Conners on Friday and Saturday. Has anyone had any luck or know some decent spots to try? It's a small little tourney that they do. All species count, so Pike, Walleye, Crappie, Bluegill, etc. I usually target Walleye, but obviously harder to catch, so I'm open to tip-up for Pike and jig for Panfish as well. Not looking for a secret spot or anything. Maybe just start with, which lake is better do you think? I was able to pull some lake depth maps and start analyzing those, so it's a start, but any help would be appreciated. If you want to join the event, i believe it's put on by the Flambeau Inn so call on down if you want to participate. The tourney is Saturday the 26th sunrise to 6pm I think. Real small event so you can use shacks and stuff. Few nice prizes, but more just for fun. Then drinks and dinner back at the Bar. It was a great time last year and I hardly fished. This year hopefully get at least 1 fish! Thanks in advance.