perm or portable---and why?

[drakerebel]

i've been wondering what people's thoughts were on what they'd rather spear out of, a permanent fish house or portable?

and why for? mobility? ease? cost? tradition? size? have no clue? don't really care which?

[drakerebel]

one of the reasons for this thread is to have someone talk me out of building a perm shanty this year and wait til next year.

i have a nice portable but the creature comforts of a perm just sound so inviting.

[drakerebel]

also, anyone that has a mankato or canvascraft type portable...do you guys ever leave them out overnight?

i'd like to do so with a cheap suitcase style but wonder if any dinks have ever messed with or stole those types?

[Tyler Voss]

I only have a portable, but the main reason I like it is because of mobility. I have school so the only time I can really spear is on weekends and every weekend I like to switch lakes. I think a perm would be more of a hassle for me in that case. I wouldn't mind having both though and just leaving the perm on one lake all year! I've been considering building a crankdown spear house.

[merkman]

I only have portables.

I have an old northlander (8X8 suitcase style) that I leave out on the ice all season.

It is full of holes, patches, bent poles etc. I have a cover for it to provide more darkness and insulation when I am using it and bring the cover home with me when I am done for the day.

I leave it on a very small lake.

Several lake owners and others who fish/spear the same lake watch it for me when I am not there, I check on it almost every night.

I screw it down to the ice with lag screws under the carpet.

It has identifying marks on it in inconspicuous places, and many patches/holes in conspicuous places.

I leave nothing in it when I go and the windows uncovered.

I have taken photos of it for reference.

If it ever does go missing and I see it out on the lake or on the normal places people sell fish houses (on-line and in print) some day it will be easy to identify.

If I lived closer to urban areas or placed it on lakes with allot of traffic I would never leave it out overnight.

It is all about risk/reward if you don't have the money to build or buy a perm shack, if your portable looks so screwed up that most people wouldn't want it and if you can risk losing it; then leave it out.

Even with all the "precautions" I take it is still a huge risk to leave it out there all season.

But for me it is cheaper and easier than building and storing a perm house.

[drakerebel]

i appreciate the input, one of the reasons i thought that it'd be nice to have a shack already up is that it's on a "good spot" and not having to worry about another shack going up, or perhaps finding the same spot again (since it snows).

there's no way i'd leave my voyager out overnight unattended but i would perhaps a beat up ol mankato that, like you say, people wouldn't want to take it.

[bassNspear]

portable is where its all about!

[browning_gold]

I have both permanent and portable but if I had to choose it would be permanent for sure! It is so much easier to just chisel your hole open and be set up in 5-10 minutes compared to cutting holes all over..

[bassNspear]

not if you have a Fish Toys Saw! Pretty Slick!

[browning_gold]

got two!

[leech~~]

I like a Perm over a portable because I like the added cost, needing a bigger truck to pull it, paying more for gas to haul it, finding a place with a nice plowed road to fish with it, blocking and banking the c&$* out of it before I can start to fish, drilling holes and dumping slash all over in side, paying a lot more for gas to heat it, more fees to keep it on the lake all winter, the immobility of it, chilseling, unbanking & jacking it up when I want to move it, worrying if someone will break into it when I'm gone, paying or taking up the back yard to store it, fixing the leaking roof and fixing the mice damage every year, but other then those little things it makes a nice party house for all my buddies that have portys to come back to at night when their tried of running and gunning and pulling in fish all day! NOT I have two portys!

[Dabignorski]

them all sound like a good reason to use a perm over anything myself...

[merkman]

lol

[drakerebel]

Leech, that's funny.

Kenneth Dahl must like perms too

[bassNspear]

im just a huge fan of protable. Becuase i can move around and its not hard to do, and will pack up and move to next lake!

[drakerebel]

that's true, i aint got a big enough trailer to haul around a perm/4wheeler from lake to lake since i have an suv...so it makes it tough to "pick up and move" to a diff lake. it ends up requiring multiple trips (more hassle).

solution: both

[Gordie]

I like perms over poratables but I have both BTW if you build your perm light enough you wont need and wheeler to pull it and as a matter of fact I had a perm that I just recenlty departed with that was lighter that most portables out there and my other perm was on only 3 inches of ice at the start of the season last year.

both of my perms have steel runners under them that are removable once you get to the spot for spearing.

When I head north to spear I will use a protable because of the ease of transport.

I guess it all comes down to personal prefrence thats why I have both. I prefer both styles

[bassNspear]

it is personal preferance more then anything else! Its just like anything else!