The clam pop ups

[coryusmc]

I'm wondering how many people are using pop ups and what you think? And if people have made floors for them?

[mr_jman]

By pop ups do you mean flip over styles like Genz Traps, or suitcase styles like the Clam 5600 or 6800? I have a Fish Trap Pro and love to use it on early ice, or when i'm going to move around a lot, or if its windy. I like being able to drill holes in different areas to find what works best. I haven't made a floor because I have different hole locations depending on what I have along. The only drawback is that it takes a larger heater to stay warm and your feet may still get cold if you don't have a good pair of boots. Overall I love my Genz Trap.

If your talking about the suitcase style ones someone else will hopefully chime in. I'm looking to get a 5600 but don't have mine yet.

[NCLaker]

Clam sells pop up shacks (hub) that come with integrated floors.

[randyfaas]

Try a search for hub shelters.

[icefishing21]

My dad has a ground blind for deer hunting but its made the same exact way as the hub fish houses and those things are nice! they setup/collapse really well. and they are great on the wallet! I dont own one because i love my frabil flipover but they look like they are well worth the money!

[YellowOtter1]

I have a clam 5600 and it is a real pain to portable fish with. Nice to fish in cuz of the floor, but being portable for quick moves it is not. I wouldn't recommend this house for runnin and gunning trying to find fish, but if you just want to go to a regular spot and stay then yes. And its really not very fun to pull, any snow on the ice and you might as well set up at the landing if your pulling it by hand.

[sodajerk]

I have a Fish Trap Pro and it's a great one-man flip-over. It pulls easy by hand, is just big enough to haul the gear I need to haul, and set up and take down is a snap.

Drawbacks are, you have to bend over pretty far to get inside the door, which can be a chore when you're all loaded down with Ice Armor and have a bad back like me. You're feet are on the ice all the time too, which means a good pair of boots is needed, or you'll have cold feet after a few hours. The walls frost up on really cold days too, when I run my Buddy heater inside it. I open it up in the garage when I get home and leave it sit there and air/dry out so that's not a big deal.

Overall, for an easy to use portable for one guy, I like it a lot.

[Ed Carlson]

A few tips to make the use of the open floor Hub Style Pop-Up Ice Shacks more comfortable is to carry a set of rubber truck floor mats. Use them to put your feet on and to place the heater on. You will gain some relief from the cold getting to your feet and the heater on one limits the humidity generated by reflecting the heat up and away as this will eliminate the slop puddle near the heater.

The fan in the shack trick is very helpful in the Hubs as well. By circulating the air from the top to the bottom you lessen frost and the rain effect caused by condensation on the tarp.

New ice anchor options are on the market this season and they also will greatly speed up set up and provide greater security with a better seal to the ice than common ice screws can provide. You may wish to explore that option as well.

As for the triangular corner doorway access issues, that is a basic design deal on any Hub Shack, and is unavoidable to accomplish the no loose parts and fast set-up the hub system is designed for. We just need to practice it a bit, it is not too bad. The taller shacks tend to have larger doorways.

HT, Clam, Eskimo, and Frabill all have some very good Hub system Ice Shacks out. The new Frabill line of hubs have some of the nifty features they use in there top portables built into the Hubs, better Max-Vent venting, and heavy dark fabric to lessen light and draw in heat from the sun with nice windows and wide doorways. Lots of good options out for the Hubs now.