Ice house holes are freezing

[unclewhoo]

I have a permanent ice house. I have 9" sleeves inside my holes to help block out cold temps and wind, but the holes continue to freeze.

I have tried using fans to blow warm air which keeps the ice holes open, however, the blowing of air also blows the cool air up into the fish house.

Is there a better way to keep ice holes from freezing?

[Vitreus]

Do you bank it in with snow when you set up?

[Eric Wettschreck]

Set a couple of cans of water on your heater so it gets warm. Dump warm water down the hole from time to time. Works well for me.

Also, make sure you're good and banked up on the outside. It's cold out.

[EBass]

Candle?

[SDS]

Insulate the bottom of the ice house. Helps a little otherwise crank up the heat

[highlife4me]

You can try putting your recycled coffee and beer in the hole. Might even make the fish bite!

[Chad Holst]

I think alot of this has to do with how far off the ice a guy's house sits. The closer to the ice the better, for a few reasons. First, you dont have to crain neck over "the edge" to see things down the hole. You also dont have to have banana man arms to scoop fish out. But the nicest thing IMO is the hole wont freeze as easy, it will also take longer between trips to freeze over.

Like the other posters said, make sure you bank the house in well. If you are not fishing in a drop down house, and are sleeving it all the way from ice to floor, then make sure you use some sort of plastic or house wrap to keep the wind from blowing under the house. I have seen guys make "curtains" for the skirt, made from carpet that they hang on a jig of some kind (maybe button snaps?), when they get set up, then they bank the bottoms of that down.

Wind is the #1 thing to stop, then a layer of insulation from snow is the next step.

FYI, there are products that you can put in the hole that claim to be BIO-friendly. DONT use them, besides being terrible to have on your fishing gear and lures, they are illegal in MN.

If none of the above helps, you could always get a "slusher". This would get fresh "warmer" water in your hole from time to time, atleast this way it wont freeze up on you as quick, and the sides of you hole wont start to shrink as they freeze in from the sides. Fishmor makes them and they work GREAT. The bonus is you wont have to ever scoop ice out of the hole again, and you wont have to take the first cut shavings out in a bucket. If you have a perm, you should own one of these.

[natertater83]

I second sirlips, I have fished tournaments in the open before and if you take a metal coffee can with some coal in the bottom of it and put it by your hole it will stay open, but if your in the ice house you need to either insulate the bottom of the house more or get your house lowered.