HArd Water show in Blaine... Best Ideas?

[dfv87]

I love ICe shows... the best part for me is seeing the new inovations of guys that came up with those "Why didn't I think of that?" ideas... so my top ones for the show are...

Bobber Stops... that clip on the line, thought this was old ideas but this really impressed me.

VEnom bobbers... weights for the bobbers, simple yet effective.

Saw the inline reels that you put the line spool right inside it, awesome idea, wasn't sold on the plastic materials but loved the idea.

rod holders... there were 2 that caught our attention, one was simple wire ring and the other was the clip on the pole type, both of which I felt had serious potential. Neither is "new" idea but they had good execution.

Jiffy made the changes on their Propane augers so now you can lay them down anyway you want except on their head... and the oil doesn't drain.

Frabill has a new bag/handwarmer/belt/tool holder, was really nice.

I had not seen the new inline reels that have gearing, I like the inline concept but a 1 to 1 gear is tough unless you are fishing shallow. Now with 22" to 1 turn gearing you can use reels in any depth.

MAny others that turned our heads but those were the ones that stuck with me...

Your thoughts?

[Coldwater Crappie Guy]

I bought the bobber stops . What a great idea.

[DTro]

Just a word of warning on the bobber stops. If it is the football shaped plastic ones that snap together like a clam shell, you might be disappointed. I also thought it was a great idea, however I came to find out that when reeling in, the stop will not pass around the roller bearing of smaller ice fishing reels, so what happens is that they get jammed up and slide down the line. This might not happen with all reels, but I’m not able to use the stops on my Abu 100’s. Bigger reels they will probably work fine. I bought mine a couple of years ago, and then last year I approached the guy at the booth with the problem I had and he acknowledged this was a problem and they didn’t have a solution so I chalked up to another 5 dollar lesson learned.

[Naturboy]

I really wanted to go but picked up a 8lb grandson instead. I really like the new ideas too so I'll have to make the Saint Paul show for sure. So I guess it's still the string for a bobber stop. The hand warmer bag by Frabil sounds like a good idea to me when hole hopping.

[Northlander]

Just a word of warning on the bobber stops. If it is the football shaped plastic ones that snap together like a clam shell, you might be disappointed. I also thought it was a great idea, however I came to find out that when reeling in, the stop will not pass around the roller bearing of smaller ice fishing reels, so what happens is that they get jammed up and slide down the line. This might not happen with all reels, but I’m not able to use the stops on my Abu 100’s. Bigger reels they will probably work fine. I bought mine a couple of years ago, and then last year I approached the guy at the booth with the problem I had and he acknowledged this was a problem and they didn’t have a solution so I chalked up to another 5 dollar lesson learned.

Yup me too. No issue on my bigger spinning reels or baitcaster but mt 750 and 500's I do.

[dfv87]

Thanks for the warning on the stops... he did not disclose that fact... he stated they would slide through the reel easily. Huh, we will see. It was only $5 to see if they work. I am changing over to inline reels anyway after what I saw of the new geared ones. so hopefully they work on those.

As I think about it also...

CLAM has a new jig (Dingle Drop) that looked awesome. Tungsten and had this small attractant dropper on their normal dropper jig. Gonna need to get me some of those.