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Otter or Fish Trap??


fishing 101

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I am going to be buying either an Otter Large Resort, or a Fish Trap Voyager (or Yukon) I have not seen an Otter other than on the internet. Just checking with you guys that have done research or have first hand experience. Which do you prefer and why?

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101,

These are both good fold-over fish shelters. There are pro/cons of both. Otters are spendy, you have to buy everything seperate, sled, seats, etc. And it adds up quick, The fish trap the sled and seats come with it and are much more reasonably priced. The otter's sleds are heavier duty and are heavier so better if you are going to pull it behind a snowmobile. The fishtraps sleds are lighter and not as heavyduty, In my opinion if you are going to pull it around by hand go with the fishtrap, the Otter are way to heavy to pull around by hand. Both have hitchs available for towing behind snowmobiles. I have a fishtrap because I don't have a snowmobile and it work great. The new fishtrap Yukon it supposed to have a heavier duty sled for towing behind a snowmobile. Good luck AJ

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Otters are the cadillacs of portable fishhouses. My Lodge is by far the best portable I have ever owned, and I've owned a lot of portables. They are extremely strong and they can handle all the abuse you and Mother Nature can dish out. Fishing in high winds and miserable conditions is a breeze.

I would agree that Fish Traps are lightweight and more user friendly for pulling by hand and loading into a truck. Pulling behind a snowmobile or ATV is not a good idea, I've pulled friend's Fish Traps before.

But, if you have a snowmobile or ATV and want to be mobile, the Otter simply cannot be beat IMO.

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I will be pulling it behind an ATV. I just did a search, and everyone from last season seems to say the same thing you guys are. One question that I could not find, though, is which one has the bigger flap to keep the drafts out of the house. My uncle has a Voyager and he made a chain that is long enough to wrap around the house to keep weight on so ne snow is needed. What are your opinions to this? Right now, I am leaning towards the voyager, simply because of price. Which has the bigger sled? Thank you for all your responses.

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If you plan on pulling the portable with an ATV or snowmobile I would definitely get an Otter. The Otter sled is phenomenal and is very durable. The fabric of the Otter canvas is top-notch too. You will pay extra for an Otter but you will get what you pay for. As far as pulling around by hand, the Fish Trap is more lightweight. The new Fish Trap Yukon weighs about 88 pounds and the Otter Large Resort weighs about 95 pounds. The Otter sled however, is deeper.

I've fished out of an Otter Large Resort, Otter Medium Cabin and an Otter Magnum Lodge, and all three are excellent portable fish houses. I've also fished ou the the Fish Trap Voyager and its a nice portable as well. I haven't had a chance to use the Yukon yet but I have seen one and they look nice.

I've been using a Fish Trap Pro for the last couple years as a solo portable fish house, and I like it. But if I was going to buy a new 2 or 3 man flip-over I would go with either an Otter or Eskimo. The Otter will last longer than the Eskimo in my opinion, but the Eskimo is cheaper in price and you get a lot for what you pay for.

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

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  • we are 'the leading edge' HSO Creators

The voyageur is a nice unit and should be held in high esteem.

I had an Otter Lodge and there is no problem pulling it by hand or in snow. You have to remember your sled is loaded down with augers, buckets, etc and 7# is not going to make a big differance when it comes to pulling. I can't say for this year, but I can say I could pull the Otter just as easily as the Voyageur.

Where the Otter shines is it is durable. It is one tough baby and can perform multiple tasks.

The flaps will work great with your hold down snake. They extend out 5"-6". I've never had a problem banking it down.

Another plus is if you are going to tow it on the lake, the Otter is the obvious choice over the voyageur.

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Does any store in the Metro have the Otter sleds out yet? I was at Fleet Farm(Lakeville) and Gander Mountain(Forest Lake) in the past week. Can't find them yet. The wife wants to buy it for my B-day by Oct. 31.

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Gander in Lakeville had Fishtraps and Frabills set up. I agree with most statements above. I sold an Otter Magnum recently. I go out as soon as I feel somewhat safe and the Magnum was a bit of a chore to pull by hand as would be most larger shelters. I like the Fishtrap Yukon and the new design and features, but may still go with a Fishtrap Guide because of weight concerns. Larger space means more to heat, too. I like the size of the Guide, just wish they had all the nice changes that went into the Yukon. A great feature of the Otters is the removeable shelter from the tub for summer storage. Anyone know if that is a feature on the Fishtraps?

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Like Chuck said... "Otters are the cadillacs of portable fishhouses". I've fished both brands and like both, but the Otter is definitely in a class above.

Glad to see they are coming out with packages for this year - it will make it easier for the average consumer.

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I like the Wilderness "Northern" The question that I have about this unit, is the weight. Above everything was mentioned about the durability of the Otter over the Voyager. Has anyone seen these sleds? Are they durable enough to be pulled by an ATV. Thanks.

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I want to just add a little food for thought here which some of you may be missing out on and that is the gear you take with you ice fishing.

Alot of the previous discussion has been about the weight of the fish house. Weight is fine to talk about if we are pulling EMPTY houses around on the ice and lifting EMPTY houses in to the boxes or our pickups, SUVs, or cartops.

A couple of the benefits of using a tub-style, flip-over fish house is having the ability to haul your gear and quick & easy set-up and take-down.

Sounds like the majority of the previously mentioned houses are within 10-15 pounds of each other. Add a 20lb propane tank over a 5 or 10 pound, and a 3hp auger over a 2hp, and a case of something to drink and all of a sudden, we're talking about a lot of extra weight to be hauling around.

Rather than strictly basing your decision on who makes the lightest house, pick a house that best fits your needs and fishing style. If weight is a major factor, I would look at who makes the lighter houses and then also look at ways to cut weight out of the rest of your fishing gear too.

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first off you should ask yourself how you plan on moving this shack around............don't kid yourself, if you plan on dragging it around by hand.......4" off snow and you'll wish you had stayed home. so chances are good that you'll be towing it with something...........GET THE OTTER. i have buddies that have traps and in three years of moderate use there are many holes to show for it in the bottom of there shacks.

as far as the fabric goes...........otter is far better than the traps

have you tried to stand up in a yukon?.............i know i can stand up in my otter magnum lodge.... grin.gif

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I was in Gander Mtn. last week and the gentleman in fishing said they would have all of the houses set up on Nov 1st. If you can wait a day and check all of them out at the same time it would be worth it.

Thanks for starting this thread, I also am in the market for the same thing. I was leaning twards the fish trap, but with all of this info, I might be swaying to the otter.

Thanks guys.

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So is the what is the difference between the wilderness series and the "main" otter line-up? Is it just the fabric color and the fact that all of the proprietary gear is included? I'm WAS pretty set on the Otter II den; now I'm confused again tongue.gif.

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I've had the opportunity to sit in most ice houses and even used to sell them for scheels. My favorite portable ice houses are otter, polarsport, and fish traps in that order. I've also had the opportunity to fish a few ice team events. Most of the guys use ATVs to pull their equipment around in the ice team events. In this situation the fish trap is great because it is so light you can put it on the rear rack of an atv and only drag it when you have to. (auger mounts on the front atv rack are the way to go) I like the otter because of the new features they added last year. The new square pole design prevents them from binding and also the way they extend gives you much more room on the ice. The front door is great, and also the canvas is super strong and repairable. Another great innovation is the way the tarp attaches to the sled on the otters. They have a plastic rim that attaches to the canvas rather than a rope that holds the canvas to the sled. This is a giant advantage because the canvas will never go loose and drag on the ground when you pull behind a sled or atv. The second your canvas touches the ice at 15-25mph it is done, I'm speaking from experience. I like the 2 man houses in both the polarsport and otter. Trust me on this, anything bigger and you start to loose portability. The sleds in the 3 man or oversized versions get to be about 90lbs and then you can't even unload them yourself. The fish trap wins hands down in the portablilty factor because they are so light. My biggest complaint is in the wind with a fish trap. they don't seal out the wind like an otter or polarsport and you might be cool on a windy day. (don't forget the ice anchors with a fish trap on a windy day) Personally I'm pulling my polarsport icehouse a very narrow part of the season from the point where we have 6" of ice to diveable 12" is usually about a 3-4 weeks that you would rather pull. Most of the time I'm loading up in my suburban. The people who are set up to pull will have a huge advantage when we start to get a "real" minnesota winter again. Once we start to get normal snowfall the other guys will be stuck to the trails but the portable people can get to any area of the lake. I see the number of drop frame permanent icehouseses selling like crazy in my area. i wonder how happy they will be when we start to get snow again and they cant get them off the lakes like the late 90's. Just some thoughts.

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I've seen a number of the drop frame houses have to set up right on the plowed road and auger there holes there. confused.gif Lake of the Woods was so deep last year you could forget about getting off the road unless you had a snowmobile. ATVs were even useless for part of the winter.

Bring on the snow!!

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just another chunjk of info to throw at you, before you buy the others, take a look at a frabil also. i bought an xltwin last year and i absolutely love it!, the black ice armour fabric is touhg and heats up on sunny days. Also ice chunks do not freeze onto it at the end of the day. The seating is modular where you can position them wherever you want and have the option of removing a seat if you are going out by yourself. I know that otters have a thicker tub but,if you are worried about holes wearing through the bottom of your shack because of pulling it around too much, i would definatluy be putting some type of hyfax on the bottom no matter what brand/thickness of tub.(I glued a pair of older downhill skis to the bottom of mine whick keeps the tub about a half inch above the ice and doesnt wear out the tub. ) also no matter what brand you end up buying, be sure to invest in the travel cover right away if you are planning on pulling it behind a snowmobile/ atv. i have seen tubs that were literally full of snow because they forgot to put on their travel cover and took off like they normally did with it on.

hope this doesnt confuse you too much grin.gif

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