Tis the season for Ice Fishing and Open Water Fishing

[hovermn]

This is how I get to my favorit fishing spot around this time of year!

High Speed Video

Dialup Video

The videos were taken last year on Green in Chisago. I'm hoping to get out on the ice this Sunday to do the same, but I doubt that there will be any ice left! Chances are, ShawnnyB and I will be out reguardless on Chisago, Green or Linstrom.

[Rick]

Check the video out. It's pretty cool cruisng over ice onto open water

[fiskyknut]

Far out rig eh! Question...Iffin your engine conks out will it float?

fiskyknut

[norteastern]

That's pretty awesome, you can still do trolling without cutting a foot wide gap in the ice running a snowmobile along it!!

[hovermn]

"Oblio" has a composite hull made with fiberglass, kevlar and carbon fiber with a foam core. If the engines died, there is around 3500 lbs of positive floatation! The craft weighs around 950 lbs with 18 gals. of fuel on board and can seat 4-6 people. Last summer, I went out to a friends cabin and tied up to their pontoon in the middle of the lake. We swam for a few hours, then I fired it back up and in about 30 seconds the skirt drained out and I was cruising around 50 mph :-)

[fiskyknut]

Whats the story iffin the snow gets real deep? About what would that thing cost?

fiskyknut

[hovermn]

Snow depth isn't a factor. A few winters ago, a friend and I were out hovering on lake Pepin over 1' of powder. It flys right over it, only blowing off 1/4"-1/2" of snow. It was funny because I forgot about how deep the snow was, so when I stepped down out of the craft, I stumbled the first few times forgetting how deep it was as I sank down to the ice.

I designed and built Oblio a few years ago. Overall, if I were to sell the craft, which is something I'm thinking about doing sometime in the next year, the asking price would be around $10K. The great thing is, unlike a boat, I never have to put it away as the seasons change! Each season has it's own qualities.

I haven't fished out of it during the summer yet, but figured out that an electric trolling motor will mount perfectly on the side, so maybe if there isn't ice this Sunday, we'll have to try that out!

[Shawnny B]

You made the ice goaway!!! there only ice in the ponds behind Trappers now and on the north side of green Phoooey!!! Ohwell maybe we will have to go and play in the channel and see if the Walleyes are roaming yet =-)

[Matt Johnson]

I have to get one of those!!! It would take "first ice" to a whole new level

So, have you been out ice fishing yet? ...like say on about .5 of an inch?

Cool video, thanks for sharing!

[hovermn]

Matt,

Unfortunatly, my schedule hasn't allowed me to take it out for about a week now. So no, haven't ice fished yet this year, but .5" wouldn't be a problem! As I said in another post, Shawn and I were almost the first ones on the ice last year, but to get there, we either had to walk out from one spot on shore, or travel across open water holes and VERY thin ice. Of course, we chose the latter.

One thing that I was going to note for anyone considering a hovercraft. STAY AWAY FROM SCAT hovercraft! They're extremely noisy, small, unreliable and they have a nasty tendency to flip when traveling from water to ice, or even just while cruising on water. Their skirt system catches the edge of the ice and flips the craft over. I've talked to several search and rescue crews that had this happen to them. They promptly got rid of their craft! Bag skirts as found on most homebuilt craft as well as Oblio don't have "fingers" to catch, so they're resonably safe. They consist of one continuous "tube" going around the permeter.

This is a fishing forum, so I won't get into the technical aspects of hovercraft, but I want to say that I bring up the scat hovercraft problem to keep people safe. There's almost always one for sale on hsolist. Unlucky owners have learned of their nasty habbits the hard way. Please don't be tempted to go this route. If you're truely interested in a hovercraft, please email me and I will help you in any way possible! There's a lot of info that one should know before considering such a vehicle.

[ChuckN]

Incredible! Great video, that thing moves!!

[hovermn]

In the video, it's going around 20-25 mph. It's capable of 50-55 on water and 70 on ice! All from a little Geo metro engine :-)

Wow, I'm iching to get out this weekend!!