Portable Modification Recap and Pictures!!!

[Matt Johnson]

Yesterday was a very fun day! It's always nice getting the opportunity to meet and put a face with some of the names here on FM. And, it's always a pleasure seeing familiar faces and getting a chance to catch up on new stories

Even though we saw some rain yesterday for a good part of the day, we still held strong and had a great time! A lot of cool modifications were brought, either individually or attached to a fish house of some sort.

I would like to give a special thanks to the guys at Art Barbarians (www.artbarbarians.com. Chris and Adam were a huge part of the success, and they put in a lot of time to make sure things went smoothly. So, my hat goes off to Art Barbarians!

Another big thank you needs to go out to Eric Bjorlin for spending the entire day with us. Eric is a very well-known painter who paints ice fishing and fishing scenes. Eric was there all day roughing it with us, and he also donated a painting that we will be giving away for a future contest (one that will be released shortly and has to do with modifications ). So, thank you Eric!

Eric Bjorlin and Me by some of his paintings

I would also like to thank Rick and Paul Waldowski for roughing it through the rain and finishing the modifications on the new Otter fish house. It turned out sweet! Also to Rick's brother Pat and Rick's son Joe for helping out.

***Stay tuned... there will be a HotSpotOutdoors Show coming out soon with footage of the modifications being contructed

Another big thank you needs to go out to love to hunt (Ed) for the mighty fine food! Ed spent a lot of time over the grill preparing burgers and hotdogs for everyone, of which he was nice enough to donate the burgers for everyone! Very cool Ed, that was quite the treat for everyone!

Several other people brought food to share too... Paul Waldowski brought all the buns and chips, nytelyter brought some clam dip and some chips, people brought cookies, the guys at Art Barbarians brought a meat/cheese try, the list goes on and I'm sure I'm missing someone, so I apologize in advance.

So, thanks to everyone who made the trip out to Art Barbarians!!!

Now, some pictures from the event...

Art Barbarians!!!

The food!!! love to hunt is very talented on the grill!

The Portable Modification scenery...

No parking lot was safe from a portable yesterday

We even had ATV's and snowmobiles in attendance! We're ice fishing die hards, we go all out!

More pictures of modifications to follow...

[Matt Johnson]

Modification pictures…

Paul Waldowski

Kylersk

wolfman-k

nytelyter

[Matt Johnson]

Even the drop-down fish houses got in on the action…

LaZyDayZ

love to hunt

deepportage01

[Deitz Dittrich]

Man.. I hate it when I miss a good time!!! RATS!

Nice houses guys!!!

MJ, nice picts, thanks for sharing!

[Kylersk]

Thanks for posting Matt. As you can see, my kids used my house as a place to eat, and leave their garbage.

Was nice to meet everyone, just wish I could remember names and faces.

[lookin4fish]

i tried my best to get there but getting my parents pontoon boat away for the season keep me from doing so. thanks for posting pics. i have debated putting in the storage spots in my voyager, but with all the gear in it, it weighs so much as it is. i suspect adding the wood would make it real tuff to pull in the deep snow even with the sled. anyways...nice work. one good thing is that i saw a really cool ice fishing painting a few years ago on a persons wall, and i have look at alot of are stores for it and never found it. i say the picures of matt and eric and you mentioned he does ice fishing paintings, and now i now a location to find them!!! thanks again for shareing the even on the web and i look forward to seeing the video.

wade

[love to hunt]

Matt,

Thanks for the kind words and don't forget yourself. The guy who organized this event. It wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Thanks to all who helped and I can honestly say I could not have spent the day with a better group of people.

It was great to meet the folks on the other side of the computer.

I can't wait for upcoming events as I will be there.

[wolfman-k]

Matt, thanks for getting this event together, again. Rick & Paul, thanks for showing us some really good ideas for finishing our sleds, & thanks for the free tackle. Love-to-hunt, it was nice to meet you & see your great ideas for wheel-houses, impressive! What a great group of people who show up for these get-togethers. It was fun to meet some other ice-fishing fanatics who share a love of the outdoors as shown by the number of people who made it even in the dreary wet weather. Another thank you to Matt for helping me get my house into my truck, it's getting a little heavy!

[McGurk]

Great guys, great setup, great lunch; a little rain isn't a bother. After all, we are ICE fisherman, we should welcome it! Thanks for all of the ideas and the opportunity to meet a bunch of likeminded people. Hope to see you all again!

[so haaad]

Matt,

Thanks for organizing this event. Too bad I couldn't stay longer. I saw some great ideas that I will definitely try to incorporate into my house. Thank you to all of you who brought your shacks to share.

My shack went up in the garage yesterday, and my ice rods are now sitting in my living room!

[picksbigwagon]

I lowered my Ice house yesterday, took some measurements and the wheels are now turning. I have a voyager, and I am looking into putting a false floor in under the seats to hold things like propane tanks, tipups and snakors. Would have thought about doing this until at least February.....

I will take pictures to post when it is complete and while I am building it too....Of course I bring it along next year to the 3rd annual Portable modification get together.

[LaZyDayZ]

Just wanted to say thanks to all.

I had a great time and it was awesome to meet many of the people I visit with here often. I picked up some really good ideas for both my portable and wheel house. I look forward to meeting up with you guys on the ice.

[deepportage01]

Very cool pictures Matt!!! thank you all!!!

It's nice knowing I'm not the only ice freek out there,it's good to see we all had a good time.

can't wait untill next year!

[hovermn]

Thanks to Matt, Rick and Paul for putting on such a great show! As everyone else has said already, it was great putting faces to names. I had a great time, and didn't even mind the rain. In fact, I spent some time in a couple of the wheeled houses and got some great ideas for mine.

LTH, I'm always told that copying is the greatest form of flattery. You have one heck of a frame there, and I'm definately copying your suspension design!

See everyone on the ice! It's coming

[Captain B.R.K]

Great pictures Matt and thanks for sharing them and stories for those of us not able to attend!

IF I wasn't so stuck on being portable, those permanent houses sure look nice. Especially the house with the flat screen tv, the captain chairs and the aqua view on a swivel mount, very cool

[Sandmannd]

Hey Matt,

I like the pics. I'm not sure if you remember me, I'm they guy that wrote you last week. I had my kidney removed so wasn't able to make the trip. Sucked, cause I was looking forward to it for a few weeks. Anyway, do you have any more pics of the portable mods. I'm looking for ideas to do mine up this fall and so far what you have is very helpful, just looking for more ideas. If you or anyone else has anymore pics can you email them to me at [email protected] ? Thanks.

[Paul Waldowski]

Dude,

I'm hoping that you got everything worked out, both in surgery and with Matt. I was one of the guys that led the mod event. Should you have any ?, or run into probs, please let me know and we can work thru them together. I would be more than willing to help another member with the mod process

[harvey lee]

Looks like I missed another great day.Just maybe it will work out and I can make it next year.

Looks like another great job by the FM boys.

[dr_amx]

Where were you guys putting your augers in these pics? I wish I could have made it but I had to work. Is there any more pics of mods made to otters?

[Matt Johnson]

Augers are going on the ATV or snowmobile for most of the people who have the mods you saw. However, mods can be made to support an auger as well, and typically the auger will ride behind the seat in some way...

[Captain B.R.K]

dr_amx - I have the Fishtrap Scout and the auger lays right across the beams/rods that my seat slide back and forth on. I just lay it there and it doesn't go anywhere when I'm hole hopping.

I also have the Otter Cabin and the auger lies either underneath my benchseat or when I flip my house onto the sled, there is a dip in-between the seat and edge of the sled. The later works well for hole hopping and for longer hops, I put it under the bench.

[McGurk]

The LED tubes that paul used for his modifications aren't available at superbrightled anymore, so I think I found a place that does, along with many other applications and options. spectrumled.you-know-what

[kingkidfisher4431]

I have an Eskimo Quickflip 2 and was thinking on doing some mods to it and was wondering your alls opinion on my ideas... First ive had it for 1 year and know its tough to fish unorganized with everything awstrewed in the sled and second no lighting, having to use a head lamp... What i was thinking of doing is taking some rope lights and hanging them from 2 main beams connecting to a battery for lighting? Then for organization taking plywood for a base on my sled and cutting three holes in it... One for my rods and tackle, another for my bait bucket and a third for 5 lb tank and extra storage of miscellaneous stuff. Enclosing all the holes with plywood and making hinged lids... I guess my main question is how hard is something like this and how much time will i need to put into it for a decent job? Any input or recomendations would be greatly apreciated!

[prov1900]

I was wondering the same thing. I can answer that on my behalf...a long time...since I dont have any woodworking skills. If you are skilled, I wouldn't think it would take long at all. I could do about everything, I think, but the plywood. I dont possess that skill. The rest is your imagination. Sounds fun and want to do it for my Voyageur. As nice as that house is, it would be alot nicer with a platform in it. I think you can do about anything you want with the rope lights. You can make it as complicated or easy as you want. Good luck and if you take on this, post some pics so I can get some ideas as well.

[HarryG]

I agree with you that it is tough to fish when you are not organized. I like the mods that guy's have done. But remember you are the king of your shanty. Don't put lights in your house unless you fish a lot at night. I fish about an hour after sunset and then call it quits. I bought a good quality head lamp and that is all I need. I don't have plywood; I put in 2 milk crates and one 5 gal bucket. I strapped them to the side of my sled. I also put a flower planter in the nose of my sled to keep my rods in when going from one hole to the next. It is long ,thin and plastic. It looks like the otter utility box. I keep my rods in a case on longer trips and put them in the folds of my canvas when it is folded down. I think the plywood is a great idea, but there are other ways too. I think your idea will work as you know your sled. My Idea may not work on your sled. Just consider several options.

Good Luck!