Have a idea. For ice fishing holes......................................

[mr fishfry]

Hello People,,,Had a idea on keeping ice holes free of ice in a shelter...seems like everyone has a battery in their house. Has anyone ever try to use a fish tank heater? I donnot think they would use to much battery power & I think they would keep the surface water warm so they would not freeze. If anyone tries this, would you please tell me if this works. Thank-you...mr fishfry...

[Gissert]

Interesting.

I think most, if not all, fish tank heaters operate on 115 volt ac power. You would need to have an inverter to change the DC to AC, or bring a generator.

I think a DC type unit, if available, would need a fair amount of current to generate any appreciable heat.

[fishermn]

Thats the basic problem... It would require too much energy to heat any appreciable amount of water. You woulnt have adequate battery life to do this and have battery life left for running lights etc...

[nofishfisherman]

Yeah I think its much easier to just stick the old ice scooper in the hole once in a while and give it a skimming.

[GatorBait]

FM Sponsor FishHouseSupply has a ice hole warmer that looks fairly convienent. It has a clip for you vex/marcum cable so when a fish is on, one pull brings the warmer and transducer up. Just a thought for yall as this issue has been brought up a few times already.

[Jigging Bob]

I just went to radio shack and bought some computer fans and mounted them high in the shack facing down towards the holes on the opposite ends of the house. I ran speaker wire down to the battery and put small gator clips on the end to hook on the battery. I then hooked this to a switch. When on they cause a miny tornado in the fish house. Keeping that warm air down on the floor and moving around. This is quiet, cheap and it barely uses any battery power. Made a noticable difference.

[Northlander]

Just use a bibbler from your minnows.