Keeping holes open in permanent shack ?

[rascalP]

Does anyone have any good tips for keeping holes from freezing solid between trips out? I know alot depends on temp and how long between outings. Just looking for ways to minimize the ice and avoid redrilling if possible. I had thought about putting rigid insulation over the hole and a piece of carpet over that and leaving the floor covers off. Any tips are appreciated.

The perm goes out tomorrow

rascalP

[Guest]

Car antifreeze works well!!

[Guest]

Before anyone goes and starts throwing a fit, I would like to make it clear that what I wrote was intended to be funny. I was not serious nor do I condone such behavior!!

[Mankato-Ice-Man]

Several other posts talk about cutting the bottom out of buckets and lowering them down from your house to the holes to keep the breeze out and the heat from your house in. Not sure if that buys you more then a few extra hours, but around my parts it is hard to find snow to put around the house to keep the breeze off the holes, so the hollow pail idea might be the trick.
Good luck.

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Born to Fish, Forced to Work!

[Gadgetman]

Call Reeds in Walker and order "Hole Savers". They are yellow ballon type things that you blow up and shove down the hole. They make an 8" and a 10". I have been using them for years and they work great. There is also a minnow bucket that will attach to the bottom of the ballon to keep your minnows until the next trip. I live on a lake and leave my house out all the time and even after a week or more the holes are still good to go. Just be sure to put the right end down the hole in case the do happen to freeze in you can deflate them and chisel them out- only happens when the ice approaches 2+ feet.

[kooba]

Gadgetman, How much do these "Hole Savers" cost by chance? Are they expensive. I planned on using the pail idea also. But later on on my crappie hole The hole savers might be the ticket. KOOBA

[Guest]

I have the hole savers, they work great. But
if you get a hole in one is there any type of patch that will stick?

[minneman]

we also do the pails, I found this bubble wrap insulation with foil on both sides,wraped it around the outside of the pails, used some packing tape to make them fit nice, they are still seprate from the pails, and they do work great, we left the top part of the pail above the floor to stop stuff from rolling in the lake too, they pop right out if you do need to redrill.

[Gadgetman]

I think that they are about $8 per unit, and I have not been able to find anything that will stick to it for patching them. Any body else solve that problem?

[eyehunter]

I use the hollow 5 gal. pail trick. It works well both while you are fishing and if you make it out to the house every couple of days or so you can usually get by with a good chisel. One tip though, I keep the lids for the pails too, when I leave the house I snap the lids back on and it seems to help. Of course all of this depends on wheter or not you can bank your house good and how cold it gets at night. I can usually get by with only having to re-drill the holes every couple of weeks or so depending on the weather. The pails that a bakery gets their frosting in work great. This also gives you a nice clean tunnel down to the hole when you are fishing. One more thing, make the pails removeable so when you drill the holes you can remove them and then all of the slush goes under the house, then put the pail back down into the fresh slush and it will seal up good, skim out some of the remaining slush and you are ready to go. I can usually walk into my house and be fishing within 5 minutes. Hope this helps. Good luck fishing.