About the Author. Ryan MacGillivray is an avid outdoors person in Whitehorse Yukon Canada. He is the inventor of Yukon Expedition Sleds. These sleds are internationally recognized as being the longest lasting and most dependable sleds for hunters and fisher. Ryan is a hardcore hunter for himself and guiding others, spending average of 90 nights per season in hunting camps in remote locations from Aug 1 - March 31. When he is not hunting, he is fishing. He hunts and fishes with his young and growing family. Ryan also is a trophy lake trout fisherman, and he love targeting 40" + lake trout through the ice like the 43" one pictured above. Ryan LOVES winter hunting and fishing and is constantly looking for ways to make it more comfortable and enjoyable for all of his business’s loyal customers.
To choose the best sled for ice fishing you must consider multiple factors. Here is a list of things to consider before looking at sleds.
· how far will you travel on ice to go ice fishing? 1km or 10km makes a significant difference when dragging a sled by hand. For hikes longer than 1 km most people will prefer motorized transportation like a snowmobile or truck.
· Can you drive your truck on the lake? In some places people drive on the lake with their vehicles. This is safe in areas like maintained ice roads... but anywhere else can be very risky. Will your insurance cover your $100000 truck sinking? Then who will recover the vehicle after it breaks through? For places with low snowpack and ATV is a lighter option that's more likely to float and be easier to recover. For snow packed areas a snowmobile is the best choice.
· what will pull the sled? If you pull the sled by hand, then you need a sled just big enough to carry all your gear for the day 1 km to your fishing spot. If you pull by snowmobile, you can carry significantly more gear.
· how often will you fish? if you only want to do one ice fishing trip per year you may consider hiring a guide that will supply all the gear. It will be cheaper overall. Good gear is a big investment that will pay great dividends in fun over a lifetime... If you use it often.
· how many people will regularly go with you? solo fisher people can carry everything on their back for short ice fishing trips. Family with young kids need to be able to transport WAAAAY more gear. Warm tents, heaters, snacks, changes of clothing, games, play pens. Keep kids warm and fed and your day will go well. This type of setup is always better with a HUGE sled and a snowmobile to shuttle gear and people.
· will you camp on the ice? camping on ice is a wonderful way to catch gigantic fish. First thing in morning and last light produces the best fishing. Sleeping in a ice fishing hut is possible with a heater. For this a large tent like Vortex monster lodge is preferred. You can fit 3 cots strategically inside. For more than three people you need alternate accommodations. For best experience i suggest sleeping in a wall tent or Arctic Oven, keeping the fishing tent for just fishing. My experience is that its tricky sleeping in fishing tent and fishing if more than two people in MONSTER LODGE.
· how big of ice shelter will you use- if you’re a minimalist you can get by with a very small tent that can be pulled in a small sled by hand. I prefer insulated tents for 6 to 8 people even for 2 people because it gives to a place to put all your gear to keep from blowing away when left outside. Once you get the tent warmed up you don’t want to open door and cool off. Big tents require propane BIG BUDDY heaters with 20Lb propane tank and a propane extension hose. The 1 lb bottles heaters for are too small for a day of fishing and extremely costly. Warm ice fishing with big tents is always better with a big sled pulled by a skidoo.
· what type of vehicle do to transport your sled full of ice fishing gear? ATV is good for areas without snow, but they really lack traction and are bad for getting stuck. The lack of traction usually limit volume of cargo can be pulled. If pulling by ATV we prefer using a ATV trailer that performs better than a sled (toboggan) sleigh. Our preferred machine to tow ice fishing gear is snowmobile. The type of skidoo depends on how big of sled its pulling, the distance traveled, and how much slush/ overflow, they will encounter while travelling. My FAVORITE snowmobile for HARDCORE ice fishing with HUGE loads of fishing gear where we regularly encounter slush is a Skidoo Skandic or Skidoo Expedition WT (wide track 20") or SWT (super wide track 24") These skidoos perform best in slush with a studded track and extra wide ski skins. For engine selection the best will be 900 ace or 600 ETEC. Other engines lack a bit of power when bogged down in slush pulling a load.
· do you have a trailer and how big is it? selecting a sled also depends on how you transport it. The biggest sleds are too heavy to lift by one person. The best way to transport a big sled is with a trailer with 20ft + foot length that allows fully loaded sleds to be pulled in and out while being fully loaded. If a person has a smaller trailer the sled will need cargo to be unpacked before lifting on trailer. If a person uses a Sled Deck they need a sled that will fit under sled deck. If a person has a short, enclosed trailer its best to be 7 feet + wide to fit a sled beside the snowmobile.
· do you have any other activities that can use a sled? People who ice fish also enjoy winter camping, trapping, and hunting. People who can use sleds for multiple adventures must consider all the gear required for each trip.
· where will you store the sled in the off season? big sleds require big storage solutions. People store big sleds under their house, in sheds, enclosed trailers. At the very least big sleds should be wrapped up in a double layer tarp and stored in a place that gets no sunlight. Sunlight wrecks all plastic sleds over time.
· are you a person who will go to the same place every time? if you go to the same place every time you can use a much smaller sled and do multiple trips. You may consider leaving a shelter set up for the season.
· do you want to try various places? if you are always searching for new places to fish then you need much more gear. You need gear to prepare for all emergencies. Some of the most common risks are, getting stuck in slush, breaking through ice, machine breaking down, getting lost, running out of fuel, your partners snowmobile breaking down. To manage these risks, it requires allot of gear to manage all these risks. Allot of gear requires a big sled like the 9.5ft Yukon Expedition Sled or 9.5 Yukon Responder Sled. These big sleds need big snowmobiles to have enough traction to pull. The best sled for this is a Skidoo Skandic or Skidoo Expedition with 900 ace engine and a studded track with extra wide ski skins. These sleds can pull the biggest loads and easily get 100 km range per 20 Liters of fuel pulling a loaded sled in most terrain. This incredible fuel economy means that less fuel containers are needed. This frees up more cargo in the sled.
· are you a trophy fisher? trophy fisherman requires a TON of gear and are encouraged to use the biggest sleds like the Yukon Responder. The reason is the high sides keep everything from falling out. Just throw it in and go. Trophy fisherman should seriously consider the new Yukon Expedition Sled fishing box that is set up hold the most valuable gear such as ice auger, ice scoop, pan optic, fishing rods, shovel, panoptic rod, axe, chainsaw. etc. Purchasing this box will prevent gear from rattling apart in the sled when travelling in rough terrain.
· are you fishing for exercise? towing an UHMW style pulk from Yukon Expedition Sleds with a harness and poles will allow you to tow with skis or snowshoes. The poles keep the sled from running you over when going down hill.
· how thick is the ice? Thickness of ice will determine how much weight you want to carry. Its a good rule to say off ice with snowmobile until 6" of clear ice without snow covering. The more ice the better. Always check before proceeding.
· will you use a hand auger or a power auger? hand augers are fine for ice up to 2 feet. They are a physical challenge that is particularly hard on your shoulders. They also limit how many holes you can make. Fish are less active in the winter and to be successful your may have to drill lots of holes to find an area that holds fish. Electric/ Gas/ and propane fueled augers are all good choices for hunting for fish. These are heavy, bulky, and best pulled by a skidoo... or supported on a bracket on a snowmobile. Yukon Expedition Sleds has a box that holds ice augers securely on snowmobiles.
· are there established packed trails, or do you make trails? packed trails make travel easy and almost any skidoo will work for this application. Travelling on unfamiliar terrain is way riskier and demands a good utility type snowmobile like the Skidoo Tundra, Skidoo Expedition, Skidoo Skandic. These machines are engineered specially for breaking trail pulling loaded sleds.
· what is the average temperature where you plan to fish? when fishing in warm temps above -20 deg Celsius people can get away with moulded plastic and fiberglass sleds that are very cost effective. For temperatures below -20 degrees Celsius we highly recommend a sled made from UHMW plastic. The reason is that UHMW stays flexible down to -107 degrees. This flexible nature of the material means it wont crack when impacting trees, rocks, hard ice etc. The durable nature of material also means that it wont wear out fast when dragged over rocks and sand. UHMW last 13x longer than steel plate the same thickness when dragged over rocks and sand. Yukon Expedition Sleds make all their sleds from UHMW for ultimate cold weather performance.
Once you answer these questions then you can start planning for success.
Here are some Yukon Expedition Sled recommendations for each type of ice fisher person.
· solo ice fisher traveling less than 1 km who is doing it because they want exercise. = a 5 ft pulk made by Yukon Expedition Sleds could fit into the back of an SUV and has enough volume to carry a 2-person ice fishing hut, a small heater, and auger. Personal gear can be carried in a backpack. This sled can be pulled by a cross-county ski harness with poles or with a long rope. Cost $350
· Ice fishing enthusiast who likes to explore places who already has a skidoo. They like to day trip for ice fishing. They have a power auger and no tent or heater. The best set up would be a UHMW Yukon Expedition Sled Ice fishing box with ice auger holder, shovel holder, ice scoop holder, and rod holder, with quick release mount. The benefit of not having a sled is that no trailer is needed to transport gear. And gear doesn’t get vibrated apart pulling in a sled.
· Ice fisherman who likes to explore and bring a 4-person hot tent. The Yukon Expedition Sled Ice Fishing Box with quick detach base will hold all the fragile gear. And a 5.5 ft Yukon sled will hold the tent, heater, chairs, cooler etc. The Yukon Expedition Sled Ice Fishing Box for all the fragile gear. And for a warm camp the 9.5 Yukon Expedition Sled or 9.5 Yukon Responder would give you all the volume needed for a weeklong winter camping trip. The big sleds require big trailers to transport. The 2 ideal sized trailer are 7ft x 14 ft enclosed trailer for 1 Skandic snowmobile and 1 Yukon Expedition Sled. A better option for 2 snowmobiles with 2 Yukon Expedition Sleds is a Snowmobile trailer with deck over wheels 8.5 ft wide and length 20ft +. If you must use smaller trailer, we recommend using our 7.5 ft or 5.5 ft sled options.
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