Fishing isn’t just about finding and catching fish, its also important to maintain your equipment that allows you to enjoy it. For instance, we are just finishing up the hard-water season and with that comes a list of things to do to maintain and store that gear properly with care so that it can operate at peak performance and last for years to come.
For starters, your portable hub style ice shelter gets full of ice and snow from packing it in the bag. Your flip-over style ice shelter that is connected to the sleigh gets snow and water that melts and sits in the bottom along with your other fishing gear, therefore causing rust and damage to that equipment. Mold can occur in both styles of portable huts. Pick a nice sunny warm day and open up your hut and clean everything out and dry it, check for damage that may need repair before next season. Tip, throw some fabric softener sheets in your shelter when you pack it up to help keep mice and rats from getting in it and as a bonus it leaves a nice smell when you open it up the following season.
Another important piece of gear is your ice auger, whether it be a gas auger or electric auger there are things to take care of. In a gas auger I find that running some seafoam through it to fog it out and leaving the gas tank full of gas with the a teaspoon of seafoam in it works wonders. Fifteen years of doing this I have never had a problem. If you have an electric auger, then battery storage is also important, try to store your lithium based batteries between 50% and 75% charge for best results and longevity.
So there you go, just a couple quick tips to keep you fishing and save you money and a few headaches along the way. Fish Cowboyz out!
