Testing the new Ice Hut...

First fish of the year? Well my ?fishing? year has started off slow but at least it?s started. I have finally hit the water, hard water that is. Wanting to test out some of the fishing gear I got this holiday. I finally took out the Clam Nanook I scored to put it through the paces. What better place to do this at than South Park.
I met my buddy at the lake around 7am and started dragging the sled to the spot. It did well over the snow but I don?t have much heavy equipment like a big gas auger to weigh it down. Setup was pretty simple, hop in the seat, pull the top over, and extend the poles. Put the rear pole in to support the rear braces. Setup complete, so easy a caveman could do it.

The shelter was very comfortable and has a lot of room, more than enough for two anglers. I was really surprised by this. Fishing by myself I kept switching chairs and lounging about trying to take up room. I?ve ice fished a lot in the past but always without a hut and I usually did pretty well. But the advantage of the hut was very obvious to me. Set up over 18 foot of water and being able to see clearly to the bottom as soon as the hut was pulled over the hole was awesome. Watching the fish come in and take your jig improved hookups greatly. On top of all that you are fishing out of the wind and warm if you are running a heater.
There were a few things that I thought could make this shelter a little better. The Velcro on the windows are just in the two corners instead of all the way around the window. This allows a little more light in then I would like but not too much that it affects the fishing. Also the chairs don?t recline, boy that would be nice. LOL. Other than that I would highly recommend the Clam Nanook for those looking for a 2 person shelter. For the first trip of the year I did fairly well landing 15 fish, multiple LDR?s and even a few misses. Good times!