What To Look For In A Permanent Ice Fishing House

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Ice fishing is a great way to make the best of the cold winter months and still spend time engaged in outdoor activities. To go ice fishing, all you have to do is wait until the ice on your favorite lake is sufficiently thick to hold your car, drive out onto the ice, drill a hole, and catch fish through it. Ice fishing expeditions are usually long, lasting from a few hours to a few days, so most people bring some kind of shelter with them in order to stay out of the cold while they weight for the fish to bite.

These shelters range from small, collapsible, tent-like structures called shanties, generally considered best for easy transportation, to heavier, more substantial, permanent ice fishing houses, which can be more comfortable but are almost always more difficult to move around and set up. If you own a trailer or large truck with enough room, it may be in your interest to use a permanent ice fishing house over a collapsible ice fishing shanty. Assuming you decide to get one of your own, what you should look for in a permanent ice fishing house depends on a number of conditions.

The first thing to consider before you get a permanent ice fishing house is how much you want to spend. If you have a low budget and plenty of time on your hands, an alternative to buying an ice fishing house is to build your own. For the most basic home made design, you start with a square or rectangular wooden frame, use plywood for the sides and top, and use either a flap of weather resistant fabric or a hinged wooden door as an entryway. If you do not have time to build your own ice fishing house, there are commercially available options for you to rent or purchase.

If you have determined that you are going to buy a permanent ice fishing house, the next thing for you to consider is how many people you usually bring along with you when you go ice fishing. It is unreasonable to spend extravagantly on an ice fishing house if you do most of your ice fishing alone, but it is also undesirable to save money on a small ice fishing house and have to spend hours cramped in an uncomfortably small space with many friends. Large ice fishing houses also take longer and require more energy to heat up, which is another reason not to buy an ice fishing house that is bigger than your needs dictate.
The final consideration you need to make before you buy a permanent ice fishing house is portability. Because they are heavier and do not collapse into a much smaller sled, all permanent ice houses are significantly less portable than collapsible ice shanties, but of the permanent ice fishing houses, the smaller and lighter designs are easier to move around. Obviously, an ice fishing house with more room and other luxuries will require more materials to build, so if you only have a small truck or want to carry a large load of other modern ice fishing gear, a small and simple ice fishing house is probably best for you.