Cold nation ice defense

Anyone have any experience with this? Looks interesting.

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Website didn’t work on my original post

wwww.coldnationoutdoors.com/

I was on Winnibigoshish last week fishing and came across a fella using one. We talked for about 10 minutes and it kept his hole clean in the cold temps. A few things I noticed was that it’s another thing to pull out of the hole with a big fish. Another is that it doesn’t seem to be very useful for someone who hole hops a lot. I drill a bunch of holes in an area that by the time I’m done I have to kick open my first holes, so I doubt it would work for me. I assume it would drain your battery that much faster.

I agree with Al. One more thing in the hole. I went minimalist years ago. I don’t like anything in the hole but my line. The transducer cable is a necessary evil. I take all the styrofoam floats off all the transducers I’ve ever had and mounted a swing arm for the transducer cable to go through with the rubber stop and get that big float out of the hole.

100 bucks , I think I’ll keep on trucking the way I’ve always done. If it was 2 for a 100 I would maybe just maybe think about it

Ya spendy for sure, if they we, you, somebody could come up something to keep holes open overnight in a shack would be great, not all of us have drop downs

I’m surprised one of the locator companies hasn’t figured out a way to make the transducer or the transducer cable heated. That alone may swing some shoppers, I know I would be interested in it. We have to have the ducer in anyways. Vexilar should make the foam float heated.

The cold nation device is likely a simple water mixer, moving the surface water with warmer sub-surface water.

An electric heating element would likely use a lot more energy to accomplish the same goal.

I didn’t think of the consumption part of it, but doesn’t the LX series use some type of heater for their screen?

al-wichman wrote:

I didn’t think of the consumption part of it, but doesn’t the LX series use some type of heater for their screen?

My Marcum Showdown has a hearer in the screen you can toggle on and off.

I just purchased one and used it at the Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza on Saturday and it worked great! It didn’t much of my battery either. The guy told me it should run for 3 days on a 9 amp battery. It’s very lightweight and does not take up much room in the hole next to the transducer cable.

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Well there goes my idea!!! Although, I have a hard time believing that it doesn’t drain your battery, I’ve been wrong before. Virtually all digital screen flashers today become paper weights really fast without a good lithium battery. Also it sucks you would need a separate battery for every tip up/down hole. I’m not willing to spend $100 to try it out until I see some more reviews this season. I guess ill just have to invent a better, powerless, ice hole cover! lol

They had one demo-ing in a bucket of water at Joe’s Ice extravaganza. It’s a cool idea but I wouldn’t spend $100 on it. Maybe $30. It’s not that big of an issue for me to just reach down and break up the ice if it does form.

Buy a bubbler for a minnow bucket and get a weighted stone. This one is under $8.00 on Amazon. Does a great job keeping the whole open.

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Will it freeze up going from hole to hole?

I use 12 x 12 inch shag carpet squares. They cover the tip up holes and I can put under my feet in the hut for insulation. They get soaked during the day but dry up at night over the heater vents.

What happened to the old coffee can and charcoal trick? You can keep multiple tip up holes open all season for almost nothing.

Man, why didn’t I get into making all of this gimmicky ice fishing gear decades ago?

My ice fishing buddies and I have built our own battery consoles, wired and mounted portable lights, drilled half-holes for live wells, kept tip up holes holes open in -20, you name it. Cost us almost nothing, just takes a minute amount of ingenuity. Fast forward to now and people are literally paying thousands of dollars every year for similar gadgets. The only difference is it has some fancy branding stamped on the side like “The Crappie Spanker by Clam.”

If we are catching more fish now (which is doubtful), I can nearly assure everyone it’s due to the fine folks at the MN DNR (or whichever state you call home) and other responsible fisherman….not the disposable plastic crap that people now need a Uhaul to get all of it on the ice. I’m probably one of the few still around that remember fishing with nothing but hand-line rigs. No flasher or fancy electronics, no insulated portables, no ice castles or yettis, no selection of 50,000 lures at the bait shack. Hell, it was a luxury to have a sunflower heater on a tank that would melt everything that came within 3 feet. And it was a blast, and we caught a lot of fish.

Don’t get me wrong. There are a lot of gadgets I like, and I like trying out new lures, etc. as much as the next guy. Then you see stuff like this that people go bonkers over and it puts it into perspective.

If this thing cost $10, that’s one thing. But over $100? Pardon me for laughing.

If getting your fingers chilly by occasionally having to breaking up some ice is such a brutal thing to do…why are you even out there? Why not just pay someone to fish for you and stay warm and cozy at home?

I got the opportunity to fish with Blair from Cold Nation Outdoors this weekend and was able to use the Ice Defense System. I was really impressed with it. We fished yesterday in 0-5 Degree weather and holes were ice free all day. Blair told me that the units also have their own interference rejection system in them and I had no noise on my flasher at all. I still think the price point is a bit high but these units work great and if you are fine with spending the money you will be happy with them.

Not to mention Blair is an awesome guy which made me want to support his company more. Hes got some good ideas for Ice Defense also hopefully coming down the road a bit.