10-08-2018, 12:24 AM
[quote coltergeist99]Is it too early to start thinking about ice fishing? I don't think so. ...[/quote]
From my preparedness perspective, these remaining nice days before ice fishing season are the days we have to finalize getting ready for ice fishing.
In the past, I've been so behind on my chores that I would have too much to do at the last minute. I hope to have everything ready long before ice is thick enough.
Today, I renewed the clarity of my ice fishing vehicle's glass in preparation for a surface treatment that will fill microscopic flaws for smoothness and clarity and bead up water and make the wipers more effective at sweeping off the water.
Before, the wipers wiped and it left a film of water that distorted vision. On the inside of the windows, it always looked perfect on sunny days, but something was there. Perhaps it was some film of volatiles from the interior or perhaps glass ages. Whatever it was didn't even come off with the finest steel wool dipped in adhesive remover which is more aggressive than paint thinner. It would surprise me that I could do that last fall and in high humidity conditions the suction cup marks of suction cups that must have been there years ago show up in the condensation pattern along with the smudges. RainX anti-fog seemed to make fogging much worse after the application is no longer new. Perhaps it works on polished glass, but I'm trying something else this time.
I put so much hard work using lots of force to get this film off and nothing worked, so I ordered a glass restoration kit and polished the glass. That's a first step. I'm on my way to the car wash to get the glass polish off of my car. Next, I'll seal the glass and see how well that works.
Last ice fishing season, I solved traction of my ice fishing vehicle with a dedicated set of wheels for winter with the largest, widest Bridgestone Blizzak tires that would barely fit and load rated for 3000 pounds each for hard driving on off-road trails in the winter. They worked very well. I felt excellent traction in all conditions and it was never even close to being marginal. This means I can choose difficult ice fishing destinations with confidence and it means I can sign up for ice fishing tournaments and make commitments to be part of a team and not have a concern of getting there should there be a winter storm.
I also am glad I got lots of very good ice anchors at the time that the tournment was blown off of Fish Lake (Utah). I talked to one person who actually fished through the wind and he used a lot of ice anchors.
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From my preparedness perspective, these remaining nice days before ice fishing season are the days we have to finalize getting ready for ice fishing.
In the past, I've been so behind on my chores that I would have too much to do at the last minute. I hope to have everything ready long before ice is thick enough.
Today, I renewed the clarity of my ice fishing vehicle's glass in preparation for a surface treatment that will fill microscopic flaws for smoothness and clarity and bead up water and make the wipers more effective at sweeping off the water.
Before, the wipers wiped and it left a film of water that distorted vision. On the inside of the windows, it always looked perfect on sunny days, but something was there. Perhaps it was some film of volatiles from the interior or perhaps glass ages. Whatever it was didn't even come off with the finest steel wool dipped in adhesive remover which is more aggressive than paint thinner. It would surprise me that I could do that last fall and in high humidity conditions the suction cup marks of suction cups that must have been there years ago show up in the condensation pattern along with the smudges. RainX anti-fog seemed to make fogging much worse after the application is no longer new. Perhaps it works on polished glass, but I'm trying something else this time.
I put so much hard work using lots of force to get this film off and nothing worked, so I ordered a glass restoration kit and polished the glass. That's a first step. I'm on my way to the car wash to get the glass polish off of my car. Next, I'll seal the glass and see how well that works.
Last ice fishing season, I solved traction of my ice fishing vehicle with a dedicated set of wheels for winter with the largest, widest Bridgestone Blizzak tires that would barely fit and load rated for 3000 pounds each for hard driving on off-road trails in the winter. They worked very well. I felt excellent traction in all conditions and it was never even close to being marginal. This means I can choose difficult ice fishing destinations with confidence and it means I can sign up for ice fishing tournaments and make commitments to be part of a team and not have a concern of getting there should there be a winter storm.
I also am glad I got lots of very good ice anchors at the time that the tournment was blown off of Fish Lake (Utah). I talked to one person who actually fished through the wind and he used a lot of ice anchors.
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