Northern Trails

The old fish trap tent being removed, thanks to the help of Gord Ellis Sr. | GORD ELLIS

By Gord Ellis

Although as common as sparrows in 2022, there was a time when a portable sleigh with a flip-over tent was a rare bird.

My first contact with this type of ice fishing shelter was in 1990, when I fished with a group of anglers from Minnesota and Manitoba. They were all fishing out of these new, portable tents called fish traps. A short time later I got my first trap and I definitely wore it out. Then, about 20 years ago, my kids started ice fishing with me, so it was time to get a larger tent. The old fish trap was upgraded to a two-man Clam Yukon. It easily fit myself and my two boys, although I usually got kicked out. That trap got a lot of use and over time, the familiar blue tent started to get tattered.

Recently, I’ve been eyeing up the newer traps that include a thermal tent. This thicker material is said to hold heat better and allow less light inside. But thanks to several ice fishing groups on social media, I learned you could upgrade an older fish trap with a thermal tent and a variety of accessories.

This winter, I began collecting the parts required to “trick my trap.” The first thing needed was a thorough inspection of my old unit to make sure it was worth the investment. Despite two decades of northwestern Ontario winters, my trap was in decent shape. The folding bars were solid, and the tub was not too badly worn. With my credit card in hand, I went online and ordered a new thermal replacement tent, as well as several accessories.

There are many things that you can do to your trap which will improve both comfort and efficiency. Some are DIY, some require purchase through a company. My Yukon was made by CLAM, a company located in Minnesota. The thermal tent replacement came through them, as did a couple of items specifically suited to that design. For the record, Otter, Eskimo, Frabill and other companies also make very good trap-style shelters.

One item that caught my eye was a kit for spreader pole storage. Having the internal spreader poles loose in the bottom of the tub always bugged me. This unit fixes that. The spreader storage is installed on the back of the tub and gets all the poles bound up and out of the road. Another cool accessory was a corner console shelf that could be used as a tray and drink holder. Again, some installation required but just a few nuts and bolts.

Another thing I’d never had inside my trap were lights. It turns out there are a wide variety of lights that can be purchased or DIYed that will brighten a dark tent. These vary from LED strips you’d use inside a car, to lights that can hang from the support bars, but you need power to do that. The simplest way is to install a small rack to hold a rechargeable 12-volt battery. A 12-volt can power LED lights for several hours. However, there is also a whole world of “power boxes” out there now that power both lights and your various devices like a cell phone or fish finder. I ordered a Canadian made one called the Lake Simcoe Power Box and it should do the trick.

Some DIY additions to my trap included adding a portable floor. To do this, I bought some interlocking foam flooring similar to what you might use in a workout area. The reason for adding foam flooring is two-fold: the first reason is to keep your feet insulted from the ice and the second is to have a non-slippery area for things like a propane heater. The foam also does not absorb water and is light to transport. Another simple trick is to use a plastic milk crate in your trap as a mini table and storage. The crate can also be used to put your fish-finder on. Plastic milk crates are very light and can be stuffed with items like tackle boxes when travelling. I also ordered a new cover for the trap, as the old one looked horrible.

One evening in early February, my dad Gord Sr. and I spent an evening in his garage “tricking my trap.” Removing the old tent was relatively easy, as most of it was attached to the support poles by Velcro. The hardest part was taking out the screws that held the tent skirt to the back of the tub. A plastic flange held the skirt in place and that had to be removed as well. When the tent was off, we added the spreader pole storage, a corner console, and a measuring stick and holder that was screwed inside the front of the trap.

Then it was time to add the new tent. The thermal tent was noticeably thicker but handled well and with a little trial and error, we got it Velcroed on the poles. Once again, the hardest part was attaching the skirt to the back. Not only was the material heavier, but we had to take a bit more of it in to tighten it on the poles. This also went remarkably well and we finished the job in three hours.

I can report that my tricked-out trap has been on the ice and lived up to the hype. The thermal tent proved a blessing, holding in heat remarkably well and not flapping like the old one did. The accessories were helpful and overall, the fishing experience was great. I still have some stuff to do—including adding new runners to the tub—so it remains a work in progress.

So, if you have an ice fishing trap, I recommend a little “tricking” this winter. It will make your on-ice experience that much more comfortable and enjoyable.

By Joe Shead

WHY GO: Snowbank Lake is a big, Canadian Shield-type lake near Ely with a good smallmouth bass population, good numbers of eater-sized lake trout and a chance to catch a rare silver phase northern pike.

ACCESS: From Ely, head east on the Fernberg Road for 19 miles. Turn left onto Snowbank Road. Follow Snowbank Road about 4 miles to the boat landing on the south end of the lake. There are separate accesses for canoes and motorboats. Both have docks and there is a restroom facility. There’s parking for about 10 trailers at the boat ramp and about 30 vehicles at the canoe launch. There are also three backcountry campsites on the lake with a latrine, fire grate and picnic table. These no-fee sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

VITALS: Snowbank Lake is a classic deep, clear, rocky Canadian Shield lake. Snowbank sprawls for 4,654 acres, with a maximum depth of 150 feet and 19.5 feet of water clarity. Several islands of varying sizes dot the lake. Snowbank is a Boundary Waters entry point, with five portages to adjoining lakes. The northern half of the lake lies within the Boundary Waters and there is a 25-horsepower limit on motorboats in that portion of the lake. In summer, the line designating the Boundary Waters isn’t marked, but in winter, temporary signage marks the boundary. There are two resorts on the lake and some cabins on the south end, but most of the lake is undeveloped.

GAME SPECIES PRESENT: Lake trout, walleye, smallmouth bass, northern pike and eelpout.

LAKE TROUT: Snowbank is recognized as a pretty decent lake trout lake, with good numbers of eaters, but not much trophy potential. “Snowbank has gotten hit by heavy fishing pressure over the last few years,” said Jeff Mueller, DNR fisheries technician based out of Tower. “Winter fishing has gotten bigger as well. We’re on the southern edge of the lake trout range and we need to be sensitive with our harvest. More people are fishing intelligently (with electronics) these days.” Lake trout have a good cisco forage base to prey on and they grow quickly. There is plenty of deep, rocky habitat for lakers as well. With good natural reproduction, lake trout haven’t been stocked in Snowbank since 1995.

WALLEYE: Despite good walleye numbers in DNR surveys, Mueller said walleye fishing is tough. “It seems Snowbank has a fairly decent number of walleyes, but they’re not easy to catch. The people that really put in their time probably get a few,” he said. Due to its high-water clarity, Mueller advised anglers to target walleyes on cloudy days or early or late in the day. Target deep reefs where walleyes target small ciscoes. Mueller said plan to lose a lot of lures on the snaggy bottom. Snowbank’s walleyes come in a variety of sizes, with good numbers of eaters and some trophy potential, if you can find them.

SMALLMOUTH BASS: Snowbank has emerged as a really good smallmouth bass lake. “There are a lot of smallmouths in Snowbank,” Mueller said. “A lot of them are small. If you want some action on the end of your rod, that’s certainly a good place to go.” Mueller said shoreline anglers will catch plenty of smallish smallmouths. For a shot at a bigger bass, he recommends fishing deep humps. Some of the bigger bass target ciscoes. Smallmouth bass numbers are excellent and there is a small largemouth bass population in Snowbank as well.

NORTHERN PIKE: Although Snowbank is mostly deep and rocky, it does have some shallow, weedy bays, particularly on the south end, that have good northern pike habitat. Anglers will find pike here, but some of the largest fish will suspend over deep water, where they prey on schools of ciscoes. However, these large, suspended fish are hard to find. One unique thing about Snowbank’s pike fishery is the presence of silver-phase northern pike. These unusual fish are simply a silvery blue color phase of northern pike and are somewhat common in Snowbank. Mueller said they’ll occasionally have red spots with blue halos, similar to brook trout. There are enough of them in Snowbank that people do target them specifically. One concern about Snowbank is the presence of invasive rusty crayfish. These exotics often decimate weed beds, which would likely have a serious impact on the northern pike fishery. Mueller said so far, they haven’t had much of an impact on Snowbank’s shallow, weedy bays, however.

EELPOUT: Snowbank has one of the best eelpout populations in the area. However, catching them isn’t always easy. “The angling for burbot in the winter—it’s not very good,” Mueller said. “The success is nil. Years ago, people would catch burbot fairly regularly. Why there’s such a low catch rate in the winter these days, I don’t have an answer for that, but the numbers in the last assessment were really good.”

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