Simcoe slush

i was out on Saturday near Beaverton, depending on location i saw anywhere from 2ft of snow and about 11" of slush to about 1ft of harder packed snow and about 4" of slush so its the wild west out there. Our snowmachines were sitting ontop of the snow with no issues and the snow was packing down nicely. My ice fishing rig is an 2023 Polaris Indy adventure 144" track air cooled so its a pretty floaty sled, hit a few soft spots while driving back, trick is to keep a good speed and hammer the throttle if you feel the machine break loose on the drifts but we had no issues getting out or back and never broke through into the slush layers. That said i would not take anything wheeled, modern sleds and ATV with tracks was fine if you know what you are doing, going to get interesting when the snow starts melting.

this is my ice fishing sled and what i took on Saturday, i think my 144" Yamaha GT would have been fine as well, but the 2005 Venture 700 triple with 136" track i would be hesitant to take out in these conditions, all my sleds are studded

We went out Saturday from PB, ended up 3 km from shore heading NW. I had my tracksled and had no issues getting out that distance following Casey's trail. Once off the main trail the tracksled stayed on top of the snow and moved around surprisingly well, it only weights around 225-250 lbs.

We encountered between 20-24" of snow with 0 slush at all. Once we shoveled to the ice it was dry. When we left there was about 2" of water on the ice where we fished but I suspect that was from water coming up the holes due to the weight of the snow.

Saturday was slow, ended up with 6 jumbos, 5 @ 12-12.5" and 1 @ 11". The fishing was very slow and my buddies little cleo seemed to be the most effective bait.

Oops! Miles, not km. I was just a bit over three miles out. Was in 37 fow.

People still trying to take utvs out on Sunday, then they expect you to stop and break your back helping them dig a 1000 lb machine that is buried to the frame. The one guy didn’t like my opinion on owning one eg. Spend $30-40k for something that is pretty much useless, too big for bush trails, way too heavy to take anywhere without it getting it buried in slush or muck. I told him he should take the hit and sell it for 20k, then buy a longtrack sled off Kijji with a wide track for $4500. Get rid of the ridiculous utv and buy a small, LIGHT atv eg. 350 FourTrac or 420 Rancher that can be used when the sled isn’t needed.

Hey Hubbabubba

You are 1000% right. I went ATVing some years back at the ATV park in MInden. The boys that i went with had just purchase 3 800cc Outlanders. Huge HP as you probably know. I showed up with a 1995 Honda 300 fourtrax. By the end of the weekend I had pulled out ALL three of them from the MUCK.

Mind you I have one myself but I just use it to go on easy trails with my wife. Very comfy I must say but I always go with 300 4trax when I have serious business to take care off. I'll never sell that little lady.

Yes, I don't understand what goes on in the heads of the ATV manufacturers. These big ATVs today are totally useless for going in the bush or on a snowy lake in winter. At 700lbs plus, they are only useful around the farm in my opinion. These big bulky machines won't even fit on most of the trails I run due to the width, and instead of riding over most of the soft surfaces they drop down onto their bellies due to the weight of the machine. It's now getting hard to find a light machine. The 300 (I had one with over 14,000km on it and no engine rebuild) and 350 Hondas were my favourite, as was the 1980's Suzuki King Quad 300's. Now I heard Honda in no longer offering a 420 in their Rancher. I think I heard it's a 500 now. Really sad.

To each their own. I never had my sled out once last year, maybe 3x the season prior. Some people think I'm a fool for having money tied up in a sled vs just having tracks for the quad.

Shorelines at both 10th line and Lockhart still looking decent on the west side. It's sprinkling rain here this morning, hopefully it doesn't amount to much.

I'm hoping this melt will start knocking down the the snow, and the warmer weather will help turn that powder snow into packing snow and we have a good run until March 15... fingers crossed

I'm hoping this melt will start knocking down the the snow, and the warmer weather will help turn that powder snow into packing snow and we have a good run until March 15... fingers crossed

Cosper, can't be many 95 fourtac's left, I have one that my dad left me, he bought it new in 95. great machine, small enough to go between trees and light enough that I have driven over slush beds where the guys with me all got stuck with the bigger bikes. to bad they don't make them that small anymore. seems people just want to go really fast so have to go heavy.

sabmgb, there are actually 2 in my family. I can get anywhere in the bush. My 800 outlander is an absolute monster. TOOOO much power. I bought it used for a good price. Could not pass on it. The 800 is very smooth. The 300 will kill your back after a day on the trails So you think my 300 4trax would be able to go through that crap on the lake. I think the little lady is a bit too low.

You and me both! I'm going to head down on my ATV tomorrow after lunch to check things out in person.

probably not but on the day I was out don't think the conditions were as bad as they are now. It was fun that day as I just floated over the slush, I could feel the floating motion and looked back and the other 2 guys were stuck. I wasn't going to go back in it. I have mudlit tires on it and they make a really big difference. It is ey amazing what a small light machine can do and where they can go.