The ice season of 2015/2016 has come to a close for us here at Iowa Great Lakes Outdoors, Inc. The Okoboji ice fishing season was one for the record books with lots of anglers having success on the ice as well as our customers. The season was very short compared to previous years and we are looking forward to next year already. Open water is approaching quickly with reports of open water to the south of the Iowa Great Lakes and we will be looking to hit the "Softwater" by the weekend.
With the end to ice season there are a few things ice anglers should do to "summerize" their equipment before putting it away for the year. Portable ice shacks should be set up and dried out, augers with fuel should have a fuel stabilizer added and ran before storing, auger blades should be wiped down with oil to prevent rusting, jig boxes dried out if wet and electronics batteries should be charged. In addition, your ice boat wether it be a snowmobile, or atv, should have fuel stabilizer added to the fuel and ran before putting it away for the season. I like to empty the fuel out of my auger and snowmobile once I've ran stabilizer through them. Bad fuel is one of the first culprits in power equipment that can cause starting or running issues with carburetors if equipment is not used for several months. One final thing that I do each season is strip off the line on most of my ice rods and recycle it. This doesn't take long to do and is one lees thing an ice angler has to do to prepare for next season.'
It was a safe and successful season in the Iowa Great Lakes for us and we are looking forward to open water guide trips with our customers this upcoming spring and summer! Watch for more from us in our blog "IGL Adventures" as we prepare for the upcoming open water season!
