Vexilar FL-20

The ultimate shelter for ice-anglers that's new this season is the SnoBear. The SnoBear is not a snowmobile, it's not a car and it's not a boat, yet it demonstrates characteristics of all three. The SnoBear is a recreational vehicle designed for ice-fishing that can travel across a lake at 24 mph. It drives as simply as a car complete with automatic transmission, power steering and disc brakes. When you reach your fishing spot, a flip of a switch lowers the unit 14 inches down to the ice. The RV-type furnace and insulated cabin provide all the comforts of home. And when you're ready to sleep, just drop the bunks down and spend the night. But since safety is everyone's concern, the SnoBear was designed to allow the vehicle to float. If it could be compared with anything, the SnoBear is a boat on the ice.

ELECTRONICS
Flasher or graph? This is the year you'll have to choose.

Lowrance Ice Machine

Vexilar is the king of the sonars when it comes to ice-angling, and it has two new models. "The most obvious feature of our new FL-12 and FL-20 models is that they are all flat-screen displays," said Tom Zenanko, Vexilar product specialist. "We've finally broken away from the stovepipe cover and are using all flat screens with super-bright LEDs on these new units. It's the largest wheel display we've ever built, and because of the flat screen, you get the benefit of your peripheral vision. A couple guys can share a unit very nicely. You can sit side by side in an ice shack or boat and see the screen very easily. It used to be one person could see it and the other couldn't. Now anyone can see it from anywhere out front."

Aque-Vu VPG

Lowrance has added another model to its ice lineup. "We're going to have an LMS-334C Ice Machine," said Lowrance's Mike Schnettler. "The beauty of this is that it will allow you not only sonar but also GPS with mapping cartography. You can use the map chip and go right to a spot."

Corey Schmidt from Nature Vision said they also have a new sonar this year for ice-anglers. "We're premiering the Aqua-Vu VPG, which is the next phase in ice-fishing sonar units. It's actually a vertical-pixel graph that utilizes high-speed crystals as opposed to flasher technology. This unit comes with an ice mode that actually heats the crystals, because one of the drawbacks to crystal units on the ice is that the unit would slow down. This heating element keeps the crystals moving at high speed, so when we tested this unit down to 40-below zero, it performed well."

AUGERS
The biggest change in augers recently has been the advent of the four-stroke models by Strikemaster. "We've made the four-stroke lightweight, and anglers love it in that they don't have to mix oil with the gas," said Ray Peterson, president of Strikemaster. "This year, we're adding an auxiliary handle to help carry the unit, and with the storage bracket, you can hang it up easily on the wall. This handle adds balance, and you can set the unit on this handle and not have a problem."