THE SMITTY SLED
An Ice Anglers Must-Have Accessory
For avid ice anglers, hauling a heavy sled across the ice and snow is a rite of passage. I grew up ice fishing and can look back fondly at nearly all the memories spent on the ice except for one – pulling all that gear from the parking lot to our fishing spot. Today’s anglers are even more encumbered, as tents get heavier and electronics gain popularity, ice anglers are bringing more gear to stay comfortable and to stay on the fish. As you pack all this gear into your ice fishing sled and stare out at the seemingly endless frozen tundra, you are probably going to rethink your decision to leave the couch!
Fear not! There is an easy way to get all that gear to your favourite honey hole that doesn’t involve investing in a snowmobile or driving the family vehicle out on the ice – the Smitty Sled. At its most basic, a Smitty sled involves attaching skis to the underside of your ice fishing sled and taking advantage of the reduced friction the skis provide. Experienced ice anglers know a heavily loaded ice fishing sled doesn’t ride on top of the snow; it plows through it. By adding skis to the underside of your sled you are not only reducing the area that is in contact with the snow (friction) but the tub rides high over the snow instead of pushing through it. This simple modification reduces your effort by at least half (in my experience it’s significantly more) meaning a heavily laden sled becomes surprisingly easy to pull.
I’ve been regularly using a Smitty Sled for the past couple seasons. Before I first built one, I would dread the hike out on the lake and would often stop at the first fishing spot I found and not move again until the end of the day. Since building one, I routinely move spots and will walk a few kilometres in a day to search for active fish – all while barely breaking a sweat!
Smitty sleds are not a new invention, they have existed in some form or another for a very long time. The dogsled, arguably the first Smitty Sled, has existed in snow laden territories for thousands of years. More recently, ice anglers have started to adopt them for hauling their ice fishing gear. Although the concept is an old one, it’s an idea I rarely see when out on the ice. I have been ice fishing for a long time and I have yet to run into another angler pulling a Smitty sled. Since introducing the idea to my ice fishing buddies and seeing first hand how easy they are to use, many of them have built Smitty Sleds of their own.
To build a basic Smitty Sled all you need are a few hand tools, a bit of scrap wood, a pair of used downhill or cross country skis and a sled to mount them to. The most common question asked when approaching your first build is “what length of skis work best?” My advice is to find skis roughly the same length of your sled but not longer than what will fit in the back of your truck or SUV. A simple wooden frame, like the one pictured, is the most common type of Smitty and will only take a few hours to put together.
For those short on time there are commercial options available, such as those from EasySled.ca and ErieSecrets.ca. For DIY’ers that enjoy building and customizing their own Smitty Sleds, a quick internet search will reveal hundreds of ideas for your next Smitty. Whether you are building a sled to haul the family hub shelter or a collapsible Smitty for your flip-over, the possibilities are endless!
I encourage you to take the time to build a Smitty Sled this season. From your very first trip, you’ll find that you will be able to walk to spots that are further away in less time and spend more time and energy on catching fishing. As a bonus, building a Smitty sled costs very little to do! A Smitty sled will not only make hauling your ice fishing gear much, much easier, it will actually become enjoyable!