Max Zaruba: “My season with the Sport B13 MER”
There are so many tools in today's era of ice angling, but some are just set far aside from the rest. Some of these tools assist the angler in bringing fish topside, some assist in the ease of comfort, while some such as the Snowdog help with literally every single bullet point one could mention. The Snowdog in itself is truly the best purchase and item I have ever bought/used by far. From reliability to dependability and straight up down and dirty fun, the Snowdog has your back.
If one were to ask me what emotions I have when using the Snowdog, I would simply smile and reply "I feel like a kid again". The machine is truly just fun to be on no matter what the occasion. For this past season I was able to get my hands on the new Snowdog Sport B13 MER and let me tell you, it is everything the tag and ad says about it. This new model made this season more fun than ever before, but also more adventurous as I felt more confident than ever behind the bars of the dog. The sport really captures the eye of the passing angler as it truly is "sporty" looking. This winter season, the way we fished simply would not have been possible had we not had a Snowdog. We were able to access ice fishing spots on 3-4'' of ice with confidence and pure pleasure knowing we were safe in the weight restrictions and knowing no matter how far back we went, the dog had the job under control.
When it comes to ice fishing, I simply have a problem. I literally cannot go enough. We were hitting the ice this season 3-4 days a week every week for 4 months straight. The ice season was seriously delayed for us here in SE WISCONSIN but we made the best of it by traveling as much as possible. The fishing this season was beyond substantial in my personal opinion as we caught an insane amount of fish which was made possible by pushing further past the foot traffic crews, and able to access thinner ice spots than any other machine. We had multiple big walleyes come topside, and too many big panfish to count. On average the majority of our spots are only a mile or less from the launches but the Snowdog seriously made moving spots and crossing the lake too easy. When first using the Snowdog I always had an extra gas can with me just in case I ran low. However, as the season progressed I realized the new Sports range was far more than my need for more fuel.
As many know, last year I had a different model of Snowdog being the utility model. The utility model is and was all it is "tooted" up to be and a great unit for any ice angler to consider in their purchase. I had a shorter track on that model than I do now on my Sport, but rarely came across an issue or need to have a longer track. I will say now that I have the Sport model there are huge differences for me. The track is the same as what I had on my last unit, however there is a huge difference of control with the new Sport that allows me to say "it is worth the upgrade.'' The wider handlebars definitely make turning the unit much easier. Smaller adjustments make bigger corrections when cruising across the shallow snow or bare ice. The handguards are great for protection from tree branches and debris and really the wind flying up your sleeve. While I didn't use the heated grips too often, they definitely make the difference on those brisk days. My favorite feature of the entire unit is the liftable hood for doing maintenance checkups and in the worst case a repair. Thankfully I didn't have that issue, but it's nice to know it's there for me.
This season we did come across a few issues which can be related to shipping and getting jumped and jiggled around. I wouldn't say any of the issues I had were the fault of Snowdog but more so the inexperience of a new upgraded unit. Our slider kit went out on the unit by coming loose and throwing parts all over the ice when it did so as I did not know the slider had come loose. Upon receiving the Snowdog I did check everything over but at some point the slider kit came loose. No worry though, we stayed mobile just fine as the unit is just as usable without it.
All in all, I loved my experience this year bringing an amazing product to life here in the USA! We as a team look forward to our future cooperations with Snowdog LLC!!!!!
Max Zaruba, Owner Operator Hardwater Freaks LLC
Video made by Max about the Snowdog Sport:
