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I am not usually impulsive.
Okay, who am I kidding? I can’t pass by anything that looks new and exciting, that is fishing / hunting related, without playing with it like a kid.
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Sometimes the product pans out as advertised and sometimes it doesn’t. In a few instances, it performs even better than I imagined. That is the case with the new Excel Bucket Caddy.
I spotted it at the Mid Canada Boat Show a few weeks ago, when I was presenting fishing seminars, and let me tell you, it was love at first sight. I have been waiting an awful long time for something like this.
The last month or so of the ice fishing season is my favourite time to be outdoors as the weather is usually sunny and warm, and the fish are biting like crazy.
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But, the snow has typically melted from the surface of the lakes – and especially the portages and trails leading in – making them soupy messes.
So, it is time to put away the snowmachines and warm up the quad.
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But, those same muddy portages and trails can be a pain in the neck if you’re pulling your fishing equipment in a toboggan behind your machine.
It is where the new Excel Bucket Caddy fills such an important niche, because you can travel totally self-contained.
Now, I have to be honest, at first I wondered if it would be strong enough to handle the rough trails and portages that I often cross, but man, is this thing ever sturdy. That is because it’s made from high quality steel and mounts solidly into the standard 2-inch receiver on the back of your quad, like a boat trailer!
And talking about boats, the system comes with a separate kit that you can permanently install, in a matter of seconds, on your boat trailer up near the tongue. So when the ice fishing season ends, you simply slide the Bucket Caddy out of the receiver on your quad and into the receiver on the side of your boat trailer.
How cool is that!
I put the Bucket Caddy to the test last weekend, when my grandson Liam and I used it to haul our tip ups, frozen dead baits and tackle one day and then to carry all of our tools, as we spruced up some of our remote deer blinds the next.
Did it pass the test?
Well, click on the following short video that I shot of the unit in action and you be the judge.
I should mention, too, that a number of big box Canadian hardware stores and marinas are stocking Excel Outdoor products, so check with your local boat dealer and see if they have them. If they don’t, here is an online LINK to the company and the products.