# Eskimo OuickFish III vs. Clam 5600



## MossyMO

I am new to ice fishing. I have been looking at what is out available for portable ice fishing shelters and reduced my choices to these 2.

The Eskimo will be new and the Clam will be a used purchase.

I like that that the Eskimo has more room, but the open floor scares me for long term ownership and comfort.

The Clam has less room, (Not much, just diameters) but the Clam has a double walled floor and the ability to join up with another Clam and that does makes it a better long term idea.

What do you own in portables and what are your suggestions?


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## curty

I have a Clam 5600, I would find it hard to fish out of if it didnt have a floor.I always set my gloves, hat ,fishing gear, camera,knife, ect. on the floor and it dosnt get wet or freeze to the bottom. Also its not so slippery and its a lot warmer I would think.


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## BrdHunter

Go with the clam, Ive seen the eskimo quickFISH III and it doesnt look that great, and it looks like it would be a pain in the a$$ with some wind. I have an eskimo quickFLIP III pull over house and I like it a lot, but it is way different than the quickfish. After fishing out of a house with an open floor heat is not a problem. I think clam makes a good house and thats what I would get out of those two.


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## kgulsvig

Regarding your question on the Clam vrs. Eskimo QuikfishIII.....
Have ice fished all of my life, (am 50 years old). Mostly
in MN and Canada. Have owned multiple fishouses, including portables.
The Eskimo Quikfish III is without a doubt the best for numerous reasons.
1) NO FLOOR! Hooray, floors are the biggest pain in portable ice fishing.
If you plan on spending a lot of time on the ice, you will know the
hassle with a flooded plastic floor. Have owned Clam(s) before
and will never buy again..
2) The new 4 side spoke design makes it very roomy for two people
and I like to have two holes for each fisherman. Not as ideal as
a big permanent house-but don't evey want that hassle again.
3) Is very light, portable-great back pack to carry it on the ice. It is
not heavy either, so saves room in your sled for auger, pails etc.
4) ICE ANCHORS are A++++. Someone finally designed one with a
long narrow taper-so they can be screwed in "easily". We timed it
to about 20m seconds for each anchor-....
5) If windy, the house is equipped with grommets at each corner. Put
these in first using the anchors. Then the sides can be fortified with
the included ropes and additional anchors. (You get 8 anchors in
and easy "take out and put back pouch."
In addressing the issue of the "no floor" argument, myself and other
ice fishing buddies have come to the conclusion it is not needed, heavy
and causes nothing but problems. The Eskimo has two very handy and
large mesh "catch all" sleeves on the interior. They are handy. We
also wear good waterproof heavy duty footwear, so with a small heater
we don't get cold feet.
Our only real question is how well the Eskimo will stand up over time.

Specifically the hubs.-Fabric appears to be real good, and like the side
door.
Time will tell. Figure three years of fishing. For $159.00 it is a very good
price too.
Also, I use it for spearing....works great.
The final comments is a sad one. (And should prove the proof is in
the pudding.) You can buy all the Clams you want-they are available
everywhere. You can't buy an Eskimo Quikfish III anymore. Cabelas
Sportsmans Warehouse, Fleet Farm and all the websites where it is 
available are sold out!! Hope you bot yours before....


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## scoots1

Well your in luck because i own both!!!! I love the quick fish 3 because it is so light weight and easy to set up and take down..Its almost like a bag chair and can easily go on your back. Also one thing to remember is it must be good cause Clam coppied it and now makes one. The no floor is not really an issue but you must have warm and water proof boots!!!! The wind thing is an issue though Espescially early ice with no snow.The wind shoots right through the bottom.When there is snow put some on the skirt and NO PROBLEMS Not to mention its almost impossible to set up by your self on a windy day. Imagine trying to fold a parachute in the wind(Ok maybe not that bad, but it sucks.) There is plenty of room to fish 2 guys and all their gear and moving to a new spot is a snap. If you ever want to fish a remote spot where driving on the lake is not an option then the eskimo is a great buy. Im not gonna lie but when your fishing in the eskimo with a nice heater, the ground your sitting on gets slushy. The clam 5600 not so much. Just a tiny bit of water. They both are easy to set up and take under 5 mins so its hard to compare them. The biggest issue between them is the weight. I use the 5600 when i can drive out on the lake or have Sally freinds who complain about having no floor! Youll find out that some of your buddies are scared at the fact it has no floor and might be hessitant to go. With the eskimo you can drill your holes anywhere inside that you want, with any suit case model they are laid out where they are pre fabbed. Which sucks if you want to use things like Reel weeds, vexilar or a camera. Its a tough call to make but with the extreme price difference i would go with the quick fish III. Just not on windy days........  Hope this helps


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## willythekid

I own a quickfish 3 and am extremely happy with it. I fished in a lot of clams and I don't think plastic floors are that much warmer than not having a floor. I have 2 buddies that are former clam owners.... well not quite , they still have them they just don't use them very much anymore because they now own quickfishes too. I've had mine out in windy weather and it isn't too bad as it comes with guy lines. An absolute steal for the price they sell them for plus as stated before they are very light and easy to set up.


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## hlt

go with the clam voyager


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## celebrationmm

I have never fished the clam, but I do own a QF3. It sets up in around 2-4 minutes, and holds up well in wind with the anchors and rope mentioned above. It can be set up in th wind with one person (if a person uses common sense and anchors one corner before popping the rest of the sides) and can be easily set up in wind with 2. I have fished 4 people in it, although it was a little crowded. I have also had excellent customer service. Because it has no floor it can get a little wet inside. I've had mine for 1.5 years and the only problem I've had is one window breaking in below 0 temps (that Ardisdam replaced free). I think it's a great house for $$$. My .02.


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## Flight Cancelled

i spent 16 hrs this weekend fishing out of my buddys 5600 this weekend and it fishes two people good but it can be cramped and if you woulda asked me last year which one QF3 or 5600 i woulda said 5600 in a heartbeat cuz last years eskimo shacks were junk...i worked @ sportsmans warehouse in the fishing and put many shacks together and many boring days sitting in them and picking out all the pros and cons of everyshack we had...the problems with last years eskimos was 1: the process of putting them together 2: seat padding was way worse than frabill and clam 3: canvas thickness frabill and clam have 600 denier and even some with 900 denier canvas, where all eskimos had 300 denier. I would have many people get a QF3 and then would return it a week later cuz something went wrong, or it wasnt comfortable and they'd buy a clam or frabill...
BUT as of this year they have caught up and in some instances developed better features than the frabills and clams...but i wont get into that...but they did thicken their canvas to 600 and added an inch of padding to the bench and a 1/2 inch more on the backrest...AND they managed to make a shack that was cheaper and weighs 20 lbs less than any frabill or eskimo 3 man shacks...the QF3 is not the best shack on the market but given your 2 you have narrowed it down to id go with a new QF3


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## FLOYD

Flight Cancelled said:


> i spent 16 hrs this weekend fishing out of my buddys 5600 this weekend and it fishes two people good but it can be cramped and if you woulda asked me last year which one QF3 or 5600 i woulda said 5600 in a heartbeat cuz last years eskimo shacks were junk...i worked @ sportsmans warehouse in the fishing and put many shacks together and many boring days sitting in them and picking out all the pros and cons of everyshack we had...the problems with last years eskimos was 1: the process of putting them together 2: seat padding was way worse than frabill and clam 3: canvas thickness frabill and clam have 600 denier and even some with 900 denier canvas, where all eskimos had 300 denier. I would have many people get a QF3 and then would return it a week later cuz something went wrong, or it wasnt comfortable and they'd buy a clam or frabill...
> BUT as of this year they have caught up and in some instances developed better features than the frabills and clams...but i wont get into that...but they did thicken their canvas to 600 and added an inch of padding to the bench and a 1/2 inch more on the backrest...AND they managed to make a shack that was cheaper and weighs 20 lbs less than any frabill or eskimo 3 man shacks...the QF3 is not the best shack on the market but given your 2 you have narrowed it down to id go with a new QF3


Thats all great, but I would think if you spent last year selling houses you would know what a quickfish III is.......lol.

I bought a quickfish III before they became popular, so I can't necessarily speak for this years models, but mine has been awesome. anchor straps for the wall hubs would be my only complaint, but maybe they fixed that now. I only got what amounted to shoelaces to tie down the wall centerpoints if needed. Honestly, I've fished in 35mph sustained winds (according to the internet data) all day long, and the house held up fine. Main thing is to screw down the corners and the wall point that is into the wind, as it will want to collapse otherwise....


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## giwoyna5

My .02

The only way to go if you want to catch fish is with a flip style(fish trap, quick flip, etc). So much more mobile and everything in the sled.
It takes me the time to drill holes to relocate. I have fished out of every type over the last 15 years and the flip style is the only way to go. I love watching my bros & buddies fumble with their floors, poles and anchors while I catch fish!


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## MSG Rude

I looked at these and the 6800's. I bought the 6800, that is why I am selling my old one in the classifieds. It is a Sportsmans 6X8 suit case style.

I like the clam's because of the better sled design and the more stable flooring.

Just my .02


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