Get Shorty

A new product for serious ice anglers.

It’s a cold, snowy afternoon in January, and the road to Hyalite is mostly clear. The skiers, snowshoers, and ice climbers have all wrapped up their days, eager to escape the biting wind and blowing snow. One man, however, is heading up canyon, into the storm, the tires on his two-wheel drive Yugo GV spinning on every slope. He’s going ice fishing, dammit, and nothing’s going to stop him.

At the parking lot, he kills the engine, reaching his right hand toward the faux-gold Casio on his left wrist. After a deep breath, he mutters, “Go” and starts the timer. Then he leaps out of the car, reaches into his rooftop carrier, and dashes down to the lake. A few more moments pass and he hits the stopwatch again.

“Nineteen seconds! A new record,” he exclaims to no one before flopping onto an overturned five-gallon bucket, sighing contentedly, and cracking a beer.

Decked out in Carharrt coveralls, with a five-pound walleye in each hand, Ty dangled jigs from his fur-trapper’s hat and danced to Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy With It.”

This is how Tyler “Ty” Needik spends every evening, after working furiously in his garage all morning, assembling products for his customers. Ty is the creator of the Ice Vise, a rooftop rod carrier for ice-fishing poles that has made him “busier than a beaver in a petrified forest,” as he puts it. Ty hasn’t had a full day off in months—nor a full day on in years—with orders flooding in daily, mostly from Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Glasgow, MT. “I’m backordered for weeks,” he explains. “But fishing is my life. When my ex-wife said ‘Ty, it’s me & the kids or the fish.’ I printed her a map to her sister’s place. Ain’t nothin’ comin’ between me and my one true love.”

A devoted “ice bum,” Ty splits time between Montana, Minnesota, and Argentina, following winter and its best ice-fishing opportunities. For several years, to make ends meet, he made custom jigs and sold them in at boat launches and Bass Pro Shops parking lots around the Midwest. Decked out in Carharrt coveralls, with a five-pound walleye in each hand, he dangled jigs from his fur-trapper’s hat and danced to Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy With It.” His inventory sold out daily, and the “Jiggernaut,” as he became known in ice-fishing circles, was soon scheduled to appear on ESPN8 “The Ocho’s” Jigging with the Stars—that is, until he blew out both shoulders crawling out of a lake after the ice collapsed beneath him during a particularly harrowing fight. “It was a Musky, alright,” Ty remembers with a sigh. “looking for revenge after I netted his brother. Bastard nearly took my life, but even he couldn’t kill ol’ Ty Needik.”

Fly fishing isn’t really fishing, we all know that. And those long-ass rod boxes are clearly some kind of compensation. I ain’t never seen a lady angler with one, I can tell you that. —Ty Needik

Although Ty’s body may have been broken, his entrepreneurial spirit soared. Back in Montana convalescing for the summer, he noticed the wild popularity of “rod vaults” on vehicles around Bozeman. “Fly fishing isn’t really fishing, we all know that,” he says, “and those long-ass rod boxes are clearly some kind of compensation. I ain’t never seen a lady angler with one, I can tell you that.”

He goes on: “But one thing’s the same between jig and fly: if your line ain’t in the water, you ain’t catchin’ fish. So I could at least appreciate the expediency—not to mention the money-makin’ potential.” With that, Ty set out to equip himself and other ice anglers with indulgences equal to that of the “fly-boys of summer,” as he calls them.

And so the Ice Vise was born—“Made by and for serious icers” is his official company slogan. Ty currently offers both two- and four-pole options—“Remember, it’s a pole, not a rod,” he’s quick to remind people—but will release an eight-pole carrier later this year. “More poles, more holes, more fun for everyone!” he says with a slanted grin. “Least that’s what Pa used to say.”

I sure didn’t see this comin’, but the Ice Vise has become a sort of status symbol. I mean, it’s gettin’ to the point that if you don’t have one, you ain’t even considered a real icer. —Ty Needik

Nowadays, with his business booming and his shoulders fully functional, Ty is as iced-up as ever. Hyalite may be his home water, but with poles always prepped, he now often hits the Bozeman Pond before work, and Canyon Ferry on the weekend. As he says, “I’m rigged & ready, baby!”

Like all business ventures, there have been some surprises. “I sure didn’t see this comin’, but the Ice Vise has become a sort of status symbol. I mean, it’s gettin’ to the point that if you don’t have one, you ain’t even considered a real icer.” He adds with a wink, “And I ain’t gonna lie, it does turn the girls’ heads.”

But in the end, for Ty, it’s not about fashion, but function: “If I can shave a few seconds of prep time, that means I’ll be sittin’ on a bucket and drinkin’ beer that much sooner.”

For more information, visit icevise.com.