Go to your nearest hockey rink and ask for some scrap puck board, it's very durable and slick and FREE. Just picked up a piece 48x48x 3/8" thick and put it on my shanty today while it rained.

They had hundreds of pieces and said I could take as much as I needed so if you can't find any let me know.

Also great for cutting boards on your fish cleaning tables.

Went to Willard for first time yesterday. Got on ice about 1030 and fished till 430. Ice was crysal clear and 4 to 6 inches.
Two other groups fishing and they didn't do good at all. One guy had been there for 2 days and had one perch to show he was all over the res. He had a camera and wasn't seeing alot of fish.
My day wasn't any different marked some fish and they did not bite at all. Had one hole that lit up as soon as my jig got within 5 ft of bottom the fish would shoot up to it and just sniff, thought they were gonna slam it the way they came up.
Don't know if the ice beeing so clear and being able to see jig at 17-20 ft had any effect on the mood of fish. Trying it again on Thurs, maybe with some snow cover it will make a diff.

40 gills, 1 largemouth and 1 whitebass, a little slow at first then they woke up. Not bad for less than 2 hours of fishing in the backyard.
Didn't catch the pike today but they are in there.

Davek,
I know how you feel about your rods, I have two young boys also and that is what made me start keeping them in an arrow case. It's foam is slotted that hold onto my rod nicely. There is room enough for 3 but I can prob get a fourth in. I also velcro a 2 sided jig box inside for convenience.
The size of mine is 36.5x10.5x 4 inches, made by fieldlocker for 16$.
Works pretty good, just nice not worrying about the rods in bottom of shanty.