December 29th and 30th fishing report

[Ty Sennett]

We did some pike and crappie fishing the last two days and got into some good crappie and a few nice pike. We had one 13 inch crappie and quite a few 10 to 12 inchers. We had a few big pike but most were upper twenty inch fish. Lots of fun with all the nieces and nephews running around on the ice.

[RobertTB]

Sounds like fun ! How thick is the ice ?

[Ty Sennett]

The ice was nine inches where we were at. This is going to sound weird but it's really hard ice. It takes a while to cut through with the auger. This year we haven't had snow on the ice so the ice that has formed has been really solid black ice.

[RobertTB]

That is weird. I can understand the hard ice concept, but the black ice thing is weird. I was always given to understand that thick clear ice was a good thing, but black ice was bad. I know black ice late in the season can be treacherous, but I can't say as I've seen black ice at first ice. That's odd.

[Ty Sennett]

The lighter honeycomb ice is not as sturdy as the darker ice with less bubbles. You get the honeycomb ice from lots of snow turning to slush and then freezing. Makes for more ice but not as strong as just plain old water freezing. Black ice in the spring is right before ice out and that's not safe to go out on. So........dark ice at first ice is good but black ice in the spring is bad.

By the way Robert the Strikemaster Lazer augers are a lot faster than the rest and are lighter. Stay away from the four stroke ones also if you are drilling a lot of holes. The four stroke ones are awesome but don't drill as fast. The propane ones are definitely not good if you drill a lot of holes. YOu will have a sore back by the time you are done.

For sharpening them, only sharpen the top side of the blade on a bench grinder. That is fast and works great. If you have an old bench grinder with rounded edges from lots of grinding use that one.

[RobertTB]

Ummmm, Mr. Ty, you do realize that I am still stuck in the days of the hand drilling auger ? Never have my mitten covered hands felt the power of a throbbing two (or 4) stroke gasoline engine, while drilling an ice hole. I have fantisized of it often. I once saw a chap use one in the distance on a frozen lake. I was impressed.

Now, I have felt the rush of a Sthil chain saw, the zip of a weed eater (a diabolical tool, indeed), and a leaf blower, even a go kart, but never the joy of a power auger. I concur, the Lazer of the manual variety is vastly superior to the other auger I tried, even a joy to turn. I nearly wept with estatic excitement on the very first use, even today I smile and say, "Wow".

In fact, I went to the pond this day and drilled a hole. 5" of very nice clear ice, perfect for ice skating. I could see the weed matter through the ice and it was splendid. Perhaps in a day or two, I'll drop a jig with a spike on it attempting to entice a hybrid 'gill or a largemouth. Nothin' like winter fish slime on the hands. Ahhhhhhhhh.