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I was spearing , local inland lake, and had traps out, the farthest one goes off, I did not put my coat on, grabbed the bait bucket, headed off. ( I am using a 5 in. auger). when I get there, it is near spooled , but sitting still , hook set , and it is on, and I mean on. I pulled in quite a bit of line, then it refused to come any farther, to the point that I was leaning back, and not moving an inch, when I gave up some line , thinking it would break, it took it back. . It started hurting my hands, so I wrapped it around my boot and got gloves on, also, I was freezing. back, forth, back forth, but I could sense, it was doing nothing to tire it. I finally thought , this will not come through this hole, I put the tip up back, ran to the shack, got the drill got it back,to line tight, wrapped it again around my boot, and tried to drill beside it, the auger nicked the line, and gone. I have put this on a few forums , some guesses are a big catfish to a turtle. This all took about 15 minutes, the thing never tired. Also this is not bs. I am stopping by the ranger station there today to see if they have any thoughts, not that it really matters at this point. i had guessed cat, carp 9 not sure if a carp would eat a pike minnow, or a turtle, ( not sure if the hibernate), thanks
I had a HUGE fight once with a 3/4 pound burbot that I caught on a tip-up.Thought it was a monster but it ended up being somehow wrapped around boulders (or perhaps logs, but I think it was boulders).I worked it back and forth for about 10 minutes until somehow it was unwrapped and, when I thought I had simply lost it, up came a tiny burbot Big disappointment - with no honest bragging rights at all....
Almost sounds like something bigger grabbed your Burbot. Any teeth marks on it? A guy I know had a giant lake trout on his line for about 30 minutes, when it finally got to the whole it “puked” up his 20” burbot that was actually on the hook and line...
That is the best commercial for buying a bigger auger bit. I have had a lot of people on here chastise me for using a ten inch auger, while walleye fishing. "I never seen a fish that I couldn't get out of a six inch hole", some say! "People can fall in your hole", say others! Here's what I say, "I'd rather have a ten inch hole and not need it, then a six inch hole and wish it was bigger"! It is true, "most" fish can come through a six inch hole, but the biggest of the big un's can't. I like to be prepared. There was a video on here about the guy who caught his biggest fish ever, this year. If I remember correctly, it was a 65 inch sturgeon. He had to have his partner drill five six inch holes to get it in. I personally have two augers, one five inch for gill fishing and the ten inch for eyes. Yes, I can possibly hook a big bass or pike while gill fishing, but I'm not expecting too. And, if I do, my problem won't be hauling it through a five inch hole, it will be the two lb. line I use! Sure do wish you would have landed that fish, now everyone else is wondering what it was.
Could it have wrapped you around a tree? sounds like you were yanking on a tree branch with the fish still attached.[/quo I thougt so, especially when I was sitting on the ice, leaning back as if rowing a boat, but when I would give up line for fear of breakage, it would take off. I am stymied
Could it have wrapped you around a tree? sounds like you were yanking on a tree branch with the fish still attached.
when my youngest son was 8 years old, we were fishing a local lake. He stepped right into a snow covered 10" hole. Broke his left ankle. I understand using large hole dor fishing. But please mark hole when you leave. Women and jids have smaller feet. Steve
Nothing bad about using 10 inch holes but when you are done it is a good practice to kick snow in to refill the holes for just that reason. They will refreeze in short order under most conditions. Back in the days of using nothing but spuds to cut holes we often cut much larger holes and more than a few times we stepped into our own holes from previous days fishing so we learned the trick to fill them back in.Gam
Please do not do this. I stepped in an 8" yesterday because some jerk filled them with slush and I couldn't see them. Only the toe went in because I have big boots, but I still almost fell flat on my face.. If a child found it, or it was a 10" I would have been in trouble. Slushed holes will freeze slower than open ones due to insulation of the slush that is on top of the water. Open holes skim over in minutes below 32deg then freeze hard in days, slushed ones can stay slush for days (I kick slushed ones open all the time around here when I can see them). At least with the clean holes you can actually see them if they are only skimmed. I seldom clean a hole when I am hole hopping, just drill and drop the transducer, so my holes stay full of slush.. I ALWAYS leave the mound of slush from the auger so people can see that there is a hole there, otherwise clean the hole out. If not, you are just setting a camouflaged trap.
I ALWAYS leave the mound of slush from the auger so people can see that there is a hole there, otherwise clean the hole out. If not, you are just setting a camouflaged trap.
Hitting an ice cone hidden under fresh snow with a snowmobile at speed is unpleasant.