Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! > Northern Pike

hole size

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Coosangler:
Double drill...

kasilofchrisn:
Have you ever been in the situation where you've got a big fish on the line your drag is screaming as the fish is peeling off line and you think to yourself man I wish I had a smaller hole?
Yeah, me neither.
Or you rented a cabin up in the mountains and you've legally left your burbot lines out overnight. When you come back in the morning you can tell you've got a decent fish on one of your lines and as you're digging out the snow from your hole in the below zero temps and you're thinking to yourself boy I'm glad we used the smaller auger?
Yeah that's never happened to me either!
I've been in both of those situations many times and I'm definitely glad I had a big enough hole every time it's happened.
For my overnight burbot sets I always bring the ten inch auger and pack the holes with snow to keep them from freezing as much as possible.

thomasthepikehunter:
I've caught pike from about a 5" hole, and as big as a spear hole. It's really not that big of a deal if you ask me. To date the biggest pike I've pulled through the ice was a 40" and very fat. That was likely right up around an 18-20 pound fish. I'll picture that below. I'm a 6'5" guy, big hands, and this fish still has a massive head by comparison. She came up a 7" hole from my Mora auger with no troubles. It turned up the hole easy, came right out. It wouldn't have been too tough to get it through a 6" either, but there may have been a little bit of squish going on.

My opinion is that an 8" hole is the ideal size for pike fishing, and a perfect sweet spot overall. It's more than big enough for even trophy fish. It's not too bad to drill. With a gas auger and good blades a 10" is fine. With chipper blades a 10" can be a workout after a while. With something like a SM lazer or Nils it's not bad. I wouldn't want to hand drill too many 10" holes. You wont get too many 10" holes with an electric drill either. I've never had an issue with an 8". Even with a little ice on the edges, it would have to be really neglected to close up enough to cause an issue. Usually at that point your only real concern is chipping the tip up out of the hole.

For hand augers I really enjoyed 7". It is plenty big for me. Maybe one day I'd find the limits, but I can't imagine how. I bought a Nils this year, but I got it in 6". I'm going to be trying that out, and I'm planning on double drilling my holes for tip ups. Unfortunately they only seem to make this auger in 8" as the standard version. I wanted the folding version.

As has been stated, the big issue is simply getting them into that hole. I never go to a flag without my chisel scoop. It's rare I need it, but when a fish is dead tired and laying flat under the ice, just use that to turn it. It is also in that picture below. I didn't need it for that fish, but it's nice to have. You always need something to bust ice with, even if you run hole covers. Use something like that, and you will never have an issue. I'm not convinced a 10" hole is that much easier than an 8" hole to get them turned.

Kilsdonk:
8" Hand auger for early season thin ice and light mobile fishing.
10" Gas Auger for thick ice or bigger fish.

Personally I bring Both, I always have a backup and love winning free beers challenging people to race my hand auger vs there motor auger.
Cheers and good luck out there!

thomasthepikehunter:
Well of course we all responded about fitting northerns. This is the northern pike section.

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