IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Equipment => Ice Augers => Topic started by: W_Morrison on Dec 08, 2008, 07:19 PM
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I got an eskimo z51 powerhead and I need an auger. Trying to decide between the 8,9,or 10 inch. What do you guys think?
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Depends on the species your catching. I use a 10" but thats only because of some of the larger lakers we catch. If its panfish then 8" should be plenty and of course cheaper!
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Mostly panfish, but might hed up north once in a while for some pike and walleye
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8 inch is fine
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flashers and kids both fit in 10" holes.
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Get one of each then everybody will be HAPPY. ;D
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8 is nearly perfect, it gives you a little more room then a 6inch and you wont taks as much flak from the 10inch haters on this site,, ;D
But seriously, 8 should do you well, I have pulled everything from laker, pike and walleye thru one, no complaints
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I would have to say an 8". I fish mainly gills and walleye and northern in the afternoons and evenings. 8" a general good size.
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6 inch would be enough.
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8 inch is good for me...I can't wait to catch a fish that wont fit through an 8 inch hole. :o
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Depends on the ice and the target. Ice 6" or less - hand auger to the size for the target (for total weight of equipment considerations and least amount of human energy output). Ice over 6" power auger, 10" - only bc they don't make a 12" model. ;D
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8" is a good all around hole size.
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8" has worked well for me so far, I do loose some fish at the bottom of the hole when the ice gets really thick though. When I upgraded to a gas auger, I went to a 10" to give a bigger field of view when trying to sight-fish in 36"+ of ice.
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8 works great for me
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Would you buy a car with 200 hp or 300hp? My vote is bigger is better get the 10".
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I am going to order a nils hand auger:)
I currently have 6 inch auger.
Should I get the 6" again - it is easier to cut with I know.
How big of a fish (crappie, walleye, pike) can I get through a 6" ice hole?
Thanks
Landry
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Having fished through nearly every size hole available, I can honestly say that a 6" auger will cover 99.9% of my fishing. I have 5" and 6" hand augers and an 8" power auger. My power auger has a chipper style blade and I've pondered getting a Lazer (shaving) style blade for it. If I do, I'll likely go with the 6". Most of my fishing is for panfish, though I am known to set tip ups out for pike. Still, I'm confident that a 6" will suffice in most cases. I certainly don't think anything bigger than an 8" is warranted for any but a few anglers after the largest of prey.
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Personally, if you are going to catch panfish, then a 6" is plenty...........I used a 4 inch for the longest time and never had a problem. If you are looking for walleye and pike, I would go 8"
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Not many fish will not fit through a 6" hole. The only problem with a smaller hole is that as time goes by, the hole gets even smaller.. you need to chip it back open or drill another hole.
That wouldn't be a problem if you are in a heated shanty jigging or doing a lot of moving around. But If you set out tip ups and spend any time on the ice, it will start to refreeze.
If you choose to get a larger hand auger, you will be less likely to move as much once you have set up. As you mentioned, it is harder to drill an 8" hole then a 6".
I'd suggest sticking with the 6" Unless of course you are targeting Large pike and Musky....Other wise a 6" is plenty large enough...
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I have a 7" lazer hand auger & works just fine for me. A lot of the time I fish w/my sons both have power augers 8" & 10" & as good sons go they drill holes for the old man. I only request them to barrow or have them drill holes for me is when the ice is over 16" & I'm going to set tip-ups out. Of course there are the days I"m stubborn & hand drill all my holes just to prove that I can still do it. Helps to keep'em sharpe, that reminds I need to get mine sharppened. :tipup:
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My uncle and I were using an 8" jiffy for year, but it was sold last year for the much lighter 6" with a Tanaka power head.
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I used a 7" Mora for a few years and it worked good. I went out and bought the Z51 Eskimo Last year with the 10" Auger. The second trip I took my wife on she stuck her foot in one of the holes walking backwards to take my picture and got her leg wet all the way to the knee. 10" is over kill for me and the wife is still mad that I drill so many holes. THey are too large and if I can find a smaller auger for it I will go with 8 or even 6"
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when you are looking at hand augers, I say 6 is all you need.. once you go power I would jump up to 8 or 10
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six incher if pan fish is what your after jump to an 8 if your after bigger fish
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Have a 10in Jiffy. Not a real big jigger, if I was I think I'd want the smaller size.
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i own the 8 inch nils hand auger, it will drill 2 holes thru 14 inches black ice in under a minute. when you get to 20 inches ice it does bog down a bit using that handauger but the bigger size is good for the whatifs. i dont think i would go smaller
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Since you have already decided to spend the cash on a Nils, go for the 8". It drills holes just as easily as a 6" Mora. I have the 8" Nils; my son has a good 6" Mora and he borrows my Nils if I am not using it. The 8" gives you more space to avoid getting tangled in a depth finder transducer cable, shrinks less when the holes skim over, and makes it easier to line up and pull a larger fish through the hole.
I have used 6", 7', and 8" Moras, a 6" Lazer as well as an 8" spoon auger. With the Mora's, I used to drill a couple holes to get warm. With the Nils, that doesn't work. I now have to light my heater to get warm. The 8" Nils is my choice.
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go for the 12"! bigger the better! >:D :whistle:
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I have a 10" and the wife says I hit the bottom with it. >:D :whistle:
But if shes happy with the 6", you might want to move up to the 8", things can only get better from there. ;D
Dosen't freeze up as quick
Easy to put your depth/finder in the same hole
Better for hole watching
etc....
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Since you have already decided to spend the cash on a Nils, go for the 8". It drills holes just as easily as a 6" Mora. I have the 8" Nils; my son has a good 6" Mora and he borrows my Nils if I am not using it. The 8" gives you more space to avoid getting tangled in a depth finder transducer cable, shrinks less when the holes skim over, and makes it easier to line up and pull a larger fish through the hole.
I have used 6", 7', and 8" Moras, a 6" Lazer as well as an 8" spoon auger. With the Mora's, I used to drill a couple holes to get warm. With the Nils, that doesn't work. I now have to light my heater to get warm. The 8" Nils is my choice.
x2 You will be much happier with the 8"
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I have a 10" and the wife says I hit the bottom with it. >:D :whistle:
But if shes happy with the 6", you might want to move up to the 8", things can only get better from there. ;D
Dosen't freeze up as quick
Easy to put your depth/finder in the same hole
Better for hole watching
etc....
been useing my 10" for 50 years no problems yet1
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I know you can bring a small fish up a big hole, but can you bring the fish of your lifetime time up a small hole. I don't take that chance! Go bigger you may need it one day.
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I know you can bring a small fish up a big hole, but can you bring the fish of your lifetime time up a small hole. I don't take that chance! Go bigger you may need it one day.
x-2
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6" is the most universal.
I have used all sizes oo.
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My power auger has a chipper style blade and I've pondered getting a Lazer (shaving) style blade for it.
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Why would you do that? Power auger blades are supposed to be of the chipping style as that makes them cut faster.
It might work with the shaving blades on the power auger but it will just cut slower. I would leave the chipper blades on it if I were you.
And I prefer an 8" in a power auger. Here in Alaska a power auger is a blessing most of the season. Last year I needed my 12" extension by the end of the season.
For most peoples fishing a 6" would do just fine though.
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go for the 12"! bigger the better! >:D :whistle:
aww u beat me to it.12" hole is perfect for run and gun pan fishing
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What ever it takes, right ?? :woot: :roflmao:
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l113/lael19533/thumbnailauger.jpg)
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hmmm :-\ wonder if that has a hitch on the back to pull the sleds! and you must be able to get tracks for it!
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Why would you do that? Power auger blades are supposed to be of the chipping style as that makes them cut faster.
It might work with the shaving blades on the power auger but it will just cut slower. I would leave the chipper blades on it if I were you.
And I prefer an 8" in a power auger. Here in Alaska a power auger is a blessing most of the season. Last year I needed my 12" extension by the end of the season.
For most peoples fishing a 6" would do just fine though.
Not to start a pi$$ing contest, but I've got a shaving head auger that's pretty fast. Heck, I can beat most power augers simply using it manually.
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The way I look at it. If you can open a hole regardless of size that you can pull any fish through, Your doing better than staying home. And I don't think 10 seconds makes any difference on how long it takes to get through.
Kinda like the guy going 10 MPH over the speed limit. 3 miles down the road there is a stop light and you are looking over at him thinking: And he was in a hurry to beat me here.
Now don't get in a hurry to fish or you might find your poles and or just the line tangling up. All together now: Breath in Breath out. Relax. Ice will be there sooner than you might think. Just be prepared.
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AUGER RACES!!!!
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Not to start a pi$$ing contest, but I've got a shaving head auger that's pretty fast. Heck, I can beat most power augers simply using it manually.
I find that at my age it even takes longer to light the DYNAMITE!! ;)2 :whistle:
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I'd love to see 38" of shaved ice in under a minute!!! SNOWCONES!!!!! ;D
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I got an 8" Nils last year and for me, I really couldn't ask for a better auger. Super fast, easy and big enough to bring just about anything through. Good luck!
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AUGER RACES!!!!
Ya, I want to race the fella that has the hand auger that can beet most power augers!
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I've been using a 8" for 20 some years but planning on going 10" this year. I don't fish by big crowds, my kids are grown up, and don't care who steps in my hole. My problem is with super cold temps and the hole freezing narrow, plus I like to fish and have my flasher in the same hole. I am older now and don't like to bend down as much anymore so I have a small dip net I use to net my fish in the hole (pan fish), I have lost too many fish trying to drag them up onto the ice only to watch them sink back down the hole. I already have a 3 hp jiffy so it will handle the 10" good. We usually finish out the year with 36" of ice so a hand auger is not in my vocabulary.
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Not to start a pi$$ing contest, but I've got a shaving head auger that's pretty fast. Heck, I can beat most power augers simply using it manually.
I am not trying to say shaving blades are slow or start a pi$$ing match either.
But a power auger comes with chipping blades for a reason. They have the power and torque to make use of the chipping blades And this allows them to cut faster.
I was just curious as to why someone who had a power auger that works fine would switch the blades to a less efficient cutting blade thats all. Why take a professionally engineered cutting device and modify it to cut slower and less efficently? Unless my blades were bad for some reason and all I could find on short notice were shaving blades I would not change them out.
Last year I had to put on my 1' extension on my power auger near the end of the season. I drilled over 25 holes in one morning for tipups and jigging rods in 4+ feet of ice. My 8" jiffy with its fast gearing and chipper blades saved me enopugh time and effort it was well worth it to me.
Running safety chain on your chainsaw will slow it down some. It will also kickback less. There is a trade off. Safety for speed. A worthwile trade.
In the scenario NozzleJockey posted I don't believe switching to the lazer shaving blades will gain him anything at all.It will still cut ice just fine it will just cut a little slower than chipper style blades. He loses a few seconds of time per hole. Not much but then again I ask why would you switch properly working blades for a slower design?
He will have wasted the cost of the shaving blades and cost him some time spent per hole in the process. Just an observation and I hate to see people waste time and/or money.
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I use a 10 inch mo and wouldnt want it any other way. Last year where I fish I had an 18 in extension on my 42 inch flyte and almost bottomed out. My 10 inch hole is around 7 or 8 inches after fishing all day and I dont want to be chipping it all day wasting my precious fishing time.
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Ya, I want to race the fella that has the hand auger that can beet most power augers!
If you were closer, I'd be your Huckleberry. ;-) Ground rules, yours couldn't be a Nils and it would have to be stock, no competition augers.
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A 6 inch hole is plenty big enough for most species to fit through......the only reason I go with an 8 inch hand auger (nils) is because that 6 inch hole tightens up too much over the course of the day and I got sick of drilling new holes because the first ones got too small! I'll add that I am one of the guys that does not like the 10 inch holes......especially during late ice........that 10 inch hole spreads out aweful big when the temps are in the 40's! Dangerous!
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I bought a 10 inch auger when I started ice fishing some years ago, after 2 seasons I bought a 6 inch blade for it, the 10 inch rarely gets used anymore. I am considering getting rid of the 10 inch this year and getting an 8 inch for walleye / whitefish. But generally the 6 inch is plenty of hole for most of the fishing I do, and the 10 inch is too large especially in the flip over huts. The one advantage that I see when using the 10 inch auger is the ease of getting the fish started up the hole when the ice gets thicker than 2 feet. Even if I get the eight inch auger blade it will get used later in the season when the ice gets thick.
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tell you the truth my icegator will beat 95% of all gas jobs
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I have an 8" and a 10", used the eight for along time, then started using the 10" and that's where I've stayed only because I like the room for my vex and pole in the same hole and I don't have to jump to get the vex out when I get a bite, ya I find the 10 alittle over kill and they can be a hazard but the 8" just seems so small now. Lol. Maybe get a 9" and find a happy medium? I'm thinking about it. But people say I over think stuff to, am sure the 8" will be fine for ya.