IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
IceShanty Main => General Ice Fishing Chit Chat => Topic started by: FishGut on Jan 12, 2019, 10:08 PM
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Almost every spud bar I see has a loop or a tag to tie off to. How much rope do you add or wrap around the length, either as a grip or for a safety retrieving rope? Any special knots to know?
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I've never seen them for sale, where do you purchase them?
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Mine has a T bar welded across top that is about 7” long
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A spud is used to check the ice while walking (safety equip) and can be used to open old holes. If you had a long length of rope attached to it where would you carry the rope coil while you hit the ice with the stud during each step. The metal ring on the end of a lot of spud bars is for a rope loop to place around your wrist. Years ago when spud bars were used to cut a hole you needed the wrist rope to prevent the bar from sliding through your hands and down the hole when you broke through the ice. There are a lot of spuds at the bottom of the lakes for failure to have this rope loop or use it around your wrist.
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Mine has a wrist strap loop. I would suggest avoiding tying it to your hand, just use a loop around your wrist.. a big chunk of heavy steel tied to your hand wouldnt be fun if you fall through. You want to sacrifice the spud ASAP, get it back in the summer with a magnet.
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Mine has a wrist strap loop. I would suggest avoiding tying it to your hand, just use a loop around your wrist.. a big chunk of heavy steel tied to your hand wouldnt be fun if you fall through. You want to sacrifice the spud ASAP, get it back in the summer with a magnet.
Good advice, yet every year I see float suit wearing guys with their wrist looped to ten pounds of steel wandering around checking for thin ice.......don't even use the loop.
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this what you talking about?
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I have the Eskimo economy spud bar. Has a ring welded to the top. I have a wrist loop made from green reflective rope attached to it with a carabiner. Works great.
As for a handle wrap, I use the type of rope for a handle. A rope handle sounds like a good idea until you whack the ice 20 times and your handle starts sliding down the length of your bar.
Personally, for a handle wrap, I’d use baseball bat grip tape. You could use the Winn grip tape but it’s much more expensive that bat tape. That stuff isn’t going to slide around.
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My spud is 4 1/2 ft long with a small T on the end. I have a rope tied to that. The rope is a little longer than half the spud with a loop on. This way you can still have the rope on your wrist and carry the spud in the center.. jmo..
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Spuds bars are still used to this day to cut new holes . when dudes travel 3 hours and forget the 3 augers back at home. Wasnt fun chipping thru 10+ inches last week on Lake Pleasnt. But sure warmed you up.
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this what you talking about?
This is what i did. Works with braided nylon rope. Makes a nice padded handle and comed off in seconds.
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I got about a 10 inch loop tied to mine..enough to get my hand thru and wrap once or twice around my wrist. Aslo have a piece of rebar welded to the top of the loop to make a T for when i chop out holes for a minnow trap
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My spud is homemade,with a t bar welded on top.I use a loose loop around my wrist,my thinking is with a loose loop I could shake it off if need be.That said,I lost my spud last season because of a loose loop,luckily a strong magnet allowed me to retrieve it.
I still use a loose loop,but I wrap it once around my wrist ,this way it is a bit snugger ,but I can still shake it off quickly in the event of a breakthrough.
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The paracord wrap might do the trick. I want something as a grip, but more importantly, can be used as an anchored throw rope. A second loose loop for a tether to keep from losing it by accident, but easily slipped off in an emergency.
Thanks for the help
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It'd suck finding myself anchored to the bottom of a lake because I couldn't let go of a $30 chunk of metal that's sole purpose is to keep me from drowning.
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You’re gonna need a lot of rope wrapped around that handle for a throw rope. Probably much more than what would make using the spud comfortable or practical. My rope handle goes for about a foot and unwrapped it’s only about 40”, if that.
Also, I’m not sure how well a spud bar would be used as an “anchor”. If you actually need to use it, are you going to tell the guy to hold on while you spud an anchoring point? IF it were me, I’d just use the spud for what it’s for and bring an extra coil of rope in case of emergencies.
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Well, Pat's twice my weight. So yeah, I'll need an anchor point stronger than my back, knees and Khatoolas. Throw ropes might be in the sled a hundred yards away. Three or four whacks gives me leverage.
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You need 50' minimum for a throw rope. You dont want to be anywhere close to the spot the other guy went through.. and if you drag a rope, you dont want your rescuer to come too close to get the end. Mine is 100'. You arent getting more than about 10' as a handle on the spud.
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I don't want to take the time to unwrap a rope from the shaft of my spud while my buddy is bobbing in the water. I carry a coil of throw rope tied to a life cushion in my hut. the hut has a 10' pull rope attached to it. The hut will stay on top of the ice when the pulling person go thru. The buddy can then grab the throw rope from the hut and toss it to the person in the water. On my spud only a wrist rope loop.