Going through 30 inches of ice with hand auger?

[Red Nuck]

It sucks, plain and simple. This pic was taken just before I broke through with an 8". Fortunately, less than 5 mins later I began a fight with a 28" walleye in the other hole.

[DR.SPECKLER]

Augers of ANY type weren't even thought of back in our day Doc.

well I'm not that old,they were around in my youth.lol my dad wouldn't buy us kids one..i used a spud for so damn long.then my olman bought a spoon auger at a garage sale.i used that dull pos once and then went back to the spud.the ice was so much thicker when I was a teenager.i got my 1st auger at the age of around 18 I think.the  kmart on 28th st. was going out of business and had a stack of 8"moras for 8 bucks a piece.i bought a whole stack of them.i still have a few in boxes that i bought so many years ago.

[WARRIOR_ON_ICE]

We took turns and it still took a solid 20 minutes to get thru. Plus the last 2 ft had to kneel, no extension.

PLUS it was a high lake at 12,200 ft elevation.  Never got a bite.

The last sentence of this post could be used to coin a new phrase - HYPOXIA SKUNK

When I was in the best shape of my entire life in my mid-twenties, I made 15 holes through 32" black ice with my 8" MORA, and the blades were not close to brand new ( they were the high quality Swedish ones though ). I was drilling like a crazy person, showing off some for a couple guys making their 1st trip with me. I barely rested between holes and got all 15 done in 45 minutes, NOT A TYPO.  I was a pretty hard core gym rat back then and would often do reps with the weights at the gym until I became nauseous. 

When I got done with the 15th hole that day I was stripping down to just a sweat-soaked tee shirt in 5 degree F temp, - the steam was pouring off from me like a locomotive for about 10 minutes.

[Sandcountrylivin]

I just took a brand new ht Nero with offset handles out of the box and was surprised at how easily a 7" auger flew through the ice. If I were only walleye/whitebass fishing it would be a a breeze in 24" of ice. On the other hand if you planned to be a hole hopping panfisherman I would highly suggest you consider the powered auger over the shanty. Also if you get a hand auger treat your blades like your baby!