dudes the ice is all of 8 inches thick.tried out father inlaws new ice gator,that thing is a beautiful piece of equipment,attached my lazer 8 inch auger with new blades on it and we chewed some ice man.i would put that up against ANY gas auger.anyways pretty slow 9 perch of the 9,10 inch size.father inlaw caught a monster pike all of 34 inches long on a16 inch genz rod with 4 lb line,second biggun in a weeks time,ocassional steelhead is also hooked.anyhows good luck and bring beer.