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Hello everybody, I am torn and looking for a little advice. I have been ice fishing for a few years now which means I have been adding to my gear collection for a few years now. The big difference this year is that my kids are old enough and very excited to join me on the ice . The past few years I have been hand drilling my own holes with a 6 inch Mora ice auger. As you can imagine, I will be drilling quite a few more holes this year so the kids will have their own flags (mostly bass, pickerel and pan fish so they can chase them all day). I am not very sure that I want to drop a couple of hundred dollars on a gas, propane or electric auger but I want an upgrade. Here is my question to you all . . .1. Do I purchase a Clam Ice Auger Conversion Kit? If I do this then I can use my Mora 6 inch auger on it along with my Porter Cable 20V Max drill driver (2 - 1.5A batteries). I do also fish for lake trout once in a while so I am a little nervous about the 6 inch hole. Yes it has always been big enough in the past but there is that what if factor. Also, if I purchase this kit then I am without an electric drill for the ice fishing season for stuff around the house.2. Do I purchase am 8 inch Nils auger? If I do this then I obviously have the extra space to fit up the bag laker during the derby. I also would have my drill for the season if I need it for house stuff. The downfall is I have never used a Nils but I hear that they cut like butter. Regardless, I would still be hand drilling a bunch of holes.3. Do you have any other options for me to consider?
I ran the drill plate all last season with an 8" nills hand auger blade. It was the only auger I used and I was very happy with it. I was on the ice at least four days per week, with only two 4.0Ah Li batteries, and it never failed me. I will be running the same setup this season. Here are my thoughts on your questions and some other things I noted:1) I burned up a $99 Dewalt drill the first time I used it. It isn't enough drill unless you only drill 6 holes or so each trip and give the drill time with an 8". I switched to a DCD990 Brushless and it performed flawlessly. (Note: the chucks on the Dewalt drills are infamously difficult to get off. The Milwaukee M18 fuel drill's chucks are easier to remove, but I only heard one report of them performing as well as the Dewalt. I don't have any experience with the Milwaukee though so don't take my word for it. I've fished with you and I think you will be fine with the setup you are thinking about based on how you fish. 2) The auger drill plate will not accept the nills hand auger blade without having an adapter made by a machinist. I had an adapter made and I'm glad I did. The nills doesn't cut much faster than the Strikemaster lazer hand auger blade, but it cuts easier so you get more holes per battery. I also like the length of the nills, especially when we had 30" of ice. You can buy from Clam or have an extension made for regular hand auger blades (mora, lazer, eskimo.) I have never used my nills by hand, but I can only imagine it will cut easier than the lazer since it does on the drill plate.3) It's battery power in the cold so yes, you need to keep the batteries from getting too cold. I found a small (6"x6") soft-side cooler and throw the batteries in it with a few hand warmers and I was set for the day. Also, I'm really looking forward to the 5.0Ah batteries that Dewalt came out with.4) When installing the hand auger adapter shaft on the drill (for the auger drill plate), make sure you apply anti-seize to the threads generously or you will never get it off again. Any hope of pulling double-duty with your drill will be gone.5) I installed my nills adapter using wing nuts and keep the hand auger handle that came with my nills as back up. That way I can get the auger off the drill plate and put the handle on if I need to. I haven't had to use it, but all things break at some point and it's better to be safe than sorry.
What can I say again!! Nils Augers are now my favorite. But! I only recommend them as 41/2" and 6" hand augers or battery drill adaptive. Three years of experience let me know that for most ice fishermen a 20 volt drill and either or these drills will give you much less to carry around and way more holes than you will need for a bunch of kids catching medium size fish. Dick