IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Darkhouse Spearing => Topic started by: Captain Happy on Dec 16, 2012, 10:01 AM
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Plan on doing some spearing for the first time, I have a 30yr. old J Iffy power auger, my question is can I drill holes that overlap one another so I don't have to chisel it out, or do I have to give the holes a space and then chisel it out, Thanks The Captain
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Do whatever works best/easiest. It's just a hole in the ice.
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Spacing your auger holes a bit gives you a bigger spearing hole with less work but you still will have a lot of slush to bail using an auger to make your hole. Invest in a Fish's Ice Saw as your second piece of equipment and you can make quick work of the ice between the holes. You'll find that any points sticking out from the edges will be obstacles for your decoy line to "snag" on while working the deek. The ice saw is really handy for reopening your hole in your shack. Punch a hole through the freeze over in the corner and saw out the frozen sheet. No chips all over your shack or splashing water and much easier to dispose of the large ice chunks. And the saw helps keep your hole the original size when they try to "grow" back in from the edges. Worth their weight in gold.
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When I first started spearing I did not have power auger. I use a chainsaw and a chisel and it worked great for years.
I drained the bar oil first and then cut a few slots in the ice away from where I planed to put my shack.
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When I first started spearing I did not have power auger. I use a chainsaw and a chisel and it worked great for years.
I drained the bar oil first and then cut a few slots in the ice away from where I planed to put my shack.
See people doing this all of the time. Seems to work relatively well and quickly for them.
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I drill two rows of five 10" holes then spud out the center, after that I got spud out the edges and lift out the block on return visits to the same spot.
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I drill the 4 corners then use my ice saw. A chain saw throws water every where including all over you and the saw but does work good. I used to just use allot of drilled holes but the decoys line would always get hung up on the edges not to mention all the slush.
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If I were a darkhouse guy, I would add one more piece to the kit and that would be ice climbing screws. Put two ice screws into the slab where you want the opening, drill two holes in opposite corners, use an ice saw to connect the dots in rectangle form, then use the ice screws as handles to lift out the block and again use them to put the block back in if you're a more mobile sort. Just some thoughts.
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Put two ice screws into the slab where you want the opening, drill two holes in opposite corners, use an ice saw to connect the dots in rectangle form, then use the ice screws as handles to lift out the block and again use them to put the block back in if you're a more mobile sort.
That might sound like a good game plan in theory but in reality the weight of the ice and the awkward position for lifting makes this idea unfeasible. A typical spear hole measuring 2 ft x 3 ft with just 12 inches of ice contains 6 cubic feet of ice. At 62# per cubic foot that block weighs in at 372 pounds. Most spearos cutting blocks keep them no more than 1'x2' and use tongs. Railroad tie tongs are the absolute best if you can find a set because they have a wide spread and very long handles preventing you from bending over. You can use your legs for lifting and pulling the blocks.
We are already over 26 inches of ice on some lakes and now getting overflow on top of that. So you would need a cherry picker to lift that block in one piece. :)
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That might sound like a good game plan in theory but in reality the weight of the ice and the awkward position for lifting makes this idea unfeasible. A typical spear hole measuring 2 ft x 3 ft with just 12 inches of ice contains 6 cubic feet of ice. At 62# per cubic foot that block weighs in at 372 pounds. Most spearos cutting blocks keep them no more than 1'x2' and use tongs. Railroad tie tongs are the absolute best if you can find a set because they have a wide spread and very long handles preventing you from bending over. You can use your legs for lifting and pulling the blocks.
We are already over 26 inches of ice on some lakes and now getting overflow on top of that. So you would need a cherry picker to lift that block in one piece. :)
Maybe with those thicknesses it ain't such a good idea then. Maybe one could have their buddy stand on one end to lever it up onto the ice. ;-)
Was surprised with the 62# per cubic foot number. That's just under 8 gals per cube absent weight difference between liquid vs. solid densities. I wouldn't have thought it so heavy.
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Yeah it isn't obvious just how much an ice cube weighs. http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/subsection1_4_2_0_7.html (http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/subsection1_4_2_0_7.html)
One gallon = 8.35# as my back will attest when bucketing out all the slush in the hole. Rounding down to 62# per cu/ft due to the slightly lighter density of ice making it float. My back learned early on to keep those blocks small. Makes them easily to maneuver on top of the ice and position around the darkhouse and later for breaking loose and dumping back in the hole when moving. Some of us even stack them as furniture to set up a stove to brew up a pot of java or work on tip up gear.
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You don"t have to overlap your holes just drill right next to each other than take your chisel and cut off all of the points when you are done you will end up with a pretty square hole.
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(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8221/8380368345_a18815c143.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/91839321@N02/8380368345/)
tapatalk_1358141454189 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/91839321@N02/8380368345/) by Darkhouse Forge Decoys and Spears (http://www.flickr.com/people/91839321@N02/), on FlickrHere's how I do it, but normally the waters under the ice, crazy MI weather.
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Must be nice i can put the boat in where i fish.
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Must be nice i can put the boat in where i fish.
we still have 8-10" of clear ice here.
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18" as of sunday.
(http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc487/johnkirk2010/WP_000091.jpg)
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Pulling the ice blocks out with ice anchors worked awesome for me! I would at least give it a go if you don't have tongs!
(http://i1058.photobucket.com/albums/t402/jared_dewell/thick20ice_zpsaqh0cvon.jpg) (http://s1058.photobucket.com/user/jared_dewell/media/thick20ice_zpsaqh0cvon.jpg.html)
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You can do 4 holes long by 3 wide. It still helps to have a chisel because its hard to get the perfectly straight. It's also easier not to try and overlap them as the auger will take the path of least resistance. It doesn't take much chiseling to break the block free. The chisel also helps to push the block under the ice or use it as a crowbar if you want to pry it out, but you'll need additional tools to do so.
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I used to drill my hose out, the problem with overlapping them, is your auger will want to jump around. I finally bought an ice saw, but with all the ice we have, I resorted to spacing the holes drilling the out, and saw from one hole to the next
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as said , if you do drill them out, you will end up with a ton of slush that takes a while to clean out with skimmer, so, I took an old racket ball racket,( I am 63 and don't chase anything much anymore), put old tee shirt over it and zip tied at handle, clears it out real quick, can use tennis, or badminton racket also. I used what I had
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as said , if you do drill them out, you will end up with a ton of slush that takes a while to clean out with skimmer
We took a big aluminum scoop shovel and swiss-cheesed that sucker with a drill bit and that's what we use to scoop the slush out of the spear hole. It works good.
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Just drill a start hole and then cut it with an ice, does a neat and clean job. Check with Dream Outdoors, they have them on sale.
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I used to spear on Eagle Lake, a few miles North of Willmar MN. That was too many years ago to admit. But I was young at the time and I used to use a spud to chip out the holes in 2 feet of ice when we went out. Too poor to buy an auger or an ice saw. Does any one put that much work in a hole these days? Man was that some hard work for the skinny kid I was then.
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I used to spear on Eagle Lake, a few miles North of Willmar MN. That was too many years ago to admit. But I was young at the time and I used to use a spud to chip out the holes in 2 feet of ice when we went out. Too poor to buy an auger or an ice saw. Does any one put that much work in a hole these days?
No!!!
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:laugh: I thought not.
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If you're looking for the best ice tongs ever made, do a Google search for Higgins Marine Metals. The Sabertooth tongs that Brant makes are unbeatable.
I power auger the perimeter of my holes then saw the connecting ice. To remove the copious amount of slush quickly, I use a net like the one's at baitshops used for getting minnows out of tanks.