Eskimos!

[Hickory]

Hey everyone,
  So, I've got an eskimo 10" with the tecumseh 3hp.  Love the heck out of it when it is sharp and it will really hog the ice!.  Problem is that i hit the river alot and blades get sanded pretty bad.  Then i have to stand there for about 5 times as long as i think i should have to in order to hit water.  With a new set of blades it seems like i get about 3-4 "good" holes and then we slow down bad.  After this happens it seems like the situation is even worse when i hit the clear, hard lake ice!  So here is the question to those out there who are more in the know; can I sharpen the dull blades on my own in a time effective fashion and how?, is it better to just buy knew blades and can the old?, and finally is it worth the time/money to have a pair devoted to the lake ice and just take the time to switch to them for lakes?  I have also noticed the the center "ice breaker" peg is showing some bad wear.  I see it can be flipped to utilize the opposite edge, but is it a good idea to file this point and clean it up or again purchase the new?  The reason i ask this last question is because the auger is chattering around real bad on top of the ice before i get 3-4 inches in.  I figure a good sharp peg will help this.
 
Now for some good stuff.  Went out and hit Harding yesterday morning.  This is only the second time i've dropped a line there.  We tried to hit the submerged sadal but were a bit off in our visual judgements, ended up being in about 20 ft of water.  Wanted to start things off lively so i dropped a 4" Rapala jigging minnow.  Worked from bottom up for about 10 minutes and then brought it to about 5' under the ice where i could see it real good and what do I see!!??  The greenish back of something gigantic trailing that minnow around!!!!  Got to see it a couple times over about 4-5 seconds but no hits. Sure was exciting none the less.  Ended up wetting about everything i thought a big laker would find tastey over the next three hours with no luck.  That water is crazy clear down there, I could see jigs we were using plainly to the bottom. 

  Bent rods to ALL!!

[Hungry4Fish]

I've got the small Eskimo auger motor (I don't know the horsepower), and I have three augers for it; a 10", a 8", and a 6". I've never even used the 6", and tend to use the 10" more than the 8".

I've run into the same problem. Just once hitting the gravel on the bottom will screw up your drilling speed. What's worse, AIH is the only distributor in the Valley (that I know of) with replacement blades, and they're $22 a pop! I've got two sets of new replacements for both the 10" and the 8", and I tried sharpening a dulled set of 10" blades (haven't tried them out yet on the ice). I just put them in the vice and went to work on them with a fine file.

What's bad is that I have better luck with burbot in areas where there is sometimes less than a foot of water under the ice. I think the baitfish run up into that pinch point to get away from the big fish, and the bigger fish cruise the edge trying to catch them wandering outward.

But drilling holes near the shallows means dullling blades on the bottom.

I'm thinking of buying a small, handheld sonar that can find the bottom through the ice, so I can know the depth before punching holes and hitting gravel.

[PIKEGUY]

You can try and sharpen them but they are so touchy and the angle of the blades is as much if not more important as the sharpness. I would get yorself a seperate set for clean ice unless you fish both in the same day often. Just my .02

[Hungry4Fish]

regarding the small hand held sonars.  THey do OK at best in any amount of ice.  If the ice is not pretty clear they do even worse.  Last hole we popped in the tannana we bottomed out at 54"es and still didnt hit water.  To say the least the ice was white almost the hole way down.  Those hand held units wont work in ice like this.....

I was told that a sealed pack of antifreeze helps the handheld sonars get better readings through ice. Have you tried that?

...As far as blades are concerned.  That's why I spent the money on a jiffy!...

Are the Jiffy blades cheaper?

[Barleydog]

OK, I'll give it a try Hickory.  I like any ripper blades on an auger while fishing the silty river.  I use a 10" Jiffy and a 8" strikemaster wiht good success.  The single blade can be "touched up" with a Lansky style sharpener.  I use a fine stone for this operation.  Just use it on the cutting side and sharpen it at the given angle.  You can take the burr down with one swipe, but not needed.  Dual straight blades like those found on some of the Eskimos and other Lazer style rigs, can be a pain in the butt!  Ask FFiremen and KPAlaska about that one... eh Brad and Kevin?   You can save time by bringing an extra set of blades,a rachet and a backup wrench.  I carry two sets in my tackle box that are sharpened in the comforts of home. 
Good to hear your Harding trip got you pumped.  There are some sows in that lake!  If I can give you one piece of advice....  Throw back any char above 5 lbs. mushy, fishy, and downright catfood unless you smoke it.   It's really hard to catch a fish on Harding that goes below 5 lbs. though!  Good luck     

[Hungry4Fish]

Regarding the antifreeze trick, no I didn't.  Never heard of it before now.  Even then in this thick of ice I think your results will be marginal at best.  I am however able to read depths with my lx-5 a lot more consistently then I was getting from the polar vision by going to the narrow beam transducer and turning up the gain appropriatly.....

Now, that's a good tip! I fooled around with my Vexilar, spitting on the ice, then putting the transducer on the wet ice (no, I didn't freeze it to the lake.....yet!). I might have to experiment with that some more.

...Jiffy blades are no cheaper however they are STRAIGHT! unlike strikemaster and eskimo.  This give you, the consumer the opportunity to sharpen them.  They even sell a cheap jig to ensure you have the correct angle....

That's good to know, too. When the Eskimo finally gives out, I'll be looking hard at the Jiffys.

...If you get it let me know I can drive it back up for ya as I'm headed back north here in two weeks. (if you live in fairbanks)...

I don't have the money to switch mid-stream. Too many other toys to get!

I live in Palmer. I'm a warm-weather kind of guy.

[Hickory]

Thanks for the input everyone!  I had heard by word of mouth that the eskimo blades where near impossible to sharpen by hand.  Anyone think it might be worth taking them to a shop to get them re-edged if you had a few pairs?  Haven't made any effort to research this yet but if its not more than 10-15$ a pair it could be worth it.  As for the Jiffy/strikemaster/eskimo debate, different strokes for different folks!  Just as long as you hit the water somehow .  I might try a different auger brand down the road, but currently in the second year using this one and can't see ditching it yet.  Cuts like a champ on clean ice with good blades for quite some time. 

Thanks again everyone, happy to see the friendly outreach to the newbies!
Tite lines to all!