Who's old enough to remember when we only had spuds and chisels?

[taxi1]

luckily we dont get enough ice for an extension needed.  are you kidding me Cecil.  no crankin for this worn out sack of fat n bones.

 

[SirCranksalot]

we dreamt of getting a brontosaurus one day so we could get into the back country

[snow snake]

 yes ,
 I remember the sound of someone cutting holes thumping !!!
still carry one for checking ice thickness early ice

[2MuchStuff]

I still carry my grandfathers ice spud, he born in 1898 was old school.
taught me to fish with a hand line for pickerel.
I still do it the old way sometimes when its warm out except for the
gas powered auger and the electronics .

[Gamalot]

My first spud back around 1963-64 is at the bottom of the lake and my buddy had to buy me a new one. They were just 3/4" black pipe with a steel wedge and a T handle on top. I tied a rope through the T and a loop at the end I put over my boot so I never lost another one. We used buckets for seat and we made walls with snow and water to give us a wind block to sit behind. No electronics and just the minimum we could carry and strapped onto our flexible flyer sleds. I still have the sled and spud and maybe even a few of my old tip ups somewhere in my shed. My fishing buddy bought a spoon auger that worked pretty good as long as it was sharp but I always prefered the spud and could chop a hole just as quickly with it. There were winters when we had 18-22" of ice here but I haven't seen that in years in these southern parts of NY.
I even think the pickerel were a lot dumber back then. We had thick black line and giant hooks on steel leaders and caught lots of fish. Now I use 6 pound leaders and the smallest hooks I can get through a baitfish.
Drop the sounding weight to the bottom and come up a foot of so was the standard procedure back then and now I stagger the depths every tip up by 5 feet as I set up and then determine what depth is working best. I always have one that is up just off the bottom in my lake that is only 30 feet deep in one spot. Most days if I do catch fish they come from just under the ice or between 5-15 down.

[taxi1]

we dreamt of getting a brontosaurus one day so we could get into the back country

What am I missing here?

[SirCranksalot]

What am I missing here?

 

[rivereddy]

I built my first "fish finder" a green box/flasher from an outfit called Heathkit in the early 70s. It still works.  It replaced my old fish finder - a sparkplug attached to an old aligator clip....

BRW  Heathkit also made a temperature sensor kit.  It was great for finding the thermocline and could sent temp readings down to  50 feet.  Yup it still works too

fish on,

rivereddy

[Gamalot]

I built my first "fish finder" a green box/flasher from an outfit called Heathkit in the early 70s. It still works.  It replaced my old fish finder - a sparkplug attached to an old aligator clip....

BRW  Heathkit also made a temperature sensor kit.  It was great for finding the thermocline and could sent temp readings down to  50 feet.  Yup it still works too

fish on,

rivereddy

Both Heathkit and Dynaco made some mighty fine stereo/audio gear you could buy ready made or in kit form to DIY. A buddy built a great Dynaco stereo tube amplifier back while I was in the navy during Vietnam and it still sounds great today. Heath had great speakers using the best Altec drivers you could buy back then and they are highly sought after today. Too bad I never knew they had finders because they would probably still work great now.

[77tech]

Eddy that was my first flasher too.  Remember the calibration procedure, they had a special power cord that plugged into to the board and then you adjusted the pot until the dial was at some specified point.  I missed the temp unit wish I had one of those.  I also built their rechargeable camping / whatever light.  It was a little fluorescent unit with a small 6v gell cell battery.  I found a black light bulb for it for fishing at night.  Tried it out on the boat catfishing at night.  Made your line stand out like a piece of rope really visible.  Think I only tried it once, loved how well you could see your line but it drew the bugs like crazy. 

[Killerfountaine!]

Good times lol

[river_scum]

we dreamt of getting a brontosaurus one day so we could get into the back country

lmao  was that made by honda?

[Rebelss]

Stegosaurus would be better; three horns on front double as an auger carrier. 

[DR.SPECKLER]

Stegosaurus would be better; three horns on front double as an auger carrier. 

isnt that triceratops?

[Rebelss]

isnt that triceratops?

Not sure, do you have one hiding somewhere out in yer barn hoard? 

[DR.SPECKLER]

Stegosaurus has the big  bone plates on its back,triceratops has the 3 horns on head.little dino info this morning.lol

[Rebelss]

Proper way to pass the time waiting for a bite in the 1950's...the tip ups look more like boom cranes !   

[taxi1]

Proper way to pass the time waiting for a bite in the 1950's...the tip ups look more like boom cranes !   

Now that lake probably had hundreds of cottages and year around homes around it. 

[SirCranksalot]

Stegosaurus would be better; three horns on front double as an auger carrier. 

Is that what you got after your brontosaurus? How much did you get on the trade-in?

[Rebelss]

Not much. Ran into a Tyrannosaurus on the way there and got T-rexed. 

[dubob]

I built my first "fish finder" a green box/flasher from an outfit called Heathkit in the early 70s.

This has absolutely nothimng to do with ice fishing, but that just brought forth a long ago forgotten memory.  My very first color TV was a Heathkit.  I put it together at work while working mid shifts (11 PM until 7 AM) in the military.  It took me 3 shifts to complete.  We had that set for 5 years when we upgraded to a store bought floor model TV/stereo system.  I didn't know they also made a flasher sonar.  Their kits were first class no matter what they were.  One of my cousins was an electrical engineer that worked for Heathkit for over 20 years.

[dearjimschmidt]

I can remember using a spud through up to 18 inches of ice. I think I'd have a heart attack if I tried that today at 64.

Then came the spoon type augers, followed by blades, started seeing gas powered augers and now folks are using electric.


Hell I can remember when the first fish finders came out as in the Lowrance Green box!

We've come a long way baby!

Shucks now I just reminded myself how old I am! 

For as long as I can recall being out on the ice there have been Jiffy augers screaming.  I had to call my Grandfather in Kewaskum WI to confirm this but he said he has been using a gas jiffy auger since the mid 50s when they became available around WI.  he also said he had a beaver dam tipup given to him by his father when he was in his teens 30s-40s.  the man telling my this over the phone is 102.

[filetandrelease]

 God bless him bet he’s got tons of stories
 I would luv to sit down with him and visit
 
 

[namkeng]

I saw two guys out last year wearing blue jeans, baseball hats and sneakers. They were trying to knock a hole through with a hand axe. Don't think they had the dough for anything more. I punched about 20 holes for them with the ION.

[hnd]

i'm only 41 but my first memory of ice fishing was busted open water rods glued into a dowel rod with a schooly taped to it.   we cut holes with a spud bar.  until we bought a mora with rusty blades.   some of our most fun times. 

[Rebelss]

Forgot about those broken rods stuck in a dowel!   

[SirCranksalot]

That's what I used a few years back when I started ice fishing. I think I still have it. Wrked fine as I recall.

[PikeKing23]

I bet everybody chopped 10" holes just cause you didn't want to do it again!

I also imagine nobody complained about their kids falling in, either. lol

[DR.SPECKLER]

With a axe the top of the hole was 10" then tapered to 5" in thick ice.lol tripping hazards.

[BIGDEERHUNTER63]

45 Years on the ice and we always had augers with blades.