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

[Rebelss]

  I am.  That was back in the early 1950s.  And we only fished with hand lines.

Wrapped around the ol' wooden grooved wood "dowel", right? 

[JDH46151]

I started ice fishing about 5 years ago.  The first couple years I had a hatchet and a Schooley, no electronics.  Second year I tried a spoon I found in my in-laws barn but it was too dull.  The following year picked up a hand auger and a spinning reel.  Followed that up with a fish finder(picked it up for the boat but made sure it had an ice transducer) and another rod.  This year I picked up a hub shelter and plan on getting a few more jigs and lures.

[guthook1]

Have used my spud for many years, and continue to still use it....only as I got more into ice fishing, it was relegated to chipping open old holes left rom early augered holes from my Mora, then later on to my gas auger......Now that I have switched to an ION X electric auger that will re-drill old holes, my trusty chisel still works fine for testing early ice thickness.
14" and still snowing/blowing.

[Gills-only]

Started with a spud, then to spoon auger, then to augers. My dad used to tell me stories about cutting holes with a axe! That’s when we used to get 20-30” ice here in lower Michigan, I told him no way. He said you started about 2’ wide at top and by time u got thru had a hole big enough to fish, and you were mostly soaked! Do t sound like fun to me, also there was little to no hole hopping! Lol, I still have my grandpas spud he made out of a car spring

[Fishmon]

That brings back some old memories.  My dad and his brothers (my uncles) would pile us in cars and head up to Bulwagga bay on Lake Champlain after Christmas in early 1960s.  The purpose was twofold: (1) Get us kids out of house, and (2) Have us spud holes for tip ups which you were allowed to put out 15 per person on Champlain.  They told us that they admired our work ethic.   After chopping 45 plus holes through a foot plus of ice we somehow got  the impression that they just might be taking advantage of us; especially my older cousins who bragged about being on the football team, etc.

Now I blast through a foot or more of ice with with my trusty clam plate, Milwaukee drill, and Nils auger combo.  Times have changed.  People will probably laugh at the Clam plate, drill, auger combo twenty years from now as they use laser to cut holes.

[Jack978]

I remember drilling through a couple of feet of ice with a spoon auger and being reminded to hurry up as I was taking too long, and it was going to get dark by 4pm.  I did 15 holes and mine were always last as the guys who took me were concerned about building character and teaching me about work while they drank beer and watched.

[lefty2053]

Axe and scooped the ice by hand.

[Iceattic]

I remember! Started out with a 6 inch hole on top then when I hit water it was maybe 3 inches around!  How about the old hand augers with the cup on the bottom?

[POk3s]

Born in 1991 this is as close as I got….one day I forgot my auger at home, but I had shovel! I chipped my way through about 6” of ice for two holes and called it good enough!

[DR.SPECKLER]

I was born in 1974 and still had to use tools the ol timers did.my dad would not waste money on fishing gear.chopped with a axe a few years,spud for too many years and finally i bought my own 8" mora.sat on a bucket/lantern box,old rod that had nails to wrap line around with a styrofoam float with a glow demon jig.loving every minute of it.but i think thats why i hoard gear now,because we had nothing growing up.

[A man called horse]

Born in 50, remember taking the axe along & sometimes the 40# go devil. Good part was there were soooo many fishermen that a lot of holes were free for the taking.

[Seth M. Silver]

Nothing is easier than my Dewalt with Nils auger. The only thing I use old school is my Coleman burner

[filetandrelease]

 I remember but it wasn’t long I had a spoon Auger  which I still have it was all down hill after that , to a mora 6” with 12” extension built in which I still own
 I still have my old spud , but bought a lighter 1 for checking ice thickness and density
And welcome to the site Seth M Silver
 

[Happy Hooker]

I can rember when an axe was all we had, willow branches to hold lines and a cardboard box with wood, we set on fire to keep warm.
 Old as it sounds we still had fun.

Hooker

[hawg]

We all made the old dowel and pick style fish rigs in 7th grade shop class.

[IceSpartan]

As a teenager in Michigan we used to take a crow bar and break through iced over holes that others had fished through.  Never failed to catch a few. 

[slipperybob]

aaahh...axe and crowbars...

[badger132]

As a kid, I think the only piece of purchased ice fishing gear we owned was an old spoon auger. We never sharpened it, so we wore a lot of holes in the ice. Rods were tips of old summer rods sunk in a dowel with nails to wind line around. I still have the Beaver Dam tip up I got for Christmas when I was 11. I still remember when I saw the first "Snail shelters" out on the ice- I don't know who made them, but they were visqueen and conduit, but you could feel the smug emissions from the anglers sheltering from the wind. A few years later we saw the first Fish Traps out on the lake, and it became harder to sit out in the midwest wind.
I still get satisfaction from making my own gear as much as I can in my wood shop, but I also have started to spend whatever it takes to get out on the ice at 64. I snowshoed out last Monday, and am still feeling it today. I sure hope the ice gets safe for snow machines soon!

[dubob]

Wrapped around the ol' wooden grooved wood "dowel", right? 

Close.  Looked very similar to this one.

[SirCranksalot]

Well lemme tell ya young feller. We didn't have such new-fangled things like a spud bar back in my day. We just had an axe. Kept things simple


Yup---that was us. Still remember the water on the face

Started with a spud, then to spoon auger, then to augers. My dad used to tell me stories about cutting holes with a axe! That’s when we used to get 20-30” ice here in lower Michigan, I told him no way. He said you started about 2’ wide at top and by time u got thru had a hole big enough to fish, and you were mostly soaked! Do t sound like fun to me, also there was little to no hole hopping! Lol, I still have my grandpas spud he made out of a car spring

[Rebelss]

Close.  Looked very similar to this one.

Oh, that's the updated fancy version.....

[bart]

I can remember when I was really young and that’s all I could afford..

X2!

[BlueDuck]

I started ice fishing in 1965 with an axe and a hand line. 

[dubob]

Oh, that's the updated fancy version.....

Yeah - my dad really liked to go first class.

[Knife2sharp]

My great uncle had an electric auger he connected to his truck battery. This auger had a steel tube for fluting and it would remove the entire ice column it cut. I never looked inside the tube to see how it cut, as there was zero shavings and I don't even know how the ice plug came out, I just remember them next to his permy. I also remember it looked extremely heavy, even without a column of ice in it. 

Does anyone know who made this? It looked old and had no name it from what I can remember. I started fishing in the 80s, and this looked old back then, I'm guessing the 50s or 60s.

[river_scum]

You still do don't you? 

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. 

[Rebelss]

Yeah - my dad really liked to go first class.

Ran across these on an antique site....from around 1900.   

[maddogg]

I can rember when an axe was all we had, willow branches to hold lines and a cardboard box with wood, we set on fire to keep warm.
 Old as it sounds we still had fun.

Hooker

Did you take the buggy down to the lake?

[Rebelss]

Did you take the buggy down to the lake?

Nope, rode the brontosaurus. 

[taxi1]

I remember drilling through a couple of feet of ice with a spoon auger and being reminded to hurry up as I was taking too long, and it was going to get dark by 4pm.  I did 15 holes and mine were always last as the guys who took me were concerned about building character and teaching me about work while they drank beer and watched.