What was your first ice fishing equipment you used back when you starting ice fishing?
My first portable had 16 poles and it was only a 4×6.
My first auger looked like a cork screw. It had a T-handle on it and took two guys to drill a hole. 
I can remember getting stuck in my old Ford maverick trying to get to the stock dams back home. I had an old spoon hand auger, it would only take me 15 – 20 minutes per hole. Had some wood dowles(sp?) with a couple nails in them to hold the line. I could fit all my tackle in a fly box, don’t remember exactly what I had in there, but mostly hooks and split shot. Thanks for reminding me how good I have it now!!!
My first ice fishing equipment consisted of a spoon type hand auger my dad had. It took considerable effort just to drill a hole in the ice. We carried our 5 gallon buckets to hold our equipment & sit on. Once we drilled a couple of holes we simply turned our backs to the wind & started fishing. Our ice fishing rods were very basic as there were no reels attached just 2 wooden posts that you wrapped your line around. Of course, we also had the “poor mans depth finder” which was simply a lead weight that you clamped onto your line. Those were the days. Ice fishing equipment has gotten alot better and more sophisticated over the years but we sure caught alot of fish years ago despite the equipment we had to use then. Now we just don’t have to work quite as hard to catch fish as we used to I guess.
EyesHaveIt
ahhhh… the good ‘ole “backscratchers”
one rod with the wood screws to spool the line on. Used a steel rod to chip out our holes. Thank God we were about 12 years old and full of energy!
You guys must be about 110!
Only about 16 or so years ago for me Juggs. Crazy isn’t it.
I mentioned this in another thread but did anyone have any ice rods made of broken hockey sticks or broom handles?
I had a regular “custom” jig pole factory going on in my basement.
I started ice fishing on Mille Lacs back in the early 50’s. We used ice chisels and 8 x 8 shacks that were made of 4×8 sheets of masonite with 2×2’s for studs. In the late 50’s Dad bought a 4×4 Jeep Wagon, the Green Hornet, and we upgraded to a 10″ Ice Auger that was powered by 12 volts and cut a 10′ cylinder, that you pulled out and deposited next to the hole. It was great for using inside a shack, he installed jumper cable ends on it, so you just hooked it to the jeep’s battery. Those were also the days that we used to ski behind the jeep, using beartrap bindings and the summer’s water ski tow rope tied to the trailer hitch. That was for the quiet times when the fish were not biting. For really great sport, we used to jeep/ski past the dark houses that were very common on the North Shore of Mille Lacs, and that was always good for some fine Minnesota comments from the local spearfisherman, named Barneveld or Honnold.
when I started fishing my rods were made of old christian brother hockey sticks with 2 nails in the side to hold the string, and an eye screwed into the end, with a 16 penny nail toenailed out the end to make a poker. I remember our first fishing shack was a 8×12 house that was transported on to the ice in 2 6×8 sections, and heated with a little wood stove, that was really good for melting your lines when you got even remotely close to it, or melting holes in your snow suit knees. My first hand auger was a swedish spoon, and usually you spent more time drilling holes than you did fishing,and when you finally got the holes drilled you’d get the strainer you stole from ma’s kitchen and clean the holes out, then use the same strainer for the ice cream/minnow bucket. My first gas auger was an old green and white 2 horse eskimo? I think. All I really remember about the auger is that it took an act of god to get it to run, and when it ran you had to hold it wide open, drill all your holes, and then shut it off, for it wouldn’t idle, and if you let off the throttle, you’d have start the process all over again….My first portable fish house was a home made plywood and nylon tarp model, complete with the ‘rain forest’ effect that would come from condensation while running a propane heater, and the tarp was real suseptable to getting burnt from the mr heater….yep, those were the days!! 
but ya know what, I wouldn’t trade them for the world
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