Wow, split opinions, I can appreciate both sides of this. I’m torn.

As much as I don’t want to miss a season, I’m also concerned about nailing it in recovery. I really like the PVC pipe on the leg idea as well as going barbless, and I found a great idea for cordless flex screwdriver hooked to a reel, but the thought of screwing up recovery and not getting back in the saddle as much much as possible 6-12 months down the road makes me reconsider planning on ice trips this year… I can be pretty stupid and forget I’m injured, and then do things that hurt without thinking, 30 years of banging around hard and using ‘er up is how I got here…

Its hard to envision a winter without ice fishing, but I’m considering it now.

I think HB and Vex are right. I’m pretty sure Marcum is 200kHz, too. I think the LX7 also has a 50kHz setting for deep water, too. Lowrance is usually 83 and 200 kHz FWIW.

All the breaks on the five prominent points next to the long back bays. All the deeper sides of the island. Make swiss cheese of the ice in those those areas to tune in on the water clarity (light/dark) and weed growth and micro structure – I like to use a water camera for this. Take a trip to the Navionics online webapp, and see if the pallet and brush pile fish cribs plotted there for this lake exist, too…

I spent my time with the odd brands that weren’t Honda. Unserviceable and/or unsourcable parts, especially carbs, each dime-a-dozen specimen became dead to me. Got a Honda 2000, thing is great, and I run the 6 gallon extended BERG tank, it runs all weekend, I forget its there, its like light switch power. But most of all, its what I don’t hear. Braaaaaap.

I have about the same setup with an 18K BTU forced air furnace, 12v/110v and charging system, with two group 31 batteries. Replaced all the filament lights with LED. I can last a day or two in comfort on just 12v pretty easy if I lose genny, while I figure out what to do next.

Each year it seems, Honda authorizes dealers to take $50 or $100 off, this is when you buy it. Northern Tool and other major dealers for Honda can file your warranty for you, too. Only wish I had pulled the trigger sooner so I could have enjoyed my time on the ice even more. It does sometimes need warming up to start in really cold weather, but it always starts.

For the decade 2006-2016, nothing did better in my house on eyes overall than rattle reels or dead sticks, 6 ft flouro leader, red #6 Gamakatsu Octopus wire hook with the Gammi soft green glow bead on top of it, with two split shot spaced a foot apart with a flat shiner.

Jig the head of whatever minnow bait tickles your fancy on the other rod on anything gold or silver flashy with a treble hook during prime time for fun, but I let the rattles or dead sticks do the work all the other times, and usually made good.

One year, moon glow #6 jigs in green glow with a fathead was the hot thing. One year, Slick Jigs in Perch or glitter silver with a whole fathead by the head was the only thing that would get bit like a feather.

Depends on the forage in the year, I think. Good luck!

6 inch hole is 18.85″ in circumference. A 28″ walleye of about 18″ girth is almost a 12 pound fish. A 36″ northern 18″ around is a 13 pound fish. 6 inch hole is fine for all walleye and pike except the trophies.

The other consideration when using electric is amp hours and how much ice volume you have to drill through. A 6″ hole 32″ tall is about 900 cubic inches, while a 8″ hole 32″ tall is about 1,600 cubic inches. Add the extra torque push-back on the outer inches of the blade for an 8″, and you’re talking about twice the juice, or half the holes, in a perfect world (it’s not!).

6″ is a sweet spot for lots of fish and lots of holes.

Yes, worth doing it. Wind and cold factor is when you want them, and they help without wind too. Keeps holes from freezing up, make the airspace above the hole sealed to the interior, big difference in temps that way, even if you bank snow. Do it well, and you really don’t have to bank.

I’ve gone from homemade hole sleeves in first skid house, to Fish Hole Buddies in first wheelhouse, to Catch Covers in my new wheel house. Sprung for the safety web covers, too, saved a cell phone last year, totally worth it, saved an errant foot/leg, too. They are easy to pull off quick before ripping lips. Also got the handle covers for summer camping to save the toes. Sweet system.

Buy the sleeves that match the brand of hole covers you have, and trim them to height on a driveway dropped down, and do exactly what MNdrifters says – just jam them down into the slush after drilling to create a good seal. I’d never go back to not having them.

Here’s the Pioneer Press link, Will double posted the report link:

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_27341961/dave-orrick-mille-lacs-fewer-walleyes-might-be

No question in my mind – 8″. I, too, started out with a 10 inch chipper, but ended up with an 8″ lazer mag after a couple years. I fish portable, wheel house and skid house with an 8″ lazer mag. Always does the jobs I need it to do.

8″ lazer shaver augers and blades are generally easier to find. 8″ is lighter and less bulky, a big plus if you portable fish. 10″ hole was big enough for small children to fall through, and for medium sized adults to lose a boot. Also couldn’t put a round insulated tipup over the hole without it falling in, and it would freeze up quicker. 10″ wouldn’t fit into some wheel house and skid house holes very well. And the slush pile hole made by the 8″ is the perfect size to serve as pack base in a 12″ skidhouse or wheelhouse hole. 9″ is an odd size, parts are sparse.

Been using the same Lowrance unit on ice since 2005, an x76c. Wouldn’t go back to a flasher for nuthin. Would only consider digital units to upgrade to, and there’s a lot of them now. I run all weekend without a charge with the screen light turned off during the day on on low at night. There’s no lag, thats a holdover from the days of cold old-school LCD displays from the 90’s. Ditto on turning off all the automatic stuff you use in the boat, so manual and tune it yourself. Only downside is there’s a small number of frequency interference patterns from other sonars that my old software can’t deal with, but I don’t fish that close to other people using a sonar so its never an issue. Love having graph on ice, can see what happened in the last minute down there if I looked away and how big the fish was in color that came by. Never use a camera while ice fishing with a graph, only to scout bottom content now.