Just a thought, if you can find the older Subaru Robin ones, they are good too. I was told by an expert on small engines my old 2009 Subaru was the best auger strikemaster ever made. Although not sure how these guys are able to start my auger in 2 pulls, where I always seem to have a lot of issue. Probably user error on my part.

I was out on Foster last week. My first time there. Caught 5 crappies about 7-9 inches and many sunnies. I think trout might have chased me a few times. There were 4 fish that followed my spoon through 10ft of water and then just swam away. Anyways, I was in 16ft of h20. I plan to be out there tomorrow .

I really like my Strikelite. I have the plastic bit one, and wish I could get the steel one. But as the auger itself, it’s wonderful. NO gas mixing. Easy start up and what i love most of all is I don’t have to measure out my holes for the house. I can setup the house and drill in it and not die. Usually this isn’t a problem, but last year in SE MN, where the lakes had a layer of slush before the hard ice, it was.
Only issue I found was drilling in slush. I don’t know much about small engines so i’m not too technical here. But it loses power and have a hard time rotating with weight on the bit.
From my experience it takes some drilling before it really runs smoothly…could be the driller too lol. Anyways, after about 100 holes, my strikelite and me “just clicked”.
I have a friend who used the Nils, and i gota say I wasn’t impressed. He kept having issues with his blades and what not.
As for the gator, it is nice and fast if you have a good bit attached. Really powerful electric auger. I still prefer the amount of holes I can get on my full take of gas on the strikelite. When i reached my 100 hole mark, i used only half a gallon.

Thanks james for the great response. I guess i’ll have to learn to use the small stuff. I’m a big jig open water guy…anything less than 1/4 is unimaginble lol. anyways that was the answer i was looking for! Thanks again.

Great show guys! This will be my first year on the ice and i’ve learned much from the episodes! thanks again for the great show!

I do have a question…and i think it might be a little off topic…but those st croix spring bober rods… can they handle the heavier jigs for walleyes, say the 1/4 oz range?