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We've never been out this late in the year but we gave it a try anyway and I'm glad we did!
Weather was PERFECT all morning, a little cold but it warmed up nicely as the day progressed. Ice was perfect as well, 30" thick with no slush at all.
Fish were cooperative but a little picky. We had lots come through on the finder and take a close look, but only 1 in 3 would take a swing. All in all we probably caught 20 between the three of us, mostly slot cutts and planter bows but a few bigger bows did come home for the smoker.
My pop had rigged his Nills 6" with his own custom drill adapter, and hooked to his Makita 18V it was awesome! It cut through the ice like butter and never seemed to bog down, by far the best auger setup I've ever seen!
Nice day but I'm ready to start flipping senkos!
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Wow 30 inches. Thick man! Sounds like they kept you pretty busy.
Did you have to bring spare batteries for that drill? Always heard good things about those Nils.
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Took my wife and 11 y/o son out on Friday. The fishing calendar said it would be a poor day. I was concerned because 1) I have been skunked at Strawberry too many times. 2) It was the first outing for my reluctant wife and son and I really wanted them to have a positive and fun time. Walked about 1 mile to our spot. First fish in 40 seconds! Ended up catching 38 between the two of us! Did best in 13-17 FOW, catching around 7-10' depth. Did best on white with red fleck gazilla, waxie and some smelly jelly! They liked it jigging to attract then slight twitch to bite. So if this was a "poor fishing day at Strawberry" then I'll take it! Beautiful weather as was mentioned, easy on, little harder to pull the sled off due to sticky snow. Only saw one other fishermen in our area, felt like we had the lake to our selves. Had a Great time!
Coyote spinner, I have an 8" nills. They are great and bad. Great in that they cut like knife in soft butter (I raced a friend who had a 10" power auger, I dug 2 holes to his one, could have done more but I was worn out in that deep snow/ice). Granted he is removing much more ice BUT I had the arm power! They are bad in that you have to handle them with kids gloves. They dull/stop cutting ice instantly, even though the blade feels razor sharp. My first Nills cut about 15 holes before it suddenly stopped. My brother learned the hard way this year when he cut through dirty ice! Replacement heads are expensive, and it is about $40 to send them off to be sharpened. The cutting angle is crucial on them! I love mine but can't say I would buy another one!
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Were you fishing Haws Point?
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I think we went through 1.5 batteries on this trip, not sure how dead the first battery was though. We probably drilled 20 holes before he switched batteries out though.
I've been ice fishing for 25 years though, owned a few hand augers and used several power augers, and I've never seen anything cut so effortlessly as this setup! It cuts fast, and the powerhead weighs 2lbs and doesn't leak gas or have trouble starting up! My dad did say that he'd have to keep the batteries warm in his coat for it to work, but that's a pretty small price to pay!
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I feel bad for your Nills experience, my 6" is going on four seasons with close to 400 holes drilled and it cuts like the day I got it!
My dad sold his power auger to get his 6" Nills three years ago and it still cuts like new and we've never regretted selling the gas auger.
Even if the replacement heads are expensive ($70 to replace, $40 to get sharpened), the 6" costs something like $200 and a mid grade power auger costs $500. If performance is similar (I'd say the nills is better) that's a lot of replacement heads for you to come out on top with a gas auger! There's just nothing like them out on the market right now.
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Soldier creek side, half way between the marina and the dam. We were catching fish in 20 FOW.
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Great report. Haven't fished that side yet through the ice. I would like to say, as a side note, we had a pretty sickening experience at Haws Point. Group of two adults and a youngster came in and set up in a line of holes we were using to search for fish. 'Bout 20 feet away. Good way to teach kids good fishing etiquette. Was pretty pissed since they had the whole lake to fish and even set up in our line of holes. I thought it may have been you since they had an electric drill as well. If that person that set up next to us is in this site, shame on you!
We found the fish to be acting pretty much the same at Haws though. Biting very well early, even got some on whole minnows, but then got pretty picky throughout the rest of the day. Mostly slot cutts with a couple bows. Ice about 24" thick.
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