Sk8man

If you look carefully at the extreme lower left hand corned just off bottom you may have marked a small fish there. The fact that the bottom appears as a uniform relatively thin section without any change could mean that your sensitivity is not great enough and the signal is not penetrating fully to reveal the full thickness of what should be the return signal or identiufying softer targets (like fish). Another possibility is that your transducer is either faulty (i.e. defective) or is positioned incorrectly.

Geez....another cruel guy to the fore Kinger probably put him up to it too No sympathy from this bunch

Beautiful specimen Alex....nice going!

Rich the shaft is 30 inches long My previous comments yesterday are a good example of being in my own little world here in the Finger Lakes in terms of ice fishing because anyone reading them from the Michigan UP or MInnesota for example would be laughing their azzes off. The usual conditions here are about 3-10 or 12 inches. No matter which drill selected or batteries if you are confronting 2 or 3 ft of ice (or more) you'd be lucky to get a couple of holes and probably would be tossing your drill or hand auger as well As far as the simplified approach I have a 2 person Clam shelter all set up with adjustable rod holders, heater etc. and it may have been great when I was in my twenties (If I had had it then) but once there is deeper snow and jagged ice protruding from the surface. It is a "bear" to drag loaded down with all my crap in it which I am too compulsive to leave behind and usually stays at home or in the back of the Expedition. Yes some guys install a conduit frame and it is easier in the deep snow but again the weight is a factor and another biggy is that once I get real comfortable in it with the heater etc. I don't feel like moving around to find the fish and if using tip ups or tip downs they are harder to see from inside. Enter the "old school"approach related to portability and ease of movement with less personal comforts I have gone back to a deep plastic sled and my old Igloo shelter which goes up and down in about 30 seconds max. and a folding chair in the extreme weather OR more often just a bucket and jigging rods, auger, scoop, and jigs and plastics flasher and lately GPS. Much more conducive to moving around and finding the fish, able to see better what is going on around me, not as able to see down the hole but that is OK as I have the flasher with the zoom

Good points made Rich and it is a different ballgame up north as far as the ice thickness and I have never used mine around here in more than 12 to 15 inches tops. Around here it isn't as thick and much of my fishing is for perch, walleyes and panfish (and bass, trout and pickerel) in shallower water because the bigger lakes don't always freeze up so Honeoye and some of the shallower lakes and ponds are the only game in town. For this type of fishing what I usually do is drill ten to 15 holes when I arrive at a spot fish a couple for awhile and then slowly work my way around the others letting them calm down for a bit. Sometimes I will set tip ups or tip downs in some holes to find the fish and then switch it out when I get something and jig that hole. I usually get away from everyone I can too which is something I learned from the "old timers" along with sitting with my back to everyone and dropping fish into the hole cut in the top of my bucket so nobody sees what I'm doing . wishinfishin I haven't ever really compared the lazer auger on the drill but back when I used it with the top half as a hand auger it seemed to cut quite a bit better than many of the folks around me. I even had guys come up to me a few times and ask about the auger when I first got it way back when I think most were using Moras back then.

I hate to say it but I strongly disagree...(unless you are talking about the newer large battery type augers) The auger I am talking about is very light and much lighter and more portable and compact than a gas auger. Gas augers are a pain in the azz. They spook everything for miles and whenever I see one on the ice I locate as far as I can away from it. They sometimes leak fuel and fumes in your vehicle if not in the back of a pickup (I use an Expedition) as well as a gas smell your hands and clothing (which may not help your catch rate either). The only place I would have one is way up north where the ice gets over a foot and a half or two (or more). I mainly fish for species other than pike these days so I move around a lot and travel light instead of using my Clam shelter. The drill auger is perfect for this. With a heavy gas auger I'd probably travel less and drill fewer holes. I think that the guys you saw that needed to carry extras and had to use them had the wrong drills and batteries. I can get 50 holes easily out of my heavy duty Lithium battery (single). I have only once used my back up battery and that was when the ice was over a foot and I drilled a large bunch of holes. A 7 inch auger is just right for about everything and uses less juice than an 8 inch. Those guys must have been using crap drills with 8 inch augers as everyone I know that uses good ones loves them and I feel that my Bosch hammer drill is one of the best investments I have ever made and it owes me nothing at this point. No matter what ice auger you use it has the be kept sharp and one of the ways to do this is to keep the cover on the blades when not in use. It is also wise from a safety standpoint. Even a slight bend in the shaft of the auger can keep it from functioning properly and cutting well (wobbling keeps the blades from having necessary cutting contact.)

Just a suggestion before buying any more of the 15DX's. They may be a little light duty for what you intend. They have limited line capacity and you are going to be dealing with 1,000 ft of wire. Most importantly of all they have only a 15 lb drag capacity pretty minimal for kings and I also wonder about the line guide mechanism with the SS wire. The larger 45DX has a different mechanism which is hardened. Sometimes the plain stainless or brass covered with a chromed coating is softer than the stainless wire and the wire will cut through it. This is also true ofthe cheaper roller tips on rods that have aluminum side plates with SS rollers by the way. The model 45 DX has an 18 lb carbon drag iand is much better suited to your purpose as far as running wire. the 15's would probably make better downrigger reels. Additionally the 15's have paddle type handles and you really want the standard single ones and especially power handles if you can.

Yeah I guess I was mainly referring to the fact that you found them without searching all over the place like others have been doing

Nice going. Looks like you had them really dialed inand an encouraging sign

Man.....you guys really know how to hurt a guy don't you? Oh...I forgot to mention about the voodoo doll in my likeness I discovered in the bow storage area after the trip

Yeah the heavy duty Lithion batteries are about $90 each Also for those unfamiliar with this stuff make sure you use the high torque setting on the drill NOT the high speed drill setting

You'll get more out of battery life the smaller you go (depending on what you fish for). The heavy duty lithium ion batteries are the way to go and a half inch at least 18Volt Bosch hammerdrill or Dewalt drill. These drills are not created equal and it makes a huge difference which one you use. I tried the Makita, Ryiobi, Black and Decker before finding the right one. I can drill over 50 holes in 6 inch ice without taking out the Lithion battery on my Bosch and it came with two of them. I use a 7 inch Lazer auger but the Nils is a great blade too. I've been using my setup for over 7 years and the batteries are still strong. gave away my gas auger years ago

Admiral Byrd and I launched about 3 PM and fished until a little after dark out of his PennYan starting out in 150 ft range and nearly immediately he caught a 5-6 lb brown 110 ft down on a spoon of the rigger. We basically worked back and forth in the 120-220 area the whole time and I'm not sure whether it was a communist conspiracy or that Bob was driving and made all turns favoring his side of the boat that his side of the boat was the only one that got any hits or caught anything. He nailed a 24 lb mature male king on a downrigger set at 125ft over about150 something of water and seemed like the usual "run of the mill" fish until he got near the boat and saw the net and/or the boat and went totally bonkers trying everything to get loose by diving repeatedly under the boat and we thought for sure he would tangle in the other riggers or the wires but finally got him into the net and we were thankful for the large net and extended handle (which I insisted on bringing beforehand instead of Bobs bait tank scoop size net . Bob had a couple more nice hits that didn't quite take on the wire out 290 with one of my home made white flies on it but that was it. Just as darkness was approaching we went to the 200 range and it was "alive" with fish and bait compressed into a narrow band about 68-78 ft down but we couldn't get then to hit anything while going right through them. Where they came from all of a sudden I don't have a clue. The sunset was exquisite and it began to cool a bit which was a big change from the 90 degree oppressive heat we had for several hours out there. Fun time busting balls and doing what we love best besides that. Only saw two other boats out there the whole time. We only encountered a few fleas and they were a different sort of fleas with little hairy projections on them and they came right off with minimal effort (unlike the other type)

WTG Kade. Beautiful fish