Excessive hole drilling

[Feathers Rainin]

Although it is legal to drill 100 holes per day you will find that it is typically the same crowd that rides around all summer pounding the lake while wearing a Titanium NutCup, in a $40,000 boat, equipped with 250HP+, an Extreme Netman, sonar, radar and GPS. We all know who you are, we know that it is legal and anybody that know's how to catch fish also knows that it is excessive and unecessary. Victims of those marketing the outdoors for profit.

Wrong!

The guys with the excessive boats are the guys with the excessive wheel houses. Guys who punch a ton of holes are the guys who are on the bite. I drill a ton of holes when I go out..maybe not a hundred but I drill until I find fish. I might drill 50 and find fish in the 3rd one and fish it all day. I might drill 200 and never find the fish and fish every hole.

The guys who prefer to drill two holes and sit always seem to give me an evil eye when I am ripping away on the auger. These are the same guys who come sit right next to me or beat me to my spot the following day after they see me pulling up fish after fish. Which one would bother you more?

[BigDogRob]

Been there, done that...lol I was asked if I had a problem, and I politely obliged by saying nope I was just looking for the right spot for a bathroom... He packed up and left then. I guess he couldn't take the ribbin'.

[CAMAN]

Although it is legal to drill 100 holes per day you will find that it is typically the same crowd that rides around all summer pounding the lake while wearing a Titanium NutCup, in a $40,000 boat, equipped with 250HP+, an Extreme Netman, sonar, radar and GPS. We all know who you are, we know that it is legal and anybody that know's how to catch fish also knows that it is excessive and unecessary. Victims of those marketing the outdoors for profit.

YOU COULDN'T BE MORE WRONG!

[herefish101]

The guys who prefer to drill two holes and sit always seem to give me an evil eye when I am ripping away on the auger. These are the same guys who come sit right next to me or beat me to my spot the following day after they see me pulling up fish after fish. Which one would bother you more?

[LightningBG]

cichlid_baby

[LightningBG]

Maybe all of those who are courteous (defintion: not willing to [PoorWordUsage] off someone else to get one more fish on the line) should take a walk on the wild side. Maybe there is something that we are missing?

We can band together and start by....

1. take your time at the boat launch. Why hurry?

2. straps...take them off on the ramp, why risk having the boat fall, right?

3. find the most hardcore fisherpersons out there and follow them. They must know where the fish are, right? Maybe they'll feel important, since they'll now have fans.

4. See 100 holes in the ice, drill another 100 within them, someone must know whats up, right?

5. Have a sled out there? Leave it running. why risk a dead battery?

6. Like to spear? Leave the blocks out and skip marking the hole, kids have eyes, and they can swim, right? No ice is ever safe....

7. When you set up, make sure you are exactly the legal distance plus 1 inch from everyone else. Fishing is always better if you can hear and smell your neighbor breaking wind.

8. Leave that auger running all day. Its the end of the season and we want to get that gas burnt up. Its legal afterall.

9...could go on and on.

Maybe just maybe being a jerk and a successful fisherman go hand in hand. I've never been much of a fisherman and I'm also pretty courteous, so maybe thats my problem.

But in all seriousness, if you're out in the middle of nowhere, have at it, drill 1000 holes if you want, but if you're near people, put a cap on it, not because you "need" to or that its the legal thing to do, but because its the courteous thing to do and maybe someday you might want someone to be courteous and pull your stuck A$$ out of a snowbank.

[fishersofmen]

Maybe all of those who are courteous (defintion: not willing to [PoorWordUsage] off someone else to get one more fish on the line) should take a walk on the wild side. Maybe there is something that we are missing?

We can band together and start by....

1. take your time at the boat launch. Why hurry?

2. straps...take them off on the ramp, why risk having the boat fall, right?

3. find the most hardcore fisherpersons out there and follow them. They must know where the fish are, right? Maybe they'll feel important, since they'll now have fans.

4. See 100 holes in the ice, drill another 100 within them, someone must know whats up, right?

5. Have a sled out there? Leave it running. why risk a dead battery?

6. Like to spear? Leave the blocks out and skip marking the hole, kids have eyes, and they can swim, right? No ice is ever safe....

7. When you set up, make sure you are exactly the legal distance plus 1 inch from everyone else. Fishing is always better if you can hear and smell your neighbor breaking wind.

8. Leave that auger running all day. Its the end of the season and we want to get that gas burnt up. Its legal afterall.

9...could go on and on.

Maybe just maybe being a jerk and a successful fisherman go hand in hand. I've never been much of a fisherman and I'm also pretty courteous, so maybe thats my problem.

But in all seriousness, if you're out in the middle of nowhere, have at it, drill 1000 holes if you want, but if you're near people, put a cap on it, not because you "need" to or that its the legal thing to do, but because its the courteous thing to do and maybe someday you might want someone to be courteous and pull your stuck A$$ out of a snowbank.

Well said.

[B-man715]

[Stick in Mud]

I dunno.....it's impossible to know another fisherman's motivations, so how can we judge his behavior? I mean, I know guys who only get on the ice one or two times a year, and you bet they want to catch fish, and they'll do things that I'd consider bordering on disrespectful--including drilling a 100 holes in shallow water approaching primetime on a major walleye lake. Do I begrudge the behavior if I know they'll likely not be back--and this is their only chance to catch a walleye through the ice? Not really. If they do the same thing weekend after weekend, then I might. Just tough to say.

And have I been the guy who's arrived to the lake a bit too late because of a late meeting who's then punched a bunch of holes hoping to find some fish? Yup. Do I feel bad about it? Yup. Do I try to stay as far away from guys as I can? Yup. But sometimes am I closer than I'd like? Yup. In that case, do I minimize how many I punch? Yup.

So what's my point? It's almost always impossible to know enough about the situation to justify a strong reaction. I do my best, when I feel that I've been wronged, to stay quiet and just whisper terrible things about the person (and his mother) under my breath. Or I tell myself that I know much more about fishing than the jerk who's drilling a million holes in "my" area. But maybe it's actually "his" area and he's angry at me for "moving in on him." Who knows? I just try to fish and ignore it. Works for me.

What's legal and what's "immoral" are two different things, and we can't agree on any of them. I sympathize with both sides.

[seasock]

Perhaps multiple hole drillers should open their minds... and drill a hundred holes into their heads.

[OnAFly]

Wow. That seems a little harsh.

[Knoc]

Glad Im not the only one who thinks a ton of holes is a little excessive. I didnt mean to start any peeing matches, I was just curious other peoples thoughts on it were.

What I dont understand though is why wouldnt a person check the hole right after they drilled? Or maybe punch 5 then check them out 1st before ya punch more? Youll see people out there punching 50 holes, check 5 or 6 of them and fish them same 5 or 6 holes all day. So they will basically drill a ton of extra holes for nothing.

Its kind of funny, today I went to my parents to work on a fish house Im building with my dad. He had gone fishing with a friend of my moms a few days before and he was telling me how embarrassed he was because the guy he was with punch a whole bunch of holes on the edge of a shanty town. He said he knew the people didnt like it, and he figured the guy knew too and just didnt care. I told him I started a thread about the same topic on a forum I go to and it seemed to be kinda split on the opinions on it.

[CAMAN]

Perhaps multiple hole drillers should open their minds... and drill a hundred holes into their heads.

Dude, either lay off the bottle, or step away from the keyboard.

[CAMAN]

I told him I started a thread about the same topic on a forum I go to and it seemed to be kinda split on the opinions on it.

Just to be clear here Knoc, in no way are we defending someone drilling a ton of holes around/within feet of a shanty town.

[amateurfishing]

just curious regarding this post, for those of u that do drill alot of holes (whether fishing guides or otherwise, how often do you have to change/sharpen your auger blades?

.....and for those who practice this type of fishing, would it not be easier/more beneficial to obtain a fish finder/depth finder device that reads right thru the ice saving precious hole drilling time, effort, & ice safety instead of initially drilling 10, 20,or 40 holes? i am very new to this but am really curious of the thought process of one doing this.

[irishwalleye]

Y'all missing the clear solution to the problem.

We need to make ice fishing illegal. I have contacted Senator's Franken and Klobechar to get on this.

[CaptainMusky]

I sharpen my blade every year, something everyone should do regardless of how many holes they drill. I also have a spare set of blades. I have only owned this auger for one year and didnt fish a ton last year, but the blades are sharp enough to shave with yet.

Depending on what I am fishing for I will drill from 20 to 40 holes any given day. Last year on LOW a buddy and I drilled probably 30 holes in one day. One time we needed to use two extensions to get through. Apparently this was an old road. You should have seen the looks we got. LMAO.

I do not excessively drill and most times I am nowhere near others.

[hamms-scooter]

Can't believe we are still talking about this..... Lets put it to rest. People are different thats what makes the world go round let it go guys.

[irishwalleye]

just curious regarding this post, for those of u that do drill alot of holes (whether fishing guides or otherwise, how often do you have to change/sharpen your auger blades?

.....and for those who practice this type of fishing, would it not be easier/more beneficial to obtain a fish finder/depth finder device that reads right thru the ice saving precious hole drilling time, effort, & ice safety instead of initially drilling 10, 20,or 40 holes? i am very new to this but am really curious of the thought process of one doing this.

I will go thru 2 sets of blades this year. I drill over 100 holes in a 6 hour fishing day. No more than 8-10 at a time.

[Hartley]

"DRILL BABY, DRILL!"

[amateurfishing]

Can't believe we are still talking about this..... Lets put it to rest. People are different thats what makes the world go round let it go guys.[/quote

....rude

[jigging-matt]

I have to laugh. I have been watching this post for the last couple of days, and I just have to laugh. Everyone has their own style to fish. Some like to sit all day, some like to run and gun. I prefer to run and gun and find the fish. Somedays I will drill 12 holes, some days it might be closer to 50-100. Just depends on the day. People are complaining about their kids safety, what about the people that just let their kids run around the ice not paying them anymind while they play, run, use their little kittycat snowmobiles? When they start running by others, they are disturbing them also. If everyone just used a little common sense out there. Drill holes away from others, Keep track of your own kids. There is a lot of lakes out there, if you don't like what is happening on the lake you are on, go to a different lake or at least a different part of the lake. Look back at the last 13 pages everyone is trying to prove that their way is right, not that everyone has a different idea of what they want to do on the lake. Just try to get along and be courteous to others. In the big scheme of things this is rieally silly.

[Knoc]

Just to be clear here Knoc, in no way are we defending someone drilling a ton of holes around/within feet of a shanty town.

No I understand that and am glad to hear it. I meant more the tons of hole puncher style fishing vs. other ways. Its always interesting to hear peoples style and ways of fishing. Even if a person might not agree with it.

[herefish101]

.....and for those who practice this type of fishing, would it not be easier/more beneficial to obtain a fish finder/depth finder device that reads right thru the ice saving precious hole drilling time, effort, & ice safety instead of initially drilling 10, 20,or 40 holes? i am very new to this but am really curious of the thought process of one doing this.