6" 7" or 8"

[JuanArellano]

Brad have you ever seen a child fall through one?? I have and is not a very cool thing to see.

[Brad B]

why stop with 10" why not make 8" illegal also. kids can go down 8inch holes too. remember the 8" well pipe that Baby Jessica fell down(late 80's or early 90's). people know the dangers when they go out on the ice and if they choose to bring their kids out there they need to watch them so things don't happen. I guess you would be for making spearing illegal because a kid or adult could fall in the spear hole too. yes it is too bad things happen but they do and we shouldn't ban something from just one isolated bad incident. I understand your veiw but there is always a danger of some form when you go out on the ice be it a 10" hole or a thin section of ice or a crack that gives way. "ICE IS NEVER 100% SAFE"

All the sizes have there time and place.

[pushbutton]

Another bingo for the Brad! Great time to reiterate that ice is NEVER safe. Laws and legislation can not replace common sense and responsibility. While I love the sport of ice fishing, it is, after all, just a fish...please do be carefull out there!!!

[Cyberfish]

I am going to need a 10 for all the slabs I catch this year!

[Shack]

I think I a runnin an 8 3/4". Perfect!

[Glockwinger]

My daughter fell down a 10" hole to her waist when she was 5 inside a skid house on Mille Lacs. Scared the dump out of us.

I use a 6" hand auger for early ice for panfish, then an 8" 4 stroke for most of the year and when using the wheel house. Even though one time we hooked a muskie on Mille Lacs we could not get up the hole due to how far back in the jaw it was hooked and couldn't turn the head up the hole, 99% of the fish we catch are able to make it up an 8" hole.

Besides, you can loose almost as much stuff down the hole with an 8" as you can a 10"!

[Charlie Mason]

Jim I am going to take a guess here, since you are from MN, I am going to assume since you actually asked about a 7 inch also, that you have a Strikemaster. My first power auger was a Lazer Mag Express and it came with a 10 inch drill, I bought the 7" drill for the tourney series. Six inch is a lil faster, but the slightly bigger hole allowed me to coax any sized panfish and some slightly larger toothy surprises out as well.

I would use the 10 inch for chasing big walleye on Saginaw Bay, and pike in the Upper Peninsula, and on the inland lakes while panfishing put on the 7 inch drill. Now if you are lucky enough to have one of the last Tecumseh engines produced, you did say over the last five years of drilling holes, so you might have one for your powerhead. The good news is, you should be able to take it into any repair shop that services Tecumseh. Two years ago I took mine in, and for $60 had it tuned up and replaced a dried up fuel line (freaking ethanol is a engine/carb killer) and the old gal ran like a new machine, instead of a 11 yr old beater. I kept it for a back-up/prefish unit while I ran an electric auger on game day.

This year I decided to meet in the middle geographically, and went to Jiffy in Wisconsin for my tourney auger. Rock solid, no plastic handles that might break (and yes I had that happen), no engine merry-go-round, gears machined in-state. I wanted a fast, durable and dependable unit that I can go to war with, without worrying about a breakdown. I also got the 6 inch and 10 inch drills to go with my STX, wish they made a 7 inch, but have seen the 6" punch a lot of drills while my electric auger was dying.

[Brad B]

Charlie,

I totally agree with you on the old tecumsehs. I am still running a 1991 Mag III plus. it still looks almost like new and in the 21 years I have had it I olny had it in to strikemaster once for a tune up. this doesn't include blade changes over the years. The thing I love about it is the metal handle. I feel strikemaster should bring back the metal handle as a option.

[Charlie Mason]

I believe Brad in this day and age of ever increasing % of ethanol forced on us by govt in our gas, the key for any auger will be gas management, one gal at a time for mixing, and running the engines dry at the end of the season.

[Brad B]

I made the switch and started running non enthanol gas along with amsoil in mine. does Michigan offer non ethanol gas. here in Minnesota we can get it for off road use and use in older collector cars. I also run non ethanol in my boat. I have heard that running the engine dry is not good for the diaphram in the carbator. I heard it causes it to crack.

[Charlie Mason]

I have seen it in the Upper Peninsula, but down state. Its prob true about it cracking in the 4-stroke engines, but never had a problem with the 2-stroke in the Lazer

[Jim Uran]

thanks guys, maybe I will get her tuned up and buy a smaller bit... Get a new pop up instead of spending money on an auger lol