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Posted

Strike master  lithium Lazer 50 volt

Jiffy propane 4

Ion auger w/ reverse

Strikemaster lazermag

Strikemaster cl-825

Mako m43

 

All used and around $275-$300

 

Thanks

 

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
Posted

The lazer mag is hard to beat

Posted

Laser mag will last forever if you treat it right. Very dependable too

Posted

What they said^^. The laser mag is your best bet. Fast drilling, light weight and reliable. If it were me I wouldn’t even think twice. 

Posted

ION!!!  no need to carry gas, worry about hard starting because of cold.  may not be the fastest, but if it take you 5 seconds more to drill a hole, does it really make that big of a difference.

  • Thumbs Up 1
  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
Posted

lazer mag or the ion. lazer if hole hopping like a mad man and ion if not.:)

Posted

I like the Lazer Mag...especially if you want 10" and do a lot of holes.

Posted

I had an 8in Lazer Mag with the Tecumseh engine and it ran like carp.  Had it in to Strikemaster and three other shops, never ran right and I took good care of it.  Purchased a Nils convertible and going the Auger/Drill route now.  Done with small 2 strokes.

Posted

I bought the Lazer mag for $250. It was bought new last year. 

 

Thanks for all the advice!

  • Thumbs Up 3
  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
Posted

it will love non oxy gas. :) 

Posted

Eskimo HC40 Propane, love it alot of power, and starts in two pulls everytime. :)

Posted

Good choice! Non-oxy has and you shouldn’t ever have a problem 

Posted

There are lots of trouble shooting threads out there for Strike Masters so when yours breaks down you'll have plenty of reading  material.  :) 

I have heard lots of colorful language from SM owners out on the ice. 

  • Thumbs Up 1
Posted

I dearly love my Ion but I think I would do the Kdrill if I had it to do over since I already have a Milwaukee Fuel.

Posted

K-Drill and Dewalt 20v drill with 9ah battery.  I can get 25-30 holes per charge and you can push all the slush under the ice by using reverse. 

  • Thumbs Up 2
  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
Posted

welcome to FM GL. 

Posted

Gas, strike master gets my vote. I have a drill attached to my 6 in lazmag hand augar, absolutely shreads ice, but after 16inch of ice I switch to gas

Posted

I run a 6" nils on an 18V milwaukee with 9AH batteries. I can drill 60-70 holes on one battery though a foot of ice. I have 5 batteries, onlh rarely use more than one in a day. Love the light weight! I have disk issues on L4/L5 & L5/S1, the heavy jiffy was killing my back.

Ran the piss out of it last weekend on lower red, ran like a champ. Drilled holes all day, charged batteries in the truck and never ran short. The guys running engine driven auger were hurting by the end of the day.

 

  • Thumbs Up 1
  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
Posted

back issue here also and the main reason why I went with the electric also. so light!  no pulling to start is nice also. pulling the trigger doesnt wear me out. :):) 

Posted

Right now Cabelas bargain cave has a sale on the Nils hand augers if your looking. The price is hard to beat.

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

I got the jiffy 46x-treme propane and I love it. Its always one to 2 pulls and she's running and drills holes super fast. Not the lightest auger but it helps it drill better. I was gonna go with the ion but I'm happy with what I got. I even got a free head cover and a jiffy hat out of it. 

  • Thumbs Up 1
Posted

I got a 6" Nils convertible hand auger and an 18V Milwaukee Brushless for Xmas.  I tried the combo out for the first time yesterday and was amazed.  You can almost drill holes with one hand and I was cutting through 14-16 inches of ice in about 5 seconds.  Drilled 20 holes and still had 3/4 of my battery life left.  I had a Strikemaster Lazer Mag for years and would never go back to a gas auger.  

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
Posted
2 hours ago, Juan Grande said:

I got a 6" Nils convertible hand auger and an 18V Milwaukee Brushless for Xmas.  I tried the combo out for the first time yesterday and was amazed.  You can almost drill holes with one hand and I was cutting through 14-16 inches of ice in about 5 seconds.  Drilled 20 holes and still had 3/4 of my battery life left.  I had a Strikemaster Lazer Mag for years and would never go back to a gas auger.  

That seems to be common no more gas! 

Posted

I have an Ion but wanted a KDrill because of the weight. I tried a KDrill yesterday and here's what I found. I'm pasting this from HSO because I'm too lazy to type. Ion's are great. You won't regret going electric. 

I tried the borrowed KDrill yesterday for the first time and like VTX I was less than impressed. First off the weight was incredibly light and I thought I was going to go buy one when I picked it up for the first time but glad I didn't. If you believe the commercial about you young kids or wife using this thing you better have a wrist brace on them or be close to a doctor. The blades are VERY aggressive in the hard clear 14 inch ice I was on. The drill had to be lifted and cleared multiple times to get through and stuck in every hole I drilled, new or reopening. It did ok reopening holes but its a chipper so it should. The hole is smaller than my Ion and I could tell because regardless of having reverse I still use a slush copter that eliminates skimming totally and the copter barely went down the hole. I had to force it in most holes. It's a very small difference but when 8 inches is no longer 8, but 7 3/4 inches, it was noticeable. My Ion has flat blades that shaves ice into fine snow cone consistency and never jams and seldom has to be lifted up. Ion goes straight through better also without jerking or stopping at the bottom like K Drill did.I think the K Drill would probably do better on a Clam plate or similar handle style outfit that would not torgue your wrist as much as a drill with a handle. I was using a Milwaukee Fuel drill like recommended with a full charge. If I was starting over, had a GOOD drill, then maybe a $200 drill would look better to me than a $600 Ion but no way will I be getting rid of the Ion to get a K Drill. I would love to see this K Drill with an Ion/Eskimo style blade system, that would be a winner and could be the reason that the Nils people are so happy. Bottom line is I think the blades are just a little too aggressive. I'm sure not bashing K Drill, just sharing my experience on a single days try. Plus an extension is almost $60.

 

  • Thanks 1
Posted

Interesting Hawg, thanks for the review. The Nils cuts so smooth, never had to pull the auger out of the hole to clear it.  It cut at a fast and consistent pace every hole.  

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Wanderer
      Nope!  But it’s more funner!
    • smurfy
      I don't need no livescope to catch fish....🤔🤪  It's all in how ya wiggle the worm!😜 Just sayin  🤣
    • Kettle
      Obviously this is more of a hot topic due to forward facing sonar. With that being said, I know people who have pulled crappies out of basins 40+ deep since the fl-8 and zercom flashers came out. That's over 30 years ago. I do think there's a push to ban these in MN and I could see them doing it here. They'll have to pay my livescope from my cold dead hands 😆 on days I can't catch a walleye jigging or rigging it's nice to turn it on and throw corks at individual fish
    • Kettle
      It wasn't just you, I was fishing west of you about an hour on Monday. Fished 8am-4pm, no fish, two keeper walleye and one small one from 4pm-630pm. Marked a lot of fish, they would come up to a jig and swim away. They were skittish to the dead stick too
    • leech~~
      I wonder like divers, if we let them decompress every 10' for 1/2hr. If that would help?  🤔  It would slow the bite down a bit!  🤭
    • carlsonmn
      That was a better study compared to last winter when they setup the vertical tube nets and tried to release exhausted fish from being studied and expected them to be able to swim straight down a 3' hoop net.     That lake's crappie population from this latest video was pretty deep at 40-50', and no doubt from those depths that is barotrauma for most.  That is deeper than most crappie holes but certainly how some are. However from helping give fish a good release from the 35' and less range and tracking them with live sonar most of them swim at a shallow angle back to the depths and I watch them rejoin the school and be active.  Uncut Angling's video helped counter some of the initial narrow findings.  
    • SkunkedAgain
      If you fished with me more often, you'd never have to make this statement...   38" of ice - love it. I'm really going to have to dig around for my auger extension. I don't think that I've needed it in over a decade.   Too bad nobody has a locomotive chugging across the ice to do some logging, like the good old days.
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the South Shore...  Ice fishing remains strong across the south shore of Lake of the Woods out on Big Traverse Bay.  Resorts and outfitters on some parts of the lake have ice roads extending over 16 miles staying on nice schools of walleyes and saugers.  Many fish houses are over deep mud.  Some are on structure.  It is always fishing of course, but overall, February has been very productive for most anglers.   Extensions are being used on ice augers as the ice continues to thicken.  The thick ice this year will be good for the extended ice fishing season Lake of the Woods enjoys with fish houses out through March 31st, walleyes and saugers open through April 14th and a pike season that never closes. Most fishing activity is taking place in 26-32 feet of water.  Anglers are finding a healthy mix of walleyes and saugers, with a good number of jumbo perch in the mix this year.  Some big eelpout are also showing up.  Anglers are reporting plenty of fish for fresh fish frys and usually extra fish to bring home.   The one-two punch of a jigging line and deadstick is the way to go.  On the jigging line, jigging spoons with rattles tipped with a minnow head have been consistent.  Lipless crankbaits and jigging rap style lures also doing well.     Lures with a light have been working well in the stained water.  Please remember, in MN, lures with a light or water activated light can be used as long as the battery is mercury free and the hook is attached directly to the lure and not as a dropper line.     On the deadstick, a plain hook or a small jig with a live minnow 6 inches to a foot off of the bottom.    Some days, mornings are better, other days, it's the afternoons.  There is no distinct pattern, they could come through at any time. On the Rainy River...  The start of the day and end of the day have been best for those targeting walleyes on the river. A jig and minnow or a jigging spoon tipped with a minnow head is also producing some fish. Some big sturgeon being iced by ice anglers targeting them.  It is a catch-and-release sturgeon season currently.   Although ice conditions on the river are good, they can vary significantly due to the current, so anglers should always consult local resorts or outfitters for the most up-to-date safety information and fishing advice. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing has been strong in the islands area of Lake of the Woods. Resorts continue to move their fish houses around, staying on the best schools of walleyes.     Anglers are catching a nice mix of walleyes, saugers, and jumbo perch with an occasional pike or tullibee as well.     Big crappies are still being caught just over the border.  Fish houses are available, check with a NW Angle resort for info on crappie fishing.   Lake of the Woods enjoys an extended ice fishing season with fish houses on the ice through March 31st and walleye and sauger seasons open through April 14th. Perch, crappie, and pike seasons remain open year-round.    
    • leech~~
      Maybe you should put rattle wheels down, if your going to sleep for 6hrs! 🤭 😆
    • JerkinLips
      Monday was my worst day of winter fishing on Vermilion in the last 4 years.  Caught only one 14" walleye in nearly 8 hours of fishing.  Missed two other bites and was marking very few fish.  Maybe the fish were taking Monday off after a big weekend.   No more water came up on the ice under my house.  Think it was because I haven't banked snow around it for a couple of weeks so the bare ice around the house is getting very thick.  I measured 38" of ice under my house and the Ion barely made it through even with the extension installed.  Needless to say I banked around the house this time.  Another lesson I learned today is don't drill holes if ice is frozen on your blades.  I did that on one hole and it didn't center properly and drilled at an angle on the edge of the opening.  Hope I can correct the location and angle on my next trip up.   Not much change in the surface lake surface conditions.  The drifts may be a little higher and are definitely harder.  There are still a few bare ice spots on the lake.  Very little activity on the lake today.  There are about 3 dozen houses from McKinley Park out to Birch Island.  Another person pulled there house off today, and I am sure many more will pull theirs off this coming weekend.  Only 13 days left of walleye season.    
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