Spiel

I agree with all who said stay away from cotton/cotton blend (waffle styles), they're useless.

Something like this..... Though I prefer a homemade one using a 1" cold chisel (sharp enuogh to shave) welded into some heavy pipe.

Well I guess the holiday season is officailly under way. Kids are out of school (and bored) and it's damn cold! Merry Christmas to you Dave and all the good folks here at OFC.

You're killing me....

No worries Lew, you're not the only one....

G'day and welcome.

Actually this is correct, extensions are used.

Stay off waterways, police warn December 17, 2009 / yorkregion.com Despite arctic type temperatures and snow, frozen and snow-covered waterways are not safe, York Regional Police warn. Portions of Lake Simcoe have begun to freeze, but there are still many areas of open water. At this time, it is not a good idea to try ice fishing or snowmobiling because ice conditions are too unstable. If you are doing any recreational activities near water, remember: • Stay off the ice; • Wear the appropriate clothing and ensure you wear a certified flotation device; • Tell someone about your plans and specifically where you are going; • Carry a cellular phone with you at all times; • Be cautious of your footing around banks of rivers and streams and; • Be aware of weather reports and the state of the ice.

On the cutting edge Power augers have transformed ice fishing, and a Minnesota company making them is among the industry leaders. December 15, 2009 DOUG SMITH / Star Tribune Randy Havel remembers the old days when ice anglers used steel chisels or axes to hack holes in a frozen lake. "My mother would take us out on Grand Lake St. Marys in Ohio, and we'd take our sled and an axe and go bluegill fishing," said Havel, 62, of Monticello. Chipping a hole in a lake was an arduous task, depending on the thickness of both ice and one's biceps. It discouraged anglers from moving to a different spot. These days, power ice augers carve through a couple feet of ice like a chain saw through Jell-O. And if anglers don't catch fish, they move 20 yards away and drill another hole. And another. Power augers -- along with portable ice fishing houses, permanent houses on wheels and electronics -- have revolutionized ice fishing, and Havel is riding that frozen wave. He's president and CEO of StrikeMaster Ice Augers, one of the three largest ice auger manufacturers in the nation and the only one based in Minnesota. (The other two are in Wisconsin.) Havel and his 11 full-time employees crank out thousands of hand augers, gas-powered augers and electric augers at StrikeMaster's assembly plant in Big Lake, just northwest of the Twin Cities. They're shipped to 17 "hard water" states, Canada and beyond. Minnesotans are No. 1 when it comes to buying ice augers, Havel said. It's a competitive business that fluctuates with the weather -- dipping during warm spells and rising during cold ones. With plenty of frigid weather in the Midwest to entice anglers onto ice, this season has started out like a winner. "I'm smiling," Havel said. Drilling for success Havel and his partners, Ray Peterson, 61, of Richfield and Bob Giarusso, 64, of Elk River -- all sporting goods representatives -- bought StrikeMaster in 1991 from an entrepreneur named Bob Foster, who owned a bowling equipment business (hence the name StrikeMaster). After World War II, Foster visited Scandinavia and noticed winter anglers there using Swedish hand augers to drill holes through ice, so he brought one home to try. Soon he was importing and selling Mora hand augers. "He got to selling more hand augers than bowling shoes, but they kept the name and it became an ice fishing company," Havel said. The company has been around for 63 years. Over the years, lots of folks tried to combine a small gas engine with an ice auger, with varying degrees of success. Marv Feldmann of Plymouth, Wis., developed a successful model that eventually became Jiffy Ice Drills of Sheboygan Falls, Wis., another of today's major manufacturers. Eskimo, made in Cumberland, Wis., the third of the Big Three power auger makers, has been around since 1960. StrikeMaster began producing its power augers in 1970, Havel said. The company was based in downtown Minneapolis until moving to Big Lake in 1993. Like other outdoor equipment, power augers have been refined over the years. Today's models start easier, cut through ice better and last longer. Each brand touts its advantages. Like most other firms, StrikeMaster assembles parts that often come from around the world. Its two-stroke engines come from Germany, the steel cutting blades from Sweden. "Our gearboxes are made right here in Minnesota," Havel said. Based on the omnipresent buzz of power augers on Minnesota lakes, one would assume that gas-powered augers are the No. 1 seller. Wrong. StrikeMaster still sells more hand augers than power augers. "Places like southern Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa and Nebraska -- they don't have the two feet of ice like we do," Havel said. Hand augers cost less than $70. Power augers range from about $280 to over $500. What's the future? StrikeMaster has been selling four-stroke engines for five years. Four-strokes are quieter, pollute less and have been popular with resorts that have multiple-hole rental houses. Havel figures anglers will see more of them. Electric augers have been around for years, but sales are growing, likely because of the increased number of permanent wheeled ice fishing houses now on lakes. "The electrics don't leave the house smelling like two-cycle oil," Havel said. They can be powered by ATVs or snowmobiles. The continued evolution of batteries -- now smaller and more powerful -- could make electric augers more popular. Global warming hasn't caused any dip in ice auger sales, either. "It's still going to get cold. The last three winters have been the strongest we've had," Havel said. But a nationwide decline in the number of hunters and anglers is worrisome. "It's a real issue; we're concerned about it," he said. His company has been involved with helping introduce kids to fishing. Ironically, even though Havel is in the ice fishing business, he doesn't have much time to fish for fun these days. He spends much of the winter traveling to various ice fishing contests and shows, promoting his company. "It's tough," he said. "Usually in March, we'll go catch those jumbo perch on Lake Mille Lacs." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUGER WORLD There are many ice auger manufacturers out there. Here are the big three: ESKIMO Made by Ardisam Inc., Cumberland, Wis. Website: geteskimo.com Claim: "More ice fishermen choose Eskimo than any other brand." JIFFY Made by Feldmann Engineering and Mfg. Co., Sheboygan Falls, Wis. Website: jiffyonice.com Claim: "The No. 1 selling product." STRIKEMASTER Made by StrikeMaster, Big Lake, Minn. Website: strikemaster.com Claim: "The world's single largest manufacturer of ice augers."

I concur, things aren't always as clear as glass from my chair. No harm, no foul. But I think we'll put this one to bed for now.

Did they tie it off with one of those teeny weeny elastics Wayne.

What may seem funny to you may be extremely inflammatory to others. You are of course familair with this quote from the rules.... Deleted or locked posts. If you disagree with a moderators decision to lock or delete a post, send them a Personal Message. DO NOT make a post complaining about it. So it would seem. Winternet is upon us!

Agreed. I think Rick summed it up well enough, let's wait for the SIU report. My condolences to all who have been affected by this tragedy.

Ohhhhhhh that's gotta hurt. Hopefully you'll get another opportunity simon. That's a tank of an walleye.

Buy it, buy it now!

Glad to have you on board. I'm sure your services and advice will be helpful to many.

There was a report..... Oh now I see it, great report Mike. Kudos on the clean-up.

Panel: St. Clair River's water loss not alarming Dec. 15, 2009 TINA LAM / www.freep.com In blunt terms, members of an international study panel said the idea that the St. Clair River is losing billions of gallons of water each day, causing the levels of Lakes Michigan and Huron to drop, is bunk. A Canadian group put forth that idea five years ago after a study by an expired it hired concluded that the river was acting like a bathtub drain that had been enlarged by dredging and was allowing billions of gallons of water to escape too quickly into Lake Erie. “The bathtub drain is not a good analogy” and doesn’t represent what’s really happening, said Eugene Stakhiv, co-leader of the study panel, appointed by the International Joint Commission. Two years of study shows that while there were small changes in the river bed between 1971 and 2000, it’s now stable, and whatever water loss occurred lasted only a few years. No man-made fix to the river is needed, the panel concluded. Stakhiv said the water loss that did happen was good, because it would only have occurred when water levels in the lakes were extremely high and provided a relief valve; otherwise, the high levels would have led to widespread flood damage for homeowners around the lakes. Lake levels, which were low in the past few years because of a lack of precipitation, have now risen to near their long-term historic averages. The $3.5 million study was done by more than 100 scientists and engineers at the request of the International Joint Commission, a body that makes recommendations to the U.S. and Canadian governments on water policy and other issues. Georgian Bay Forever still insisted today that something needs to be done to stop water loss and said the study panel missed an opportunity to protect the lakes by recommending a fix in the river. “Losing this much water from the lakes must not continue,” said Mary Muter, a member of the group’s board of directors and a longtime activist on the issue. The group said in a press release Tuesday that the lakes are losing 23 billion liters per day from Lakes Michigan and Huron. “These numbers are made up and they are not credible,” said Ted Yuzyk, the other co-leader of the panel. The study group said it was no longer certain that a 1984 ice jam had scoured out the St. Clair River bottom, as it said in May. Instead, the changes in the river were probably from a combination of factors, from weather to large ships hitting the bottom. Fluctuations in lake levels over the last 40 years were more due to nature than man, the panel said. The International Joint Commission will hold hearings on the study around the Great Lakes starting in March. While the study panel did not recommend any changes to the river, the IJC could, after hearings, make a different decision.

Be Careful What You Fish For December 12, 2009 MONICA DAVEY / www.nytimes.com MONSTER MOUTH Silver carp are headed toward the Great Lakes, bringing their enormous appetites, and the worries of environmentalists. Marlin Levison/Star Tribune, via Associated Press CHICAGO — Alarms are sounding near the edge of the Great Lakes. Genetic evidence of Asian carp — a mammoth, voracious, non-native conqueror among fish, long established in the Mississippi River — has turned up just a few miles from Lake Michigan in the waterway that links the river system to the lake. If such creatures were to swim on into Lake Michigan, some scientists say they fear the fish would ultimately upend the entire ecosystem in the lakes that make up a fifth of the earth’s fresh surface water. So an urgent search is underway in Chicago for sightings of the silvery-gray fish with low-set eyes, the sort that even a scientist here described, somewhat unscientifically, as “an exceedingly ugly fish.” Advocates for the lakes are demanding emergency closures of a lock to block their arrival. And the attorney general of Michigan says he will sue to stop the fish. Forgotten in all the fuss now is that these bighead and silver carp — imported in the 1970s to scarf up algae from ponds in the Deep South — are apparently making their way north to the Great Lakes along a route that humans, not nature, dreamed up. Over a century ago, people built a canal to link the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River system. Historians say early travelers reported they could make their way from the lakes to the river by canoe in the wet season, but faced a portage during dryer periods; hence, the call for a canal. Over the years, it carried fetid sewage away from Chicago and Lake Michigan as part of a remarkable engineering feat that reversed the flow of the Chicago River. Commercial barges traveled up and down the vast, crucial path. Along the same path came the carp, who had escaped from their southern ponds and spread through the Mississippi River system, by some accounts, thanks to flooding in the 1990s. Scientists have worried for years about the capability of an assortment of other non-native species (the round goby, the zebra mussel) to make their way either north from the Mississippi River system into the Great Lakes or back south on an opposite journey. “The bottom line is that this canal is a conduit — a highway to environmental havoc — from one of these important watersheds to the other,” said David M. Lodge, a biologist and the director of the center for aquatic conservation at the University of Notre Dame. It has surely happened before. Dams, levees, flood diversion projects. We redirect water and solve a problem, only to discover some new, unintended consequence. In California and Oregon, some blame four old dams, which certainly generated electricity, for a decline in salmon in the Klamath River. In Missouri, during flooding along the Mississippi a year ago, residents of towns with low, primitive levees begrudged neighbors with enormous ones, saying the higher walls were directing unnatural amounts of water their way. In the end, it seems, nature does as it wishes, try as we might to keep the waters in our grasp. For more than a decade, as reports of escaped northbound Asian carp emerged from parts of the Mississippi, civic, environmental and business leaders around the Great Lakes fretted. Asian carp committees were formed, reports were written, and more than $20 million was spent to build elaborate electric fences in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to at least temporarily hold back the carp from Lake Michigan, a measure one expert likened to hand-washing in the face of the H1N1 flu — wise but not a cure. And even as a third electric barrier is under construction, the authorities have reported finding the genetic evidence of the carp beyond the fences, within about six miles of Lake Michigan. Some here now say that the only guaranteed, permanent way to keep these fish from the Great Lakes may be to put things back where we found them: separate the lakes from the Mississippi River watershed. Needless to say, the politics, engineering and costs of such a solution could not be more tangled. People, of course, are used to what they built. Interests fight interests, and any one of them can draw an environmental arrow from the quiver. Those opposed to unbuilding the canal, including a barge industry that hauls 16.9 million tons of sand, coal, gravel, cement and salt through it, envision an extraordinary price for overhauling Chicago’s water system and assert that 1.3 million more trucks would be needed each year to handle what the barges carry. “What is that going to do from an air pollution standpoint?” said Lynn M. Muench of the American Waterways Operators, a trade group that includes barges. “This is a huge environmental issue.” So are the carp. Despite tests that found Asian carp DNA in the water, no actual silver or bighead carp have been spotted as close to the lake (a recent strategic poisoning turned up one, but farther away), and some here view that as proof that this is a lot of worry about nothing. Maybe a carp fell out of a bait box? Maybe it slipped through some other passage during flooding? Still, those who know carp best say even a whiff of them is much to worry about, especially for the Great Lakes’ $7-billion-a-year fishing industry. The carp can weigh as much as 100 pounds, and the silver carp has a habit of jumping, seeming to challenge boaters as much as it does other fish. They eat pretty much all the time, vacuuming up the plankton that other fish depend on and crowding the others out. Then again, most scientists admit they do not know exactly how the Asian carp would behave in the Great Lakes. Though a few have been reported in Lake Erie in the past, biologists have mainly dismissed the discoveries as isolated, and say they leave little precedent for what might happen in such large bodies of water. Already in these lake waters are the zebra and quagga mussels, more unwanted non-native species. They have devoured plankton throughout the lakes, harming native species that need it too. The mussels are thought to have arrived here in the ballast water of international trade ships, one more unintended consequence. “It is conceivable that given how much the zebra and quagga mussels have eaten up already, there may not be much left for the Asian carp, and they might struggle to thrive,” Reuben R. Goforth, an assistant professor of aquatic community ecology at Purdue University, offered hopefully.

Given the above description I'm thinking Bowfin.

I would think with a name like "Sinker" that's absolutely "The key".

It's a first: ice fishing allowed on Rice Lake December 15, 2009 VALERIE MACDONALD / northumberlandtoday.com Fish huts are already lined up on the south shore in Bewdley for the first ice fishing allowed on Rice Lake since the 1920s. The huts are to provide protection for people who will be fishing through holes in the ice for yellow perch, black crappie and sunfish (bluegill and pumpkin seed). This year-round fishing for panfish is viewed by some as a boon to the tourism industry on Rice Lake -- and by others as a potential drain on the fishing resource while even more waste is left in the environment. Changes to what fish can be caught, and when they can be caught in Zone 17, a very large area bordering Lake Ontario between Pickering in the west to east of Brighton and to a ragged border in the north to the top of Lake Simcoe, come into effect Jan. 1, says natural resources ministry (MNR) information officer Jamie Prentice. The year-round fishing of panfish is due to the "very prolific" state of these fish which weren't inhabitants of Rice Lake years ago, he explains. "By creating additional angling opportunities for those species, we can take some of the pressure off walleye and will hopefully see gains in those populations," says Prentice. The new stricter regulations for walleye require they be larger in size (more than 18 inches or 46 centimeters) or they have to be released again. They can still only be fished between the second Saturday in May and Nov. 15 with a maximum limit of four with a sports fishing licence and one with a lower-priced conservation licence. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: I've been informed (thanks Beans) that there is an error in the above article, highlighted in bold text. I'm told the following is correct.... Limit of 4 walleye, conservation license holders have a limit of 1, they must be between 35-50cm (13.8 and 19.7 in.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The fish that can be caught year round in this entire zone include northern pike, yellow perch, crappie and sunfish, although northern pike is not usually found in Rice Lake. Another major change is actually imposing a limit on pan fish. Effective Jan. 1 a sport fishing licence holder can catch up to 300 sunfish at a time but only 30 of these can be over 7.1 inches or 18 centimetres in length. Someone with a conservation licence can only catch 15 at a time, of any size. "I usually only fish for crappie," says Charlotte Clay-Ireland, a long time fishing enthusiast who lives near Rice Lake. The crappie limit is 30 with a seasonal licence and 10 with a conservation licence. The new limit on yellow perch is 50 for those with a seasonal fishing licence and half that with a conservation licence. "If the MNR thinks the lake will take the fishing" it will be based on science, said Clay-Ireland, who publishes a well-known Rice Lake tourism and fishing guide and is a former long-time local municipal council member. "The livelihood of the lake has changed over the years and fishing is major component to the resource," she said. There needs to be caution to ensure the fishing resource is not lost, Clay-Ireland he MNR will need to evaluate the impact of the fishing regulation changes. "We have to be very, very careful we create the right balance." Some tourist operators see this as a way to expand the tourism season and businesses like BJ Tackle in Bewdley have rental fishing hits available for the Jan. 1 fishing regulation changes. In addition to year-round fishing of pan fish which introduces ice fishing to the outdoor sport opportunities of the area, the season for muskellunge and bass have been extended to Dec. 15, a month longer that previously. The change isn't in effect until next year, however.

Jury remains out in angler attack trial December 14, 2009 Joe Fantauzzi / www.yorkregion.com A jury deliberating the case of a Georgina man accused of repeatedly ramming a truck into a car before the car slammed into a tree did not reach a verdict Monday. During his instructions earlier in the day, Justice Alfred Stong asked the eight-woman, four-man jury hearing the case at the Newmarket courthouse to let common sense be their guide when considering a verdict in the criminal negligence causing bodily harm and aggravated assault case of Trevor Middleton, 23, of Georgina. During the proceedings, Mr. Middleton, who was wearing a blue collared shirt and black pants, was seated at the defence table and followed along with the judge’s instructions with his head down. He has pleaded not guilty. Calling them “guardians of the community”, Justice Stong told jurors it is human nature to feel sympathy, but urged them to consider the facts of the case objectively. The trial has lasted about three weeks. Court heard Mr. Middleton and a group of his friends in several pickup trucks drove to a known fishing hole near the blue bridge at Mossington Park in Georgina on Sept. 16, 2007 at about 2 a.m. When the group was at the docks, two 24-year-old anglers from Toronto — Charles Hogan and Ruohang Liu — were pushed into the water. After the pushing, the group of about 10, with the exception of one of Mr. Middleton’s friends, ran back to the pickups and drove away. Mr. Middleton's lawyer, Gerald Logan, told the court his client was unaware his friend had remained behind at the docks. The court has heard the lone man associated with the group in the trucks was involved in a fight before he ended up back on the road injured. Mr. Middleton returned to the bridge later that morning and was involved in a pursuit with several anglers in a white Honda Civic, court heard. Crown prosecutor Amit Ghosh argued that during the pursuit, Mr. Middleton repeatedly rammed the Civic until its driver lost control and slammed into a tree, ejecting Mr. Hogan and Shayne Berwick from the back seats. Mr. Hogan suffered whiplash along with neck and spine injuries, head injuries, a gash to his hand and hypothermia. Mr. Berwick crashed into a tree, suffered a fractured skull that caused him to lapse into a coma for three months, along with several other injuries, court heard. Mr. Logan told the court his client intended to stop the Civic to identify people he thought had killed his friend, the lone man who was found on the road near the Mossington bridge. Mr. Middleton was never charged in connection with the pushing that took place on the docks. Justice Stong told jurors it is up to them to determine if Mr. Middleton had a motive. Several witnesses testified during the trial, but Justice Stong cautioned the jury to weigh the witness’ information carefully. “Nothing is a fact just because a witness said it was so,” he said. The jury’s deliberations are to resume in the morning.

No such thing as safe ice, only safer ice December 14, 2009 / www.great-lakes.org With temperatures expected to plummet tonight, ice will be forming, tempting those who enjoy ice fishing and other ice-related recreation to venture out too soon. The DNR Division of Law Enforcement reminds those who enjoy such activities that there is no such thing as safe ice, only safer ice. “It is a cold and painful lesson that Mother Nature teaches us” said Col. Michael Crider, head of the DNR’s Law Enforcement Division. “Ice fishermen aren’t fair weather fisherman that’s for sure. Anyone unprepared or uninformed is likely have a date with disaster sometime during their ice fishing years.” To avoid such a situation, Crider suggested following these simple safety rules to minimize the risks associated with ice fishing and other ice-related activities. 4 in. of new clear ice is recommended for foot travel; if you go by snowmobile or ATV, 5 in. is the minimum. Don’t consume alcoholic beverages. Never fish alone. Always take a buddy and let someone know where you are going. Wear a life jacket under your winter gear. It not only will keep you buoyant should you fall through, but also will provide additional warmth. Carry ice picks or ice awls. These will allow you to pull yourself out of the water and onto the ice. Should you go through, remain calm. Turn in the direction you came from. Extend your hands and arms, forcing the ice picks solidly into the ice ahead of you. Kick your feet and pull yourself out onto the ice. Do Not Stand Up! By rolling away from the hole, you spread out your weight until you are able to reach solid ice. Carry a signaling type of whistle. Using it may be the only way to let someone know that you are in trouble. A cell phone can be a valuable survival tool but only as long as it remains dry. Carrying a length of rope also can be useful. Stay away from areas on lakes that have inlets or outlets. Be mindful about flowing water if fishing on a channel between two lakes. Ice fishing on Indiana’s reservoir impoundments can pose particular concerns; pay close attention to fluctuating water levels. Remember to think ahead and have a plan.

I used to source parts for my old 25 seahorse from Bay City Marine in Hamilton and Don Hyde Marine in Hagersville. One or the other always had what I needed.