Introduction: How to Start an Ice Auger and Drilling Your First Hole
Hi, my name is Matt Kemnitz. In this video, you will learn how to start an ice auger and drill a hole. Take it from someone who drills 300 holes per year, I have been ice fishing for about 15 years now. I have learned everything about ice fishing from my Grandpa. We will be going through the proper steps on auger safety, auger storage, the steps to starting the auger and drilling the hole.
Step 1: Auger Introduction
This is a strike master ice auger, this is used for drilling holes in the ice for ice fishing. In this step, we will go over things we need for our new auger. We will need a can of trufuel 50:1 mix, that is the only gas you will want to use in this auger. The cans are easy to store and keep a two month shelve life. Trufuel can be found any hardware store for around five dollars a can.
Step 2: Ice Conditions
Bad ice or new ice that’s not safe to be on, see chart above. Being an ice angler, we have to watch out for ice conditions. In late season, we need to watch out for black and sagging ice. We need to stay away from ice that is not safe. Same for early ice we need to stay off the lake if the ice is under 6’’.
Step 3: Getting Ready to Drill Your Hole
Getting the auger ready to drill a hole. After you get the auger out of the box and you have followed the steps for putting your auger together. Put your trufuel 50:1 mix in the gas tank, Make sure the ice is safe for you to be on, we can make our way on the lake and find where we want to drill our first hole.
Step 4: Drilling the Hole
Now we are ready to start the auger. The first thing we are going to do is turn the on switch to the on position. The second thing is to turn the choke to the start position, and prime the auger five or six times. Then hit the little blue compression button and give the auger a half pull and keep pulling till it starts. Put the auger in front of your body with the exhaust facing out and hit the throttle and the blades will start spinning. Put the blades on the ice, push down. Keep drilling until water comes through the hole and let off the throttle and lift the auger out of the hole.
