Ice holes get full of blowing snow, ice chips, or debris. Clearing or cleaning your hole is important. This means getting down onto your knee and splashing the ice and water from the ice hole.
Prepare your hole so that it is ready to stay unclogged and ready for a fish.
Wind Wall Stack up the hole cuttings upwind of your hole. This will keep debris from blowing or falling into the ice hole.
Fish Landing Strip Make a smooth ramp to slide the fish out of the hole.
Fish Trap Make an area nearby to toss your catch into. Usually, I shovel out an area in the snow. The fish may flip and flop but stay snug in the open pit. You can also use ice hole chips to make an area to hold the fish.
I always carry a small shovel when going ice fishing. Shovels clear the snow away to allow more light to shine under the ice. It is also handy to shove ice hole chips aside.
To ladle the ice chips out of the hole, you need a water draining tool. My first ladle was my mom’s cooking utensil. The only problem was that they always ended up getting accidentally kicked or dropped down the hole. My Dad later made a homemade ladle out of a can drilled with holes and a stick. It too went down the hole.
You can buy colorful handled plastic ladles at the fishing shop. The problem is that they are plastic and fragile in cold conditions. They also sink.
Eventually we graduated to a metal ladle. The handle is about 18 inches long, but metal also sinks. The rule is to place it back into its holder on the sled after every use.
We have tried to tie floats to the ladles, but they end up becoming another tangle event.
My current Ice Hole Clearing tool has an extension handle. The ladle extends to over 36 inches which means you do not have to bend over to clear your ice hole. No more wet knees or aching joints. The design on the one that I have is supposed to self-lock but it’s a good idea that does not work. Once cold, the lock fails. Multiple ladles do the same, so I ended up drilling a hole through the handle and added a pin lock. I can still collapse the ladle when done or leave it long.
Once you go long you will wonder why you never did it sooner.
Montana Grant
