How to Clean Ice Fishing Holes

Video Transcript

"Now that we've got the holes drilled, we want to look at how to clean them. And the importance of cleaning them. Notice after this first hole has been drilled, how you have a mound of ice around the ring. These are all ice shavings. The quickest way to do it, is to put your foot in the center, angle it and push outward to both sides. Rather than pushing all the way straight across the hole, which just drags one side of ice shavings back into the hole. The next thing we're going to do, is we're going to use a scoop. This is a six inch diameter scoop. We're going to use this on a seven inch hole, and we're going to scoop out as much of this ice as we can, until we can get a good, clear and clean hole. The importance of a good clean hole, is so that your ice line, your fishing line, doesn't rub up against any of these sharp shavings. If is does when a fish is on, that can very clearly break the line and your fish would get away. So, we want to get down in here and scoop up any floating ice. You could take a good look at this hole now and see just how clean it is. No line is going to get caught on the edges or on any of the smaller ice shavings. Because you've got a good clean, clear hole. Very, very important with game fish especially. Some of the larger fish, like pike and lake trout, that have a big head and a big jaw and a lot of girth. You really need to have a clean hole so that you can pull that whole body up through it without breaking your line. Now on a smaller hole, you'll use a smaller scoop. Same process, just make sure the diameter of the scoop is smaller than the diameter of the hole. This is a four inch scoop and a six inch hole. And again, clearing it out as best we can and this size hole may be used for perch, pan fish, crappy or bluegill. But again, you don't want to loose even the nicest pan fish."