My old
Jiffy ice auger coughed, wheezed and finally sputtered to life like an
asthmatic struggling for a last strained breath at a dust mite convention.
Loaded with last year’s “un-stabilized” ethanol fuel and operating in an
ambient temperatures just above freezing, the poor old girl’s carburetor
strained to maintain a healthy purr. Despite her initial complaints, the beast
to tore four impressive ten inch holes through the ice and in the process, just
about rattle every filling out of my skull. Then suddenly and quite
unexpectedly something inside the machine made a loud “clank”, the motor
whined, bucked and then died. A quiet calm settled onto the lake, as the last
echoes of the augers final belches of exhaust spewed out of its muffler. This
incident marked for me the end of an era, a final goodbye salute to an old
friend. It also proved to be the last time I ever picked up a gasoline powered ice
auger.
ION Ice
Auger ROCKS!
Years
ago, I would have scoffed at the prospects of an “electric” powered ice auger
but the Ion Electric Ice Auger is an amazing piece of equipment. Powerful, fast
and QUIET, the 8 inch ION will drill up to 40 holes through 2 feet of ice on a
single charge. At just 22 pounds, the ION is just shy of half the weight of my
old gas powered ice auger and boasts special blades that create smooth
breakthroughs and no jarring stops. Add the ION’s ability to reverse its blade
and flush slush down the hole and it’s blatantly obvious that this auger should
be on every anglers most wanted list. I purchased my ION about 4 years ago and
since that time, the company has continued to make numerous updates and changes
to the original ION to make it even more effective in cutting ice.
