not here in nova scotia canada yet...supposed to get colder mid january...maybe then,,,been so warm here we still got the boats out fishing

I don't know, if you are talking about only Canada area, but here in Finland I just a few hours ago came back from an ice fishing trip targeting pikes and we got one around 2kg up and lost 2 of about same size.

Hi Tammy, looks like an interesting way to fish but i think i prefer our fishing here in New Zealand, a bit warmer lol.

fisho-24, that hole is 6" (15cm) diameter, a bit under 19" (47cm) circumference. The pike's circumference only around 13" (32cm), so it comes easily up, if you just manage to make it in the "tube". Oh, and if the fish is bigger than the hole, you just drill 2 more holes around the initial one and make one big hole.

Ice fishing is very close to meditation. I just find the peace when ice fishing.

---

tammy_lilbit, we don't actually have any limit on pikes (no size or amount), it's so common fish and tbh so little fished. But as responsible fishers, we don't take anymore than we can eat ourselves. The 2 pikes, that got away, got away before this one we got up. They were actually just bites and snap, the line was cut. Sharp teeth and we didn't take our wire traces with us, just used .45mm (.017 inch?) fluorocarbon, which obviosly wasn't enough for pikes' teeth. After this one we called it a day.

We don't have walleyes, but on zander (or more commonly known as pike-perch), we have legal minimum length of 40cm (bit under 16"), but no amount limit in most places. I think we should have. We keep the minimum limit ourselves as 45cm (bit under 17") and take at most 3 fishes, usually 1 or 2 is enough. By means of ice fishing i've never caught any zanders (yet!) though 😊

Yeah, 8 inch is the way to go to be sure, just in case that monster happens to bite :)
Though, most pikes come up from 6 inch hole. I don't own 8 inch drill (or even 6 inch one).
We used my friends 6 inch drill, I only have 4.5 inch drill and 5 inch drill. I usually fish for perch.
5 inch drill I got for cheap and 4.5 inch for free.

I live in colorado and ice fishing has been hot the last 3 weeks. I caught 90 myself with some nice rainbows from 15"-22". Going again this friday with some friends and hoping for a few more nice ones.

I dont use a fish finder, but I do study contour maps and fish over river channels, and any other good structure. Early season fish shallower go deeper as the season goes on.