Good Ice Fishing Reel

[gossamerwump]

I went ice fishing last year once and loved it! Hooked! Plan to do much more this year if global warming allows. I need to know best, reasonably priced, ice fishing reel. Have looked in ebay, ton of stuff, but most look cheapy. Don't want to loose fish due to bad equipment. Also, I need advice on augers. I have noticed size differences. Mostly I will be on Berry. Happy Turkey Day every one!

Goss
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[polokid]

[size 3][red][font "Arial"]First off Goss welcome to BFT and to the addiction of walking on water(ice.) Equiping yourself for fishing can seem relatively inexpensive at first but later becomes a deep hole of finances and ice fishing is no exception.
For reels I use the same reels as in summer time. But in purchasing ice specific reels, remember you are not looking for casting abilities. I would look for stuff that isnt cheap plastic that will break easily in the bitter cold. An easy to adjust drag system expecially for the big trout in Strawberry. I prefer 6lb test, some will say that is too heavy and I cant properly detect a hit on that size line, others say that is not heavy enough for the possibility of hooking into a "quality" fish. [/font]
[font "Arial"]Augers- If you are looking to fish Strawberry a hand auger will suit you just fine until about the last week of January when the ice get to be 18 + inches. Then you will learn a work out. Plus i like to drill 2 holes right next to each other, one for my sonar and one for my pole and after the first of the year another one for my second pole. But if the budget only allows a hand auger at this time, I love my strikemaster hand auger. I would go no bigger than 8 inches.[/font]
[font "Arial"]For gas powered augers, I have a eskimo and enjoy it, here is a link to a previous thread about augers.http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=287986;#287986[/font]
[font "Arial"]I prefer a 8 inch power auger to a 10 due to some capabilities on drilling bigger holes on lakes that allow such thing. [/font]
[font "Arial"]I personally cannot ice fish without my sonar. If you have a sonar on a boat or looking to purchase one, there are several ways to set it up for ice fishing. Here is a link [/font][/red][/size][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=87170;search_string=ammo%20box;#87170"][font "Arial"][red][size 3]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...box;#87170[/size][/red][/font][/url][size 3][red][font "Arial"] [/font]
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[/red][/size][size 3][red][font "Arial"]Eventually in the future phases of ice addiction the interests in shantys and ice transportation will enter the mind. Now lets just pray for ice!
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[mateo]

Check out the Quantum Optix 10 spinning reel. Pretty sweet for $20.
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[petty4life]

i just picked up 2 of those optix 10' they are very nice
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[tomegun]

Think plastic. Metal reels tend to freeze. I been using my old Shimano Curado baitcasting reels. No line twists and the line peels faster.

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[UintaIce]

I think any number of decent-quality reels will work fine for you. What I've found to be the best thing is just to prep the reels I'm going to carry out in sub-freezing temps. That's mostly removing grease from the gearing / ball bearings, and putting on a coat of light lubricant instead. Grease thickens and gets sticky, not allowing your reel to turn easily or the drag to slip properly.
WD-40, Primis light viscosity lube gel and such works great to keep your reel performing the way you'd want it to in cold weather.
Have a great Turkey Day!
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[BearLakeMack]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Any good quality reel will work. I prefer low profile bait casters but spinning reels work great too. Pick a reel you like and you shouldn't have any problems. As UintaIce said, use a good quality low viscosity reel oil, like Quantum Hot Sauce and you're good to go.[/size][/black][/font]
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[road]

Hey Mr. Ice do you lube that reel after the WD40?
I use the WD for cleaning, it cuts right through the greasy grung. But I always lube afterwards.
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[Hellsangler69]

Lot of ice fishers use Tica Cetus spinning reels and swear by there drag . I don't have one yet but maybe this christmas I'll get one for myself .
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[N.E.T.O.]

I use regular spinning reels, but this year I'm switching to a baitcaster/levelwind type reel. A couple of people have mentioned them on this thread.
Randy
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