Dropped the ball, er I mean blade. Doh!!

[Fishfinder]

It's been awhile since posting, but I've been lingering and some great threads/posts on here as per usual. Keep it up y'all and stay safe. Love the passion on this forum!
Question for my fisherfolk friends. So I was out at lake lmnop with a couple buddies a couple weeks ago and long story short our day ended with my buds gas auger drill blade/bit falling through the ice after the pin popped out that attaches/holds the blade to motor. This was a new one for me. I am not an avid ice fisherman and more less tag along when I get the call. Anywhoooo, the auger blade is at about 8ft deep at the bottom of the lake, unvisible to the eye, we do not use cameras/gadgets etc. We tried fishing for it with the minimal gear we had but to no avail. I'm trying to figure out how we can get his auger blade Above the ice? Surely someone must know, we can't be the first?? Solutions? All I can come up with is 1-super duper magnet (lol) 2-some sort of massive hook (Like grappling hook!) and sweep the hole? In order to do this we'd likely have to borrow an auger (haha) and drill a couple/few holes side by side to the original hole and sweep the bottom of lake with large hook in hopes of hooking on to his blade. NOTE: I doubt we'll resort to this plus I don't wanna leave a massive hole in this ice. 3-wait till spring and dive for it. I'm thinking our likeliest of options.
My buddy makes good money and he can always buy another blade but I'd rather accept this as a challenge and get it out of the water. They can pull massive trucks outta the ice, so how does one retrieve an auger blade? Anybody, anybody, Bueller, Bueller, feel free to offer advice and experience here. Please

On a completely diff note, I was up in Cowtown over the weekend for wrist surgery (grrrrrrrrrrr) but managed to get out on the Bow Riv with my lil sis who has taken to fishing (Awesome!!) and likely my last fishing trip for a couple months (again grrrrrrrr) but managed 2 nice Browns and a fatty Bow all around 20". Only measured the Rainbow. Was nice to get in some winter open water fishing and look forward to my "checkup" with the Bow... er I mean doctor in 6 weeks! Those who fish this gem of a river on a regular basis are pretty darn lucky I tell ya. Long live the Blue Ribbon!
Back to point, sunken auger blade, advice?

[LKILR]

Should still be there in the spring. I would go get it after the water warms up. I lost a jackal in a river in early spring once. Went back in August when water level was way lower and I retrieved it.

[TylerThomson]

Well the best way is a bigger hole and a magnet. A 100 lb magnet will run you about 30 bucks at acklands and comes with a eyelet on it.

Either that or join the polar bear club.

Good luck

[NSR_RAT]

[QUOTE=TylerThomson;3715018]Well the best way is a bigger hole and a magnet. A 100 lb magnet will run you about 30 bucks at acklands and comes with a eyelet on it.

I have a really strong big earth magnet I picked up off amazon, ran about $60CDN, I forget what it’s rated at,but they should be more than capable to pick it up.

[Teamprotz]

Princesssuto has magnets as well and you can always return it when you’re done. Lol

[RavYak]

8 fow, cut a big hole jump in and get it. Would probably make for an entertaining way to spend the day.

Either that or get a camera and some ropes and a pole and try to get the rope looped around the one end and then pull it up.

[cube]

Bring branches etc and perhaps some black plastic or surveyors tape to mark the hole after.

Cut out block of ice. Auger 4 holes. Use Ice saw or long enough chainsaw to cut between the holes. Push ice block under the ice. Take magnet and pull out auger leg. A roof rake pole and a snare might also work.

A camera might help in locating the exact location of the leg.



Good Luck

[Fishfinder]

Great tips fellas. Gonna search for a big arse magnet we reckon. If that fails, where do we sign up for the Polar Bear Club? Haha. Cheers and thanx for replies all. Stay safe

[EZM]

Originally Posted by cube

Bring branches etc and perhaps some black plastic or surveyors tape to mark the hole after.

Cut out block of ice. Auger 4 holes. Use Ice saw or long enough chainsaw to cut between the holes. Push ice block under the ice. Take magnet and pull out auger leg. A roof rake pole and a snare might also work.

A camera might help in locating the exact location of the leg.



Good Luck

Think of the same thing - but you don't need to drill any holes - just run your saw flat to the ice ( dipping the tip of the blade while she spins) and pivot it down slowly and it will slice neatly into the ice.

If you CAN - try and make a shallow pass all the way around first because once you cut all the way through you are getting wet BUT it works with zero issues (as long as the bar is long enough).

If it's only 8 feet a telescoping painters pole with some sort of hook taped to it would likely work I think - just bring a few poles, tape, some rope and I'm sure it will be easy to figure out (or use a magnet).

After you retrieve your auger flight - slide the block of ice back in (if you were able to remove it and mark the hole with some willows and a bit of flagging tape.

[WayneChristie]

Hey bud PM me. or text me if you still have my number

[fishnuts]

Originally Posted by Fishfinder

Great tips fellas. Gonna search for a big arse magnet we reckon. If that fails, where do we sign up for the Polar Bear Club? Haha. Cheers and thanx for replies all. Stay safe

depending on where this happened, I could possibly be convinced! haha

[TimeOff]

Get some small gauge cable and nicompress an eye on one end, then lasso it. That is if it is visible on the bottom.
Hardware store should be able to hook you up.

[1bowhunter12]

Wait a minute was this at wabamun ???

[Monica B]

Originally Posted by EZM

and a bit of flagging tape.

And that bit of flagging tape will be
floating in the water in the summer.