Just once I’d love to tie into one. My BIL caught a 45 1/2” 25lb northern through the ice. I have it hanging on my wall right behind me.

Dumb question. But why not make your holes bigger? I've never understood why yall keep the holes so small..

Just now, NittyGrittyBoy said:

Dumb question. But why not make your holes bigger? I've never understood why yall keep the holes so small..

Because it would be like throwing a hotdog down a hallway

3 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

Just once I’d love to tie into one. My BIL caught a 45 1/2” 25lb northern through the ice. I have it hanging on my wall right behind me.

Story claims 54" long and 27" girth. I have never broke the 40" mark but, I have never targeted them. They are a byproduct of bass fishing on my home water.

So dropping your bait down a 8" hole is fun? Again why not give yourself room to work?

 

Am I missing something beneficial about a small hole?

1 hour ago, NittyGrittyBoy said:

Dumb question. But why not make your holes bigger? I've never understood why yall keep the holes so small..

The standard manual auger size is 8". Power augers come bigger, but they're expensive and quite a number of ice-fishers can't afford them.

Awesome muskie that man caught while ice fishing!

16 hours ago, NittyGrittyBoy said:

So dropping your bait down a 8" hole is fun? Again why not give yourself room to work?

 

Am I missing something beneficial about a small hole?

He caught it on a tip up and most tip ups won’t sit on top of the ice on a hole much bigger than 8 inches. 

I once almost broke my leg stepping in a snowed-over 10" hole. I could only imagine what may happen to a small child in such a case...

 

I have a 10" auger, but usually just use my 6" attached to my 18V drill or my 8" gas auger. Most guys use an 8". I've pulled 4+ pound bass through a 6" hole. It can be done.

On 3/3/2020 at 8:18 PM, NittyGrittyBoy said:

So dropping your bait down a 8" hole is fun? Again why not give yourself room to work?

 

Am I missing something beneficial about a small hole?

The amount of effort to drill a hole larger than 8 inches is more difficult.  It's rare that you would ever need something larger than 8 inches and a larger hole (and the equipment to drill it) is more difficult to justify.  

 

Once, when I wanted a larger hole I drilled two 6 inch holes so they merged/intersected (like a two circle venn diagram).  It wasn't twice as big in diameter, obviously, but it worked.