I have no gear and would like some help getting geared up. Poles or tip ups. Sleds and augers. Is there a cheaper place than cabelas. Thanks for any help!

There are many ways to do it.
My 23 year old Eskimo 8" auger works fine. Any small gas engine needs the carb kept clean.
I have used a plain old stick for a tip up, but whatever works should be fine as well.

You can go as simple as just a manual auger as new gear. Your regular rod will work fine. Some light jigs and a 5-gal bucket to sit on/carry gear are all you need. A 6" auger is fine for anything but lunkers (and moves exactly half the amount of ice as an 8" one - do the math). Total: about $50.

Or you can spring for a snowmobile, sled, ice shelter, heater, ice rods, flasher, power auger, and tip-ups. Total $5000+.

Your choice.

Correct.
For me, the thickness of the ice would be the difference between a hand auger, or power. For three feet of ice, I like the gas auger.

"My 23 year old Eskimo 8" auger works fine." Mine too, about the same vintage though it's put on weight over the years.

We have feet of ice so a power auger is a necessity. Some years I even need the extension. Plus I like to drill lots of holes, the fish are seldom where I figure. So I'll drill a bunch of holes right off and move until I find the magic depth/structure.

And the rest of what Rocky said. I started cheap with some gear from Alco, a 5 gal. plastic bucket, and learned a lot going out with friends. Some stuff they had that I never thought of worked great, some stuff I thought would work great would have been useless. Experience counts and borrow from theirs.

There are different styles of ice fishing that favor different gear. Like some people rely exclusively on tip-ups, I don't use them very often. I'd rather hunt than wait. So start slowly investing in gear until you find the style that suits you.

I am getting back into it after being out since the pre-tech age when hardly a soul used a "fish finder" or flasher. My cold-water dunking friends now tell me a good flasher like a Vexilar or a Marcum is indispensable even to the point of finding the fish through clear ice before drilling any holes.

Therefore, I succumbed and that was my first purchase. I have a manual auger but being from NW Iowa where ice will reach 20" thick in a short time, a powered one will be next. As for the rest I'll wait. I'm content to dress warm and sit out on a pail and "sun". After all, fishing is social too-nice to see what the other "outside" guys are doing.

Yup. Our ice doesn't often get thicker than a foot or so. The guys who drill lots of holes go with a gas or electric auger. The guys who plunk down once and hope for the best can get by with a manual. (Put me in the latter group, please.)

Our season ends long before the ice gets really thick or thin. The reservoirs start to fill in early February, and the rising water makes for dangerous or no ice around the edges. Some guys use long ladders or boards to get from the shore to ice, but most just hang up their gear and wait for open water.

Mulenbucks. Google.... Marine general or Red Rock Wilderness and Glenns Army supply.... Best prices i can find are on there...

What kind of fish will you be targeting???

Yeah, I quit when it gets slushy around the shore. Can get a little dicey even with an ATV. Went out one night and by quitting time the bottom of the holes were bigger than the top and what little clear ice there was in the profile had turned grainy. (IIRC 1-1/2 to 2 feet ice on the lake).

But only shortly after the eddges go the wind will push the ice back enough for shore fishing and wading. Northerns are early spawners and come shallow for the sun especially near inlets. Makes for a fun afternoon.

Ice shanty forums for info, fish 307 for gear.

Thanks for all the advice. I will be after perch and trout.

I would definitely get a flasher, even if its a used one... You will have a greater chance of getting on the fish....

Or camera would work to... I like my vexilar, would not even go on the ice without it...

I'd sooner leave the beer home than the Vexilar.

If you do go with a manual auger, spend the money on a good one like a Nils or a Fin-bor. They're all I use, I'm cutting through 3 feet or better by march.

You must have arms like Popeye. But then I'll start with a dozen or so holes to find where on the structure (depth) they're hanging. Then more holes, kinda fun drilling them. Think locating fish as you would in a boat. I can sit on one spot for only so long without drinking beer and playing cards.

I don't leave home without my flasher either and it's just a Hummingbird portable. Mainly to find depth and see where my lure is. Generally target walleye and they're often so close to the bottom even a Vex won't show any separation.

I would get a used Vexilar FL-8, check out some forums on ice fishing or craigslist and you'll find one cheaper then Cabela's. As for fishing equipment, if the fish you are going after aren't going to routinely eclipse say 8 pounds, I would get a 28" Medium length ice rod, I think that St. Croix makes some good ones, and a small reel, I like small Pflueger Presidents. For line, I would string it up with a good 4 pound mono or 6 pound Fireline Crystal. For jigs, I think that a handful of Swedish Pimples would be a good start and for an auger, if your average ice thickness will be over 15", I would go for a gas auger, 8" in diameter should be great. I would check fishing forums or craigslist for that, too. Lazer is a good auger. Hope this helps and good luck on the ice!

First trip this season was last Sunday and will probably head out again tomorrow(New Years day).
We limited out in two hours on Sunday and the trout is in the smoker right now.
#1. find a buddy that is a fanatic about ice fishing. I enjoy it but am not quite so obsessed. There is an ice fishing board that he frequents(not sure which) that is good about fishing reports.
#2. the ice last Sunday was close to two foot. If your ice is similar, I can't say enough positive things about the Jiffy Propane augers. Never leaks, never carb problems, no mixing and fires up on the first pull. We started with a hand and it made ice fishing tedious. Now one of us drills a dozen holes while the other sets up the poles and ice house.

The entry level hummingbird is a nice flasher too.

Someone said glens army navy, I agree, he's very hard to beat on this stuff.

Fleet Farm . com has good stuff.

I purchased a nils hand auger and it has been great. We have 10 inches of ice. I purchased a few small rods with reels (very cheap)13.00 for the set. I made a few tip ups also. I found that a sled is a must. The trout fishing has been great. We have lost 1 rod through the ice to a fish. I have watched people with the cheaper hand augers and you can see the differences between. Thanks for all the advice.

+1

I'd recommend starting with an 8 inch Strike master Lazer hand auger, some Beaverdam tipups, and fast action rod. For the minnows and shiners, get a small round styrofoam bait bucket that you can fit inside a 5 gallon bucket. Get another bucket to hold your tipups, terminal tackle, hookout tool etc, and you should be able to walk all of it out in one trip.