Volcano or a nice clean hole?

[Bassassins]

This came up in another forum and we were curious to know what you guys do?

When drilling holes do you leave the volcano of ice chips or clean away the edges??

Which and why?

Bassassins clean.....

[Yannick Loranger]

lose one monster walleye because your hole was a few inches too deep and you'll clear away the chips forever after. Some will even carve a channel on the edge of the hole to drag fish onto the ice.

[MLR]

lose one monster walleye because your hole was a few inches too deep and you'll clear away the chips forever after. Some will even carve a channel on the edge of the hole to drag fish onto the ice.

X 2 on that... Keep your holes clean and the big girls will come easier.

[RJ]

I'd like to know why anyone wouldn't clean the hole flat.....laziness must be the only reason.

RJ

[cgates]

I also clean it up plus about 4 feet all around

[JZ]

while I am prospecting an area I will leave the mounds of chips but once we have an area we are going to fish we clear them off, like others have said you are only making it more difficult to land a fish. And once we leave an area for good we knock them down for safety as well, can't imagine it would be fun to hit a foot high mound of ice on a bike or sled.

[Jimmy_1]

2 reasons

1) As stated here as to not lose fish.

2) When those "volcanoes" harden they can cause issues for snowmobilers. As a good citizen I don't wish to draw ire from others using lakes so I flatten them down out of respect and courtesy.

[Chevy Champagne]

And once we leave an area for good we knock them down for safety as well, can't imagine it would be fun to hit a foot high mound of ice on a bike or sled.

i knock em down right away so i dont loose fish and i know first hand that hitting one of these "volcanoes" on a sled at 80 plus mph is not fun....especially if you just clip it with one of the skis...i dont want this happening to other people as well

[Moosebunk]

If and when possible, I like to clean up the house before inviting friends over.

[jesse.page]

Clean away those volcanoes! They just cause havoc for loosing the opportunity of a big fish and they'll mess you up when your on a sled and you hit one of them!

[Happy Hooker]

If you want to fight a fish out of the hole in a mess, take from me a clean area makes the fight a little less stressful.
Thanks for pointing out the danger to others, never thought of the sleds.

[SEOO]

with all of this being said that does not mean you always want to clean or shovel to glare ice if there is a foot of snow on top of the ice and you clear out a hole expect a livewell to form around your feet in those cases I will pack it down and stand on the snow and let it freeze hard but still clean the edge smooth so I dont fray my line on it or get it caught on a small frozen snow chunk all the time when it goes limp