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Ultralight Ice Force Tool-Tandem Drills Fast and Discovers Fresh Fish
Each winter, Christmas forthcoming, legions of hardwater warriors prepare for first-ice battles - those invigorating exploratory campaigns onto frozen waters across the Ice Belt. This is no time for big trucks or mountains of gear, though. Triumphant anglers travel light and fish right - donning little more than a rod, new age hand auger and a sleek sonar unit stowed inside their pocket.
Ice Force pro and guide Tony Roach begins his now legendary “walleye walk” at first whisper of usable ice. Holstering a brace of lightning-fast, ultralight instruments, Roach rapidly incises ice and determines lake depths on his way to those glorious schools of untouched walleyes.
Ten hours south, World Ice Fishing Champion Tony Boshold takes his first tenuous steps onto a certain secretive panfish pond. Despite the forested mile-long hike to get there, Boshold never breaks a sweat, or misses the inaugural event.
Not coincidentally, but rather by calculated design, both anglers unveil StrikeMaster Lazer Synthetic Ultra-Lite augers, slicing ice with effortless turns of the handle. With quick admiring glances at clean-cut holes in the hardwater, Roach and Boshold quickly unsheathe identical ShowDown Troller units. Stealthily aiming a barrage of sonar beams at the bottom, the two Tony’s marvel at the significant signals alighting their digital LCDs... ice conquered, fish found.
“At first ice and beyond,” says Boshold, “my goal is to discover winter’s unmarked secrets—active areas crawling with big sunfish, perch and crappies. StrikeMaster’s new Lazer Ultra-Lite is a devastating drill for early ice. It’s got this non-metallic, synthetic flight and blade carriage that makes the thing travel like a graphite rod. It allows you to turn and churn ice like a blender, popping multiple holes while keeping your arms fresh for hooksets. I dig that.”
Roach, who knows a little something about digging holes in ice as well, wields his namesake ShowDown “ice” Troller 2.0 like a smartphone. “The Troller is my first line of communication with fish and structure,” he declares. “Anytime I’m in search mode, there’s a Troller in my pocket or my palm. The Troller 2.0 even has this killer app called Auto Bottom Lock Zoom. It’s like the re-engineered unit has acquired a virtual intelligence—tracking and magnifying structure as you hop from hole to hole, so you never miss a bottom-hugging walleye again.”
Troller 2.0 is also a “transformer,” instantly converting from handheld sonar to fulltime fish finder. Slide the micro AA-battery operated ShowDown into a 12-volt Performance Pack, and jig away.
“Whether you’re a run-and-gun angler or just like to lighten your load, StrikeMaster and ShowDown deliver a deadly one-two punch on the ice,” Boshold affirms. “The Lazer Synthetic Ultra-Lite delivers effortless drilling - the sweetest hand auger either side of Sweden. The Troller is the ultimate micro-sonar unit. With its new Auto Bottom Lock Zoom, I can skip from hole to hole, shallow to deep and always stay zeroed in on the money zone - that critical area near bottom swarming with gills and fins, from walleyes and perch to sunfish and pike.”
It’s unanimous, the Tony’s to forever share the Featherweight Belt.
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