It depends on how you are busting the ice as far as clogging the jet intake. The 2 areas I usually bust out has ice ranging from .5 to 2 acres worth of ice........when I am cutting slabs with my old outboard jet-boat, the ice will gather along the transom as I drive through it becasue there is nowhere else for it to go. That scenario will disrupt the intake flow and drive the RPM's way up with little water going through the pump. You can use your net to haul out the big chunks of ice or just keep 'putting' along until you get to open water.

Sometimes the ice is so thick that you will actually drive the bow of the boat onto the ice. That is when your spud bar will come in handy so you can either 1) push the boat off the ice 2) have your buddy keep the throttle open and chisel while he drives you 3) I have stood on the very tip of the bow and jumped up and down to break it.

The last time I broke ice, I started planing my boat on "half plane" to create the largest wake possible while driving right beside the ice I wanted broken.......the wake served as a mini-tsunami and broke the ice in large pieces. Then I just pushed the large pieces out to the current. On cold days with highs in the single digits, you have to move quickly before it re-freezes.

How did you manage to bust your boat up on the ice??? Actually poking holes in the hull or what??


I bet my new inboard jet would work beautifully because it weighs 2x more than my outboard jets do and the intake is located at the bottom of the hull therefore reducing the amount of "transom ice" that would block my intake.