So I purchased a really nice post hole buster/ice breaker, and it worked great! All steel, nice hammer head on one end, and chisel on the other. I got through 6" of ice quick enough that it slipped right through my hands and impaled the bottom 10 feet down.

So when I manage to retrieve it in the spring, how do I secure the bugger to myself safely so I don't loose it again?

Usually we secure a strap to the top end and around our right wrist. Rope works good too.

Squid, kinda funny but probably not to you. Don't feel bad tho as I'm sure this thread will attract many stories of dumb arseness. Here are two.
I made a grapple hook out of rebar to remove some x-mass trees. It worked great for three trees and then my boy scout knot let loose. Still in there.
A friend and I borrowed another friends pontoon with the stipulation that we added anchors to the pontoon. We did but my friend forgot to tie the anchor rope to the pontoon. A 25 ft rope does not do any good in thirty ft of water even if secured to the pontoon. Yeah, you guessed it, all my friends are brainacks, especially the guy who loaned us the pontoon.

Yep, spuds usually come with a wrist strap. I didn't know that when I made my first one, so I got to make two in one week. Don't feel bad.

I can see the damned thing down there, the water is so clear. It is taunting me, but I just cannot bring myself to go swimming right now. Loss of the tool is hampering my resurfacing of the skating ice! Chainsaw time.

If you can see it, you can retreive it. I would go with a long hog snare. We used to use them to grab a hog's nose to put rings in them. Not fancy. A piece of pipe, a piece of cable and a screw to secure 1 end of the cable to the pipe.

I should explain. You get a length of pipe long enough to reach your target. For what you want to do, cheap 1/2 inch poly pipe will do. Secure one end of a light cable to the outside of one end of the pipe with the screw. Thread the cable back thru the pipe. To use it you just push cable back thru the pipe to make a loop. Put the loop around the hammer end of the spud bar and pull the cable tight. You now have a tool you can use to reteive most anything you drop in the pond. If you can see it, you can retrieve it!

Edit: And the best part is ya don't have to get wet!

Sounds like a long snake snare, but I would use stiff PVC rather than poly pipe.

Yep. PVC pipe would work but not as flexible. Maybe PVC conduit? Also you need a short one for shallow water and a longer one for deeper if you're working thru an ice hole.

Edit: The more I think about it, I like the PVC conduit idea best. You could then drill a hole in the larger diameter end and put a small eye bolt to attach the cable.

How about a small dog chain with a magnet on the end? Lower the chain, get the magnet to grab the spud, then get 4-5 loops of chain around the spud, a couple below the magnet, and lift?

I think Condello arms long enough to retrieve it.

I have had to use a friend's heavy duty magnet several times hauling dumb luck 'stuff' out of the water. Even one time to retrieve my glasses. I decided to buy my own strong magnet. Don't use it much, but it is handy when you need it.
http://www.harborfreight.com/retrieving-magnet-250-lb-pull-36905.html

Bill, I'm surprised that ya had to borrow and buy a magnet since you have such a magnetic personality.

I like the ideas here, thanks. Simple solutions! Now I have to re find the hole as we just got a foot of the white stuff. Everything is shut and I HAVE tomget to work today.

Someone needs to invent plastic mangets as I spent a decent amount of time retrieving goggles, flippers, and various other toys from the bottom.

A few years back I bought a nice 8' cast net. I got it out of the box checked it for tangles then tossed it in a tidal creek after some finger mullet. It opened up to the full 16'. One of the best casts I had ever done. I watched it hit the water just as the wrist loop passed by my face. So I had to drive home and get a rod to retrieve it. Boy did I feel dumb!

LOL Cray!! Did the same with mine once, but I could walk in and retrieve mine....like a walk of shame when people are watching...lol

You get the plastic magnet at the same store that sells aluminum magnets.

Do they also carry those 100% frictionless bearings I need to complete my perpetual motion machine? Free, clean energy is just a couple bearings away from becoming a reality.

Tony, next time I'm down there I want to see it in use!

Here's your bearings.

http://www.synchrony.com/products/