I purchased galvanized posts from Menards and drove these into the bottom with a pile driver and sludge hammer. No sharpening needed and you would be surprised how hard the bottom is with all the water pressure pushing down on it.

First I bolted all my pier sections together and bolted on sleeves (also available at Menards) and slid pushed the pier out onto the ice with a tractor.

Then I marked in the ice where the sleeves are atttached to the pier, pushed the pier aside, and cut holes into the ice with an ice auger. I then slid the sleeves back over the holes and dropped each galvanized post through each sleeve and until it hit the bottom. Next as I said in the first part of this post I drove the galvanized posts into the bottom with a pile driver and sludge hammer until they would not go in anymore. We then wedged the pier up with a crowbar and wood on the ice to the desired height and then tightened the bolts on each sleeve.

I have had this pier in for at least a couple of years with no problems. It's a little wobbly (sits over 9 feet of water close to the end) but it is stable.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.