Old Technique Big Results
By Brad Durick - Why-Fish.com
Every winter scattered across the prairie lakes of the north you will see houses and their people fishing on the hard water. Some fish for the excitement, others fish to help the long cold winters go by just a bit faster, while more fish just for the love of fishing no matter what the season or the temperature.
Today, thanks to the ice fishing movement of the past decade, we see more and more of the “fish on the fly” method. Find the fish rather than wait for the fish to find you. For all practical purposes this is the best way to catch fish through the ice, but there is also a simple technique from decades past that is a proven method to catch fish.
Fishing with tip-ups is nothing new to the world of ice fishing. In fact, for many it is the preferred method for catching northern pike. Over the past few seasons we have seen great advancements to the technology involved in using tip-ups to catch fish. The classic wood style tip-up has been given a facelift in the form of a stronger plastic tip-up. It is also available in an insulated design to cover the ice hole and protect it from freezing up in extremely cold temps. The latest invasion to the tip-up world is the light and/or siren that attaches to the flag notifying the user of a strike.
With all of the new advancements, it might be time to slow down the new fast paced approach to ice fishing and give the tip-up a try. Step back and enjoy the fruits of what a little scouting and a technique of old can produce.
CHOOSING YOUR TIP-UP
Rigging a tip-up is a simple task. The first and most important ingredient to this fishing method is a quality tip-up. There are two styles of tip-ups that are on the top of this list. Frabill has always had “The Classic” tip-up and recently introduced the Arctic Fire tip-up as the newest of the standard style tip-ups. The Arctic Fire is a rail style tip-up that is made of an easy to see green poly that can withstand the punishment of years of use and abuse. The other style also made by Frabill is the insulated “Pro-Thermal” tip-up. This style covers the hole preventing snow from blowing in. It also insulates the ice hole preventing it from freezing shut on the coldest of days. Once you have chosen the style of tip up you are going to use, spool it up with a coated tip up-line of at least 20-pound test and tie on a snap swivel. Once your tip-up choice is complete and it is spooled with line, you are ready choose what fish you’re going to target and get ready for some flag fishing.
TIP-UPS FOR PIKE
If your intention is to catch northern pike, the tackle required to complete your set up will be a steel leader that is at least six inches long and a size 1-4/0 hook. The type of hook that you choose comes down to personal preference. Most people choose to use a regular j-hook while others prefer a treble hook or even a circle hook.
Since you already rigged up your tip-up so all you have to do now is attach the steel leader and hook. Once the leader and hook have been attached it is time to find the pike. A classic place to search for winter pike is in shallow water near points. Devils Lake fishing guide Jeff Dosch recommends that setting up in shallow water will increase your chances of catching numbers of hungry pike. The fish are roaming these areas looking for an easy meal. When they find what they want to eat they will chase it up to the corner where the ice meets the lake bottom where the baitfish has nowhere else to go but into the pike’s jaws.
For really big roaming pike set your tip-ups just off the steep break lines where walleyes, perch or other fish tend to roam. Your bait will wait for that hungry fish to swim by and strike for an easy meal. Using this method will usually not equal great numbers of fish but a flag will tend deliver a large pike.
Bait selection for tip-up fishing pike varies from state to state depending on local laws. The preferred bait for many Minnesota anglers is a big live sucker of creek chub hooked through the tail or the back so it will thrash about causing a commotion so an eager northern in the area will swim by for a fast dinner. In states like North Dakota, which limits legal baitfish, the best northern baits are frozen smelt or herring.
TIP UPS FOR WALLEYE
Targeting walleyes with tip-ups requires different tackle than do pike. You will need a two to three foot piece of six to ten pound mono or braided line with a number 1-1/0hook tied on one end. Once you have the hook fastened to your lead, attach the other end to the swivel on your tip-up line. Add a small split shot about 12 inches up from the hook to help get your bait sink into the strike zone.
When choosing locations for walleyes with tip-ups it is obvious that you would set up near traditional walleye structure such as points and sharp drop offs. Eric Closser, a Southern Minnesota tip-up expert who fishes walleyes thru the ice about 50 days per year states, “Places I start looking are shorelines, bay mouths and corners of bays.” He also says, “Weed lines are good places. I have even caught them right in the thick weeds.” Another type of structure that may be over looked but can pay big dividends is flooded timber. According to Jeff Dosch of Dosch’s Guide Service in Devils Lake, North Dakota, flooded timber can prove to be excellent structure to look for walleyes. Dosch explains, “Flooded timber in 7 to 18 feet of water tends to work the best.”
Finding the right spots on or near structure can take some time, but will be worth it in the long run. The best way to figure out what break lines, points or weed beds look like is to drill holes and use your Vexilar or underwater camera to gauge what is below the ice. According to Closser, “These spots are better if they have access to deeper water.”
Bait selection for walleyes is typically a minnow on the hook left to swim around until a feeding walleye hits. Be sure to check your local bait restrictions to make sure you have legal minnows for the sheet of ice that you have chosen to fish.
NIGHT FISHING TIP UPS
One common complaint about tip-ups has been they are tough to use in low light or night applications. Some people keep a vigilant eye on the tip-ups with a flashlight to see when the flag is standing and the fish is on. Eric Closser has constructed a homemade flag made of molded plastic and reflective tape. “This way it takes little light to see the reflective tape,” says Closser.
The past few years have seen many tip up lights or buzzers hit the market. Most of these systems work wonders for knowing when a fish is on. New for 2007, Frabill is introducing the Arctic Siren. This product combines the best of both worlds. It provides a blinking light and a loud strike alarm to notify you that your trophy awaits. You can choose whether to have just the lights or both the siren and lights on. This addition to your arsenal will put tip-up fishing at night on the top minds making you even more effective as the moon rises.
Tip-up fishing is really nothing new. It has always been a wonderful way to catch fish and big fish at that. Technology has not forgotten this staple of ice fishing techniques. Now is as good of time as any to get out find that weed bed or shelf in the lake, set up a tip-up spread, sit back and enjoy the thrill of flag fishing.
Every winter scattered across the prairie lakes of the north you will see houses and their people fishing on the hard water. Some fish for the excitement, others fish to help the long cold winters go by just a bit faster, while more fish just for the love of fishing no matter what the season or the temperature.
Today, thanks to the ice fishing movement of the past decade, we see more and more of the “fish on the fly” method. Find the fish rather than wait for the fish to find you. For all practical purposes this is the best way to catch fish through the ice, but there is also a simple technique from decades past that is a proven method to catch fish.
Fishing with tip-ups is nothing new to the world of ice fishing. In fact, for many it is the preferred method for catching northern pike. Over the past few seasons we have seen great advancements to the technology involved in using tip-ups to catch fish. The classic wood style tip-up has been given a facelift in the form of a stronger plastic tip-up. It is also available in an insulated design to cover the ice hole and protect it from freezing up in extremely cold temps. The latest invasion to the tip-up world is the light and/or siren that attaches to the flag notifying the user of a strike.
With all of the new advancements, it might be time to slow down the new fast paced approach to ice fishing and give the tip-up a try. Step back and enjoy the fruits of what a little scouting and a technique of old can produce.
CHOOSING YOUR TIP-UP
Rigging a tip-up is a simple task. The first and most important ingredient to this fishing method is a quality tip-up. There are two styles of tip-ups that are on the top of this list. Frabill has always had “The Classic” tip-up and recently introduced the Arctic Fire tip-up as the newest of the standard style tip-ups. The Arctic Fire is a rail style tip-up that is made of an easy to see green poly that can withstand the punishment of years of use and abuse. The other style also made by Frabill is the insulated “Pro-Thermal” tip-up. This style covers the hole preventing snow from blowing in. It also insulates the ice hole preventing it from freezing shut on the coldest of days. Once you have chosen the style of tip up you are going to use, spool it up with a coated tip up-line of at least 20-pound test and tie on a snap swivel. Once your tip-up choice is complete and it is spooled with line, you are ready choose what fish you’re going to target and get ready for some flag fishing.
TIP-UPS FOR PIKE
If your intention is to catch northern pike, the tackle required to complete your set up will be a steel leader that is at least six inches long and a size 1-4/0 hook. The type of hook that you choose comes down to personal preference. Most people choose to use a regular j-hook while others prefer a treble hook or even a circle hook.
Since you already rigged up your tip-up so all you have to do now is attach the steel leader and hook. Once the leader and hook have been attached it is time to find the pike. A classic place to search for winter pike is in shallow water near points. Devils Lake fishing guide Jeff Dosch recommends that setting up in shallow water will increase your chances of catching numbers of hungry pike. The fish are roaming these areas looking for an easy meal. When they find what they want to eat they will chase it up to the corner where the ice meets the lake bottom where the baitfish has nowhere else to go but into the pike’s jaws.
For really big roaming pike set your tip-ups just off the steep break lines where walleyes, perch or other fish tend to roam. Your bait will wait for that hungry fish to swim by and strike for an easy meal. Using this method will usually not equal great numbers of fish but a flag will tend deliver a large pike.
Bait selection for tip-up fishing pike varies from state to state depending on local laws. The preferred bait for many Minnesota anglers is a big live sucker of creek chub hooked through the tail or the back so it will thrash about causing a commotion so an eager northern in the area will swim by for a fast dinner. In states like North Dakota, which limits legal baitfish, the best northern baits are frozen smelt or herring.
TIP UPS FOR WALLEYE
Targeting walleyes with tip-ups requires different tackle than do pike. You will need a two to three foot piece of six to ten pound mono or braided line with a number 1-1/0hook tied on one end. Once you have the hook fastened to your lead, attach the other end to the swivel on your tip-up line. Add a small split shot about 12 inches up from the hook to help get your bait sink into the strike zone.
When choosing locations for walleyes with tip-ups it is obvious that you would set up near traditional walleye structure such as points and sharp drop offs. Eric Closser, a Southern Minnesota tip-up expert who fishes walleyes thru the ice about 50 days per year states, “Places I start looking are shorelines, bay mouths and corners of bays.” He also says, “Weed lines are good places. I have even caught them right in the thick weeds.” Another type of structure that may be over looked but can pay big dividends is flooded timber. According to Jeff Dosch of Dosch’s Guide Service in Devils Lake, North Dakota, flooded timber can prove to be excellent structure to look for walleyes. Dosch explains, “Flooded timber in 7 to 18 feet of water tends to work the best.”
Finding the right spots on or near structure can take some time, but will be worth it in the long run. The best way to figure out what break lines, points or weed beds look like is to drill holes and use your Vexilar or underwater camera to gauge what is below the ice. According to Closser, “These spots are better if they have access to deeper water.”
Bait selection for walleyes is typically a minnow on the hook left to swim around until a feeding walleye hits. Be sure to check your local bait restrictions to make sure you have legal minnows for the sheet of ice that you have chosen to fish.
NIGHT FISHING TIP UPS
One common complaint about tip-ups has been they are tough to use in low light or night applications. Some people keep a vigilant eye on the tip-ups with a flashlight to see when the flag is standing and the fish is on. Eric Closser has constructed a homemade flag made of molded plastic and reflective tape. “This way it takes little light to see the reflective tape,” says Closser.
The past few years have seen many tip up lights or buzzers hit the market. Most of these systems work wonders for knowing when a fish is on. New for 2007, Frabill is introducing the Arctic Siren. This product combines the best of both worlds. It provides a blinking light and a loud strike alarm to notify you that your trophy awaits. You can choose whether to have just the lights or both the siren and lights on. This addition to your arsenal will put tip-up fishing at night on the top minds making you even more effective as the moon rises.
Tip-up fishing is really nothing new. It has always been a wonderful way to catch fish and big fish at that. Technology has not forgotten this staple of ice fishing techniques. Now is as good of time as any to get out find that weed bed or shelf in the lake, set up a tip-up spread, sit back and enjoy the thrill of flag fishing.
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