How do you keep your rod tip from freezing up?

[CALVINIST]

Looks like the weather is going to be really cold this week but I don't want to put the boat away yet. Walleyes are knocking on the door. I really hate it when the rod tip freezes up while jigging. Any tips on how to deal with this problem would be appreciated.

BTW, I cannot go to a rod with larger guides at this time. Maybe next year.

[RK]

Hiya -

Every few minutes, hold the rod tip under water for a minute or so, then pull it out and give the rod blank a whack. The (relatively) warmer lake water and a good smack will usually pop the ice out of the guide.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[CALVINIST]

Sounds great Rob, thanks!

[Wildabeast]

Build a rod with a larger tip, a little vasoline, or dunk the rod tip in the water.

[Deitz Dittrich]

You dont need to replace the rod, just bring it to thorne brothers and have them replace the tip, cant be that expensive...

[hhguide]

non-stick cooking spray thats what I do. helps I think and doesn't affect the fishing with the smell

[NCLaker]

Great point Dietz! They are very easy to replace - you can get a kit and do it yourself if you can find the right tip for your liking.

Don't usually have a big problem with tips icing up. For those colder days, I may try spraying some reel magic or the KVD stuff on the tip to see if it helps. Will also spray the line on the spool as well. Have used this stuff for open water, never tried it in the winter.

[CALVINIST]

non-stick cooking spray thats what I do. helps I think and does affect the fishing with the smell

Cooking spray, eh? Might be worth a shot. I wonder if they make a minnow flavored cooking spray?

[Sandmannd]

Cooking spray is a good idea. I bought limit creeks this year and Turk designs them with bigger eyelets for this reason. He fishes all winter out of the boat so they are designed for this.

[davesfriend]

Fishes all year out his boat? I thought that would look funny. Pull up, drill a hole get back in the boat and jig away!

[Nick Kuhn]

What RK said, it works...

[hhguide]

calvnist I ment to say that I dont think it affects the fishing at all. if anything I think it helps.

[Jesse Drummer]

shouldn't wd-40 hlep keep ice off? ive never tried it. it also "maskes" the human scent i was told.

[reddog]

Fishes all year out his boat? I thought that would look funny. Pull up, drill a hole get back in the boat and jig away!

Well, not quite;

Last year, we went ice fishing in the morning till the sun came up. There was a guy unloading all of his ice fishing gear and I mean he had everything. I told him, "man, it sure takes alot of gear to ice fish these days" His reply was " yea, but I dont have a boat along" Ouch, that hurt lol

[CALVINIST]

calvnist I ment to say that I dont think it affects the fishing at all. if anything I think it helps.

OK, thanks.

[JimBuck]

I dealt with this last weekend on Rainy River. Almost every 5 minutes or so ice would form primarily in the top guide. Dipping it in the water worked but you would then have to repeat the process every 5 to keep it from forming. I bet cooking spray would do wonders. Sticky guides is no fun. Good luck.

[slipperybob]

In the past I used regular candle wax, but I got this stick of ski/snowboard wax that's suppose to be the slick type for speed. It's somewhere around in the house, I just have to find it.

[CALVINIST]

Freezing cold temps tomorrow so that will be a good time to check a couple of these ideas out. Definitely try dipping and smacking the rod blank, the cooking spray, maybe the wax too.

[CALVINIST]

I found some of the Reel Magic @ Gander. Seems like it would work better than cooking spray. So I'll report back tomorrow

[Northlander]

Just make sure whatever you use is good for the envirenment.

Oil based products arent good for our waters.

[harvey lee]

I have replaced the tip on two of my eye rods for jigging. It was very cheap to do and ended the icing almost totally.

[river rat316]

Fishes all year out his boat? I thought that would look funny. Pull up, drill a hole get back in the boat and jig away!

you can get the boat out year round out of Everts on Pool 4 below the dam, way better than ice fishing imho

[CALVINIST]

I used the Reel Magic on rod tip, guides, and line and although I didn't give enough time in the field to give a solid critique, my limited experience with it was excellent. The rod didn't ice up like before, and I especially liked how the line comes off the spool.