What type of line do you use on your tip-ups?

[Kylersk]

I bought some braided Nylon tipu up line, 20# test. Is this ok? Or should I use a higher pound test line?

[Matt Johnson]

20-30 pound test is usually a good bet for heavy tip-up fishing. For walleyes however, I go with lighter line and I usually use a flourocarbon leader of some sort.

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[The Chemist]

For my tip-ups and rattle reels I spool them with braided and then tie on a swivel. Then make a 6ft mono leader usually either 6 or 10 lb test.

[huskiesplayer15]

Smoke fire line in 12 or 15# then with either a 6 to 8 foot vanish in 4 pound.

Best Fishes

Chris

[f1sh1nfool]

If your tip up spools can hold alot of line, I reccomend using nylon coated dacron braid. I have had problems in the past with tangles and line freezing to the ice, so i tried this and it works great. you can put a leader of your choice on it for whatever application you need. the diameter of the line prevents you from putting alot of line on though.

[tucciproshop]

I always use 30 lb. test but we were always looking for walleye's 6 lbs and up. Then use some mono and make a 2' leader with some 12 to 15 lb. test

[Blaine]

I use Cortand fly line backing tied off to a barrel swivel then to fluorocarbon...

[Northlander]

I run 25# coated tip up line. It doesnt freeze as bad because the line doesnt absorb water. I then tie a swivel onto it and run whatever leader material I need to that. For eyes its usually 8# P line and for Oike I just put a leader to it. For Lakers I run anything from 10# to 15# depending on how big the fish are in the lake Im at.

[slick814]

I usually go with the 20-30# coated, tie on a swivel and mono, or a leader.. depending on the fish I'm trying for.

Bliane - how is the fly line through the ice? does it hold up? or does it freeze easily?

How is it on the old fingers if you take the gloves off?

[psegriz]

slick

I have never used fly line on tip-ups or outside only on my rattle wheels. IMO the only way to go on them If you get a tangle with the stuff, I'd bet a buddy tied a knot in it for ya. I'm just guessing on a tip-up with the small spool that fly line would have quite a bit of memory. Someone with expierience on that let us know.

[hanson]

Kylersk-

What kind of fish you chasing after with the tip-ups? Walleyes & Pike? I'd go with braided as your mainline, the 20lb should be fine and then go with a mono leader.

If you are going after BIG Pike, I'd just direct tie the braided to a Quick Strike rig.

I notice FireLine was mentioned earlier. I've never used a superline on a tip-up but have heard it will do a number on your hands if the fish decides to run.

[Bob_D]

Slick,

Blaine uses the flyline backing on the tip-ups...not the flyline. The backing is basically dacron.

I run 30# - 45# dacron , swivel, then my leader material. I use 3-4' of 50# floro for pike, 6' of 15# Maxima Ultra Green for waleye, and 6-8' of 6# floro for trout and salmon.

I have snaps on one end of my leaders and the hooks tied directly to the other end. That makes it easier to change my leaders.

I like the heavier main line on the ice because it makes it easier to play the fish, and it does not tangle as bad.

[nolte]

I usually use the teflon coated dacron from western filament. I tried using the vinyl coated line but in cold weather it seemed to have really bad memory. The vinyl coated line remided me of the line you put on a weed whip.

I wouldn't use thin super lines, they can do a number to bare hands when a nice fish makes a run. I saw what spiderwire did to a leather chopper and I'm glad it wasn't my hand.

[augernaut]

boy, I agree. Don't use superline on a tipup! If a big fish makes a good run, you could actually lose a finger. I use 25# teflon dacron, light green in color - not the "look at me!" black color. walleye is a 8# fluoro leader with a #10-#12 treble, red or chartreuse bead and maybe a small spinner blade. The lakes around here are gin clear, and any line heavier than 8# will dramatically reduce your flags. For northern, it's a #18 sevenstrand leader with a #8 mustad triplegrip, beads and blades. I'd like to try the heavy fluoro leader for pike, but I can't bring myself to pay 20 bucks for a 25yd spool of the stuff! I think smaller hooks give you a better hookup percentage, and reduce your "drops" from spooked fish.

[kjgmh]

I use Spiderwire Catfish line as a backing. It is coated and has no memory. I tie that to a swivel and tie a leader to the swivel. Leader I normally use Vanish in 10lb. I really recomend the coated backing, does not freeze to the ice and will not freeze if you leave the tip-ups in the back of the truck and are going fishing the next morning.

[P.DONA]

I really like bigger line than 20 lb, too. The super lines will cut in a heartbeat!!! I use about 45 lb braided nylon catfish line, with a nice barrel swivel, then about a 4 foot fluro leader and a snap swivel. PIKE: 50 lb fluro w/ #4 gamma trebble, 14 lb fluro w/ #6-#8 treble for everything else.. I realy don't fish deep, deep water, so there's plenty of backing for a couple good runs if they need.

I do add a rattle and sometimes some flashy "pots and pans" about 18" above the hook.. I figure it can't hurt

[slick814]

THanks for the clarification Bob. I was wondering how fly line would work on a tip up.

I do have a couple of questions on the backing, though. How much do you spool on? You'd lose a lot of room on the spool if you used too much of it, wouldn't you?

And then the next question is how much floro do you use?

This sounds like a good way to set them up, so maybe I'll have a new way of fishing tip-ups, other than the 20# Dacron with a short mono or steel leader.

[Blaine]

Keep in mind, you guys out there do things quite a bit differently than we do here... It's really cool hearing how you guys do things

I use nothing but the Polar style tip ups. Bob gets a lot of snow in his neck of the woods in VT, so he uses nothing but Heritage. Although it's overkill, I put on about 100 yards of Cortland's 30lb fly line backing. It's relatively cheap and VERY tough. We fish shallow water for pike, 15 feet or so at the most. Like anyone else, during the fight we try to be careful where we lay the line on the ice as we gain on the fish. I like to try to coil it on large loops on the ice so that if the fish wants to run, I don't have a mess on my hands. The line is tough enough that it can get snarled in the frozen ice shards around the hole and I don't have to be shy about ripping it free. Ideally, we like to fight a pike with the buddy system one guy pulling, the other winding line back on to get ready for the next run.

I started using flourescent orange last year. I wasn't sure at first if it would spook the fish at all but I am convinced now it absolutely does NOT I tie on a snap swivel to my main line, then I make different fluorocarbon leaders that are terminated with a barrel swivel at the top. This allows me to quickly change leaders for whatever species I'm targetting. One day it's pike, the next trout or walleye... It takes 5 minutes. It also allows for swapping out a leader damaged by a toothy critter in seconds. My leaders are about 4 feet long...

[Bob_D]

Slick,

I load mine up. I have 125-150 yards on mine, depending on if it's 30# or 45#. Like Blaine said, I use heritage lakers and they have big spools. Sometimes we fish for salmon and laketrout with light leaders and we need a fair amount of that line to play out the fish. I've never been spooled, and I don't plan on it. My leader sizes are listed in my last post.

[Blaine]

Bob, it was 24 here this morning, 18 predicted tomorrow.... How's about you????

[Bob_D]

teens with ice on the swiming pool. Not getting above freezing today and lows in the low teens tonight. Highs in the high 30's tomorrow, 40's Thursday.