Night fishing

[Blaine]

How many of you fish at night? Do any of you use lights or bells to detect your flags? I spend quite a bit of time fishing for walleye after dark and I used to use reflective tape on my flags. I have the Polars with the flag extensions. I cut 4 pieces of 1x4 tape and put two on either side of the flags so that when the flag is down, the tape is parrallel to the ice. Depth perception can be difficult on the ice at night with no backgound. So when you see two strips of tape that are vertical instead of horizontal, ya know ya got a flag

The only down side to that was that my spotlight would die 3/4 of the way through the coldest nights and my headlamp wouldn't be able to scan my entire spread. Last year I took the plunge and bought Omni Strike lights. These things are the cat's a$$!!!! They are incredibly bright and very easy to use. Anyone else use them? What do you think?

[CrappieJohn]

This has nothing to do with night fishing, but rather more to do with the fact that it is great to see the interaction of the fishing community separated by so many miles.

When all things are considered, we really are much closer than one gives credit. What you are doing to catch fish at night really is about the same as what we here in Minnesota do.....adjust to needs to be successful.

Just a "thanks" for doing what you do!

[Bob_D]

Blaine knows what I use, but here it is for the rest of you. I use reflective tape and bells on mine. Unless it's really windy at night (not usually the case at night in VT) then the bells work great. I use a high intensity reflective tape I got online. I put one block (~2" sq)on each side of my flag and a strip around the top of my tip up. When I hear the bell, I just shine the light in the direction of the noise. The strip on top makes it easier to see the tip-ups when the flags are down and helps to stop people from driving over them.

The other advantage to the bells is when setting up. I get a lot of strikes when I first setup and the bells allow me to react more quickly when I and focused on setting up.

Here is a pic of one of my old tip-ups that got stolen last year. My new ones have a white tape that is much brighter.

[Blaine]

Bob, they make a light for your tip ups too ya know

[metrojoe]

I don’t use tip-ups much at night but when I have I’ve used the glow sticks and attached them to the end of the flag much like you’d use them on a bobber. I place the tip-up so that I can see it through the window on my fish trap. I’m not familiar with the omni strike lights, may have to look into them.

[Bob_D]

Quote:

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Bob, they make a light for your tip ups too ya know

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Price X 30 = more then I want to spend. If you are buying....send them on up. I kind of like my low-tech solution. Nothing like sitting in the dark and hearing one of those bells go off. It's like someone yelling "FLAG!".

[Blaine]

I should have explained them in my initial post...

The Omni Strike is made by HT and is designed for the Polar style tip ups. It has a bright red LED that has a gator clip on one end that you attach to your flag. When in the down postion, the light is off but as soon as the flag is tripped, the light comes on

It comes with a removable lithium battery so in theory, the battery should last forever. I'm going into my second full season with mine with no problems at all. They are a little pricey if you are looking to outfit all of your tip ups. If you look around you can find them for under $10

[Tom Linderholm]

I have the same ones and the only complaint I have had is a couple of them seem to want flutter when tripped, so I brought those ones back and replaced them now I am happy as can be. Work great and can be seen for quite a distance even in snow.

[Bob_D]

Blaine,

600x400 ....600x400... That pic is a little large.

[korn_fish]

Ive used the bells during daylight hours for pike, but for night time eyes, I use the strike sensors/beepers. I know, spendy little things, I just bought the transmitter/receiver combo about 10 years ago and every year or so I have bought another transmitter. Last year I did an OOPPS!!! and droped the receiver down a hole. so I had to get a new combo package. Other than that, never had any problems.

My night fishing usually ends up being an all nighter, which is why the expense for the beeper. If I was in a portable and the tip ups were not that far off, a bell probably would be all I would want.

Somebody on this site mentioned converting a battery operated doorbell to act much like the strike sensor. whenever the flag was tripped, the doorbell would ring in their fishouse. Kinda sounds cool waking up to a Door bell instead of the annoying BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

[Ed Carlson]

There is two new snap on lighting systems out I like this season.

Frabill has a nifty LED light system that is easy to work with. It is called the "Arctic Fire Tip-Up Light".

Nice and bright and watertight. I will get to test these on the ice soon, I hope.

The other is from OmniGlow and is a glow stick deal that can snap on a flag or a float or even on a rod tip. They are called "Rod Tip Clip-on Lights".

They come 3 to a package in green. They also make another system for floats called the "Hammerhead Bobber Light" that slips on top a float with the aid of a silicon sleeve. They also work great as a replacement peg for Styrofoam float. They also come 3 to a pack in green. I used these all summer and they work well. They have a variety pack for fishing that is a good deal. It contains 1, 3-Pack HAMMERHEAD BOBBER LIGHTS; 1, 3- Pack ROD TIP CLIP-ON LIGHTS; and 1, 2-PACKLUNKER LIGHT LURES in Green.

OmniGlow has many different sizes of glow sticks. I have some of there survival sticks in my boat and plan to carry a couple in my ice bag this winter.

They last Up to 8 hours of highly visible green light; visible for one nautical mile.U.S Coast Guard and FAA certified. I figure fewer worries about being caught out in the dark with dead batteries that way. They have a lanyard model too that you can spin over your head to draw in help. I think that model is nifty idea.

Lots of cool new stuff out there this season. A guy just needs to pick and chose to what works best for his particular needs.

[Dan Thiem]

I think I need a bigger computer screen. Maybe one of those panoramic styles.

[Ed Carlson]

Ya that Omni Strike is about 500 times bigger then the real deal Eh.

It would make a good airplane beacon at that size.

[Blaine]

Holy dump guys, sorry about the size of that picture... I went back and edited it

[Everclear]

www.strikesensor.com These are radio transmitters that you attach to your tip up flags. When the flag goes up it pulls a pin out of the unit and it transmits a signal to a belt clip beeper. You can buy as many trasmitters as you need and set them all to the same frequency, only one beeper unit needed. Just sit back in the shack and relax! No more jumping up and down every few minutes trying to look out frosty windows or letting the heat out of your shack.You know instantly when your flag goes up no more wondering how long has the fish been running.

[Dan Thiem]

I thought there was some kind of deal that would let you know which tip up was flagged. I saw a thing like a monitor board the would have a row of lites on it. Then if the third tip up tripped, the third lite on the monitor board would be lit up. Sounds confusing, because I have a hard time trying to explain it in writing.

[bigminnow]

Yes the Omni Lights are the way to go. They are bright but not too bright so the other fishermen can't see when you have a flag. I used to use the Beaver dam (mini flashlights) on the flag, but they were way too bright when they would go off. Before you know it you would have fishermen crowding you in when your having a good night.

[Hoffer]

Does anyone know if the Frabill lights - above only go on when the flag goes up - or are they always on?? If they are always on I would think the way to go would be the Omni-Strike ones that only go on when the flag goes up. I would only want to see a light if the flag goes up - not all the time.

[Blaine]

I'm not sure I would assume it would HAVE to be off when the flag is down, it doesn't make sense to be on all the time. Even their HSOforum doesn't say... Look here: http://www.frabill.com/tipups.html#tipuplight

[PikeTipper]

I believe the Frabill ones are on all the time. The only settings are either On or Off so I think I'll stay away from these.

[augernaut]

No, the new frabill arctic fire only goes on when the flag goes up. I bought one to give it a try this year. The light is very bright, and it flashes, which is different than other lights on the market. Looks good, but it's kind of heavy.

[PikeTipper]

Does the Frabill light hook up to something that triggers the light? How does it work?

[D. Stadler]

I use the Strike Sensor System that Everclear mentioned. They are expensive, but well worth it. The pager goes off instantly when you get a flag. I use them during the day also. Getting to the tripped tip-up as soon as possible flat out gets you more fish. You can focus on your jigging in the house, or whatever without constantly scanning your spread. You can also place your tip-ups wherever you want outside, not just where the windows are.

[augernaut]

The frabill light has a switch in it with a ball bearing connection. When horizontal, light is off, when vertical, circuit is completed and light is on. The on/off switch on the unit just controls whether or not the light will turn on when vertical - for storage, etc.

[Ed Carlson]

The Frabill Arctic Fire strike light has a gravity switch that functions much like a mercury switch, but no dangerous mercury to contend with.

Down (horizontal) is off, and up (Vertical) is on.

Frabill chose this non-mercury switching system as it is environmentally safe and takes up less space to operate.