Tip up

[gopherfish]

Does anyone know of a good tip up to use for fishing with bigger minnows? The bigger minnows always seem to trigger the tip up and it is a real pain in the #$% always having to re-set it. The ones I have are a few years older and with all of the sales right now, I was looking at getting some new ones.

[hanson]

Gopherfish-

I believe you may have posted this question in the Ice Fishing Forum but I will answer it here.

I've strictly been using Frabill Pro-Thermal Tip-Ups for the last few years. I often fish with suckers 8-10" long. I'll put a little egg sinker about 6-12" up the line from the sucker to kind of keep him in the depth I want.

When I set my depth, the Frabills have the paperclip looking line guide next to the spool. I take the line and slowly pull it in between the pieces of wire that make the 'paperclip' guide. The line is basically pinched and will stay there even with an active minnow. With a little tug, it will pop out of the guide and trip the flag. Does that make any sense.

I'm typically after larger pike but will use this method on deadbait also to keep the depth and have had 3 pounders pop the line out with no problem.

[kirkatholomew]

One thing that I will often do is pinch the fin off the top and bottom of the tail. This doesn't allow the larger bait to swim as well and makes them look wounded. Might even give them a bounce or two off the minnow bucket to slow them down further. Seems a bit much, but this does seem to keep the larger minnows from tripping the flag.

[Baldy's Baits]

I usually just bite the tails off the suckers. They struggle more without much movement.

I have also rigged a couple tipups with offshore releases for those really big minnows. Just drill a hole in the tipup and use some leader wire to attach an offshore release. Clip the line in there and you are all set.

[gopherfish]

Where do you get these offshore releases? Are they similar to what is used on downriggers?

[Jim W]

Use the Arctic Fisherman my friend...The Arctic Fisherrman. Not one regret and you'll have them around for quite some time!!!!

Jim

[fish-n-geek]

I use Beaver Dams almost exclusively. I have a few other brands/styles, but these seem to work the best. You can set the flag with a hair trigger, but there is also a groove on the shaft where you anchor the flag that makes it more difficult to trip the flag. I haven't had a problem with 4-6" shiners tripping these too much.

-r-

[fishingmike0770]

I agree with Jim W and fish-n-geek, artic fisherman is the only way to go. Really smooth with the line and never had any problems at all.