Circle Hooks On Tip-ups

[JIvers]

Has anyone else on here tried circle hooks on tip-ups? In-Fisherman mentioned it in an article, but only to say they hadn't tried it, and hadn't heard of anyone who had. A couple of my ice-fishing buddies in Winona and I have tried it the last couple winters, and after some trial and error we pronounced it a success.

Here is what we found: first, do not use wire leaders with circle hooks on tip-ups. The wire, even fine wire, is too stiff, and the hook will not turn and catch properly in the corner of the fish's mouth. I use 50 lb. test nylon line, which holds up pretty well against Northern teeth--I haven't had one bite it off yet. Plus, when circle hooks work properly, they catch in the corner of the fish's mouth, and once the line is taut it will mostly stay out of the fish's mouth as it is brought it in.

When a fish takes the bait, apply the old rule to let the fish run for a while and stop before setting the hook. Th nice thing about circle hooks is that they seldom hook a fish deep, so if the bait is swallowed the circle hook will slide out of the fish's gullet before catching and hooking on the corner of the fish's mouth.

The hardest part for us to figure out about using circle hooks on tip-ups was figuring out the proper way to get the hook set. We had used them on open water, so we knew not to set the hook by jerking the line as you would do with a j-hook. We tried picking the line up and very slowly bringing it in, but this resulted in a lot of missed fish, where we would feel the hook catch on the fish's jaw, and then slide out. We eventually figured out that it was best to pick the line up and pull it in at a steady pace, as this put enough pressure on the hook to get it to set properly when it caught on the fish's jaw.

We found that using circle hooks cut way down on deep-hooked fish, but it did not eliminate the problem completely. This is why I am sticking with them for tip-ups, as I release all of my largemouth, and a lot of my Northern. Once we figured out the proper way to rig and set circle hooks on tip-ups, we didn't miss any more strikes than we did with j-hooks. I have not had a chance to try circle hooks on tip-ups for walleye, but I would think the same rules applied.

[Dan Thiem]

Excellent post eyehunter.

We just started using circle hooks last year on our tip-ups. Make sure they are circle hooks not octopus hooks.

We also found that a steady pull on the line works the best. Try not to jerk too hard, just a slow steady retrieve.