fishing line

[schmierfish]

Do i have to use a polar or ice line for my tip-ups or can I use regular line???

[Matt Johnson]

Welcome to Fishing Minnesota!

Those lines are used because they are easier to hand-over-hand the fish. Mono will be tough on the hands if a fish decides to run and plus its more difficult to see and deal with on the ice. I like to use either a dacron line or a plastic coated line on my tip-ups. You can add a mono leader if you want as well. I will often times add a 4-5 foot section mono leader of 6 pound Berkley Vanish to my tip-ups when fishing for walleye, and a 4 pound section when fishing for perch. As for pike, you can normally get by with just the actual dacron or plastic coated line, but I've also used heavier mono leaders with a small wire leader tied on the end for pike as well. Some of the quickstrike rigs that you can buy already have wire leaders built in and its not necessary to add one.

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask, or else you can e-mail me as well. Good luck!

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

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First Choice Guide Service

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[hunt4food]

No. You can use regular monofilament. I recommend using a "low memory" line to ensure it doesn't try to "unspool" itself on the tip-up. Another problem is tangling. It is hard to see 20 yards of mono line lying ont he ice after bringing up a fish. it also seems to tangle somehow by the wind blowing it or the fish floping around in it or something. I feel it's better to use "tip-up" line and then tie on a few feet of mono at the end using a barrel swivel. If fishing for pike, don't worry about using mono at all. they don't seem to care about seeing the line.

OOPS..Matt posted nearly the same minute I did. it looks like we agree on some good reasons to avoid spooling entirely with mono.

[This message has been edited by hunt4food (edited 01-18-2004).]