Wisconsin tip-up tradition?

[Steve Foss]

Hey all Sconnies:

I being born in Wisconsin, learned my ice fishing in North Dakota and Minnesota, where tip-ups are usually limited to pike (and lake trout in Minnesota).

But all those Wisconsin fishing shows I watched had some guy or other always catching scads of eyes and perch on tip-ups with lighter mono and live minnows.

Now that I've been back to cheeseland a year and a half, I've got to admit, I still don't get how a tip-up is better than jigging one one pole and a bobber or deadstick on the other.

Can anyone help me out here? How did this Wisconsin tradition start, and does it happen a lot in other places?

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Steve Foss
Superior, Wis.
[email protected]

[Surface Tension]

Two reasons I use a tip-up. Your hole can freeze over and the fish can still run out line. The other is in Mn. you can be 200 ft from your tip-up. Its hard to see a bobber that far away. I jig were I think the fish are and put my tip-up were I think they may be headed later on. I also move the tip-up around to dephts and sructure Im not jigging at. When theres days the walleyes dont want anything moveing I will babysit a bobber and use a tip-up also.
Plus everyone like seeing a flag flying high.

[Guest]

Tip up fishin is'nt neccesarily better than jigging but since we are allowed 3 lines here why not pop a few boards in ? I usualy have a jig pole and set 2 boards out myself. Tip ups are good for scouting structure as well when you spread em out. Tip ups are pretty much no brainer affairs as well. I guess that's why I use them so often ! LOL

[Guest]

When fishing for northern's on the lower end of Green Bay we use tip up's exclusivey,we are fishing in 4' of water and there isn't any pan fish action. When we head up north, for eye's, It's two tip up's and one jig stick, Almost allway's have at least one tip up out, sorta tough to fish three line's at a time in a crowded shack,If your doing a lot of hole hopping you only need one jig stick, might as well have them tip up's in.

[Guest]

Good point Hornet. Tip ups rock for shallow northerns etc. I fish Koshkanong a lot for Walleyes during the winter and there too the water level is rarely over 6 feet deep and we fish about 4 foot of water on average. Jigging just is'nt that effective at those depths.
Tip ups are a good way to get kids involved with icefishin too. I guess if there's a tradition to WI tip up fishin then that would be it. Get a bunch of dudes together and lay out a ton of tip ups and let the kids chase flags all day. Last winter a bunch of us were up to Ontario fishin Northerns on tip ups. There were a couple kids along and I let then take all the flags I got. The look on thier faces each time they pulled a Slimer through the hole was worth the trip itself. I think those kids were jet propelled as they raced to a flag ! LMAO

[Smeds]

I guess you summed it up in that last statement. I myself like to use tip-ups to cover water, and spread out over structure (walleye location will change not only daily, but hourly). It's near impossible to fish a piece of structure with a jig rod or bobber alone. Try jigging the deep side of a nice spot, with tip-ups (2) along the top drop. Have extra holes drilled along the top, and when the flags start popping, move up there, and maybe eliminate a tip-up. Nothing like a jigging rod in one hand, and a deadstick rod in a hole next to it. Jig 'em on over, and if they're not interested in the jig, they take the deadsticked minnow. ***Inside Tip: On a tip-up, try a red bead above the hook. It works alot better than a red hook, maybe because of the extra little vibration. From Lake Superior to inland, it'll outfish a plain-hooked minnow beneath a tip-up everytime. Tight Lines! <(((((><

[Steve Foss]

Thanks Smeds. I'd bet most of us have lots of those red beads, if nothing else for rigging slip bobbers, and I'll try that one as soon as I can get out.

[Steve Foss]

Good stuff. It all makes sense. But it doesn't explain why so many sconnies use tip-ups for perch and walleye when in, say, North Dakota where I started my ice fishing, where four lines are allowed through ice, hardly anyone uses tip-ups except for pike.

People in Wisconsin, I guess, are just smarter than North Dakotans.

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Steve Foss
Superior, Wis.
[email protected]

[Guest]

speaking of red beads, when I fish for pike with dead bait, such as smelt I'll take a peice of red yarn about 6" long and tie it above the treble hook, so you have two 3"strand's hanging by your bait in the water.It doesn't take much current for the strand's of yarn to dance around, VERY EFFECTIVE,some day's it's the only thing that produces, bring plenty with you, you can sell it to your neighbor's on the ice for a dollar an inch...

the green hornet stikes again...

[Guest]

Do they make light biting tipups for perch or crappie? I've never seen any that seem like they would work for that. I mainly fish for panfish but this year am going to start putting out a couple tip-ups for pike or walleye. What kind of tip-up do you guys recommend?

[Guest]

Tip-ups will work for larger perch when they are feeding agressively. Other days you have to do all you can to convince a perch to bite your jig. Crappies are usally more finicky and tip-ups would not work well at all.

What kind of conditions are you fishing in as far as tip-up selection goes. I prefer the 12$ black plastic polar tip-ups. Pretty sturdy, pretty cheap, and pretty reliable. If you plan on fishing in more unpleasant conditions the round Frabill tip-ups work slick for keeping your holes from freezing over. People will also use square chunks of carpet with a slit cut in it to go around the shaft of the tip-up to help prevent your holes from freezing over. There are plenty of other tricks to use, but that's a whole different topic.

[Steve Foss]

We're on the same page. I've got two polar tip-ups and two round Frabill ones. They're all rigged for pike, but if I want to use them for eyes or perch, I just tie on 10 feet of lighter line as a leader and baby them in.

I can't remember the manufacturer, but there was a 12-inch-long foldup tipup, solid blaze orange and much more compact than the standard Polars, on some clearance racks last year for $10 each. I wanted to score a couple of those and keep them rigged for eyes and perch, but waited too long.

Anyone know the brand? Haven't seen any out yet this year.

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Steve Foss
Superior, Wis.
[email protected]

[Guest]

rooffisher - one of the better "lite-bite" methods used here in WI is the "Tip-Down" you can make your own buy them in most sport stops in WI.

My fishing friends and myself used them most often during the late ice period - but expect you could use them anytime. It just seems around ice-out they are most productive.

Easy to use and fun to watch as they slooooowly dip down - fish-on Drawback ... they don't work well in windy weather.

Seize the moments and tight-lines <"))><

BB-LDF